Owls!

 Owls are one of the most admired and sought after creatures for anyone even remotely interested in nature. As they are mainly active at night-time, finding and seeing them is not always easy, even though some of them are year-round residents. One of my first, quite rare owl species to see and photograph was this Great Gray Owl, which Keith B and I went to see in the GTA back in March, 1979.

 It is very much a northern resident, and a few years later, I got a quick glimpse of one while I was on the Polar Bear Express train on my way to Moosonee. However in January of 2012, one showed up in Essex County, of all places!

 

 It created quite a stir amongst birders and even curious onlookers. As a northern species, it probably didn't know what to make of all the people. It perched right out in the open at times, as the next photo shows. However it did perch in a more natural looking setting, as the previous photo illustrates.

Great Gray Owls are the largest owl species for Ontario, at least in overall dimensions. Snowy Owls and sometimes even Great Horned Owls are slightly smaller, but have more body mass, so can be a little heavier.

A much smaller, and perhaps even rarer owl for southern Ontario that I saw is this next one, a Boreal Owl, that again, Keith and I went looking for in March of 1977. It was tucked away in the branches of a pine tree, and with the bright sky background, made for a difficult photo. Hence this less than ideal photo, a scan from my film days, is just a record shot.

Winter time seems to be a good time for finding owls, especially some of the more northern residents that come a bit south for the winter. Barred Owls are more commonly found here in the south than the first two species shown. There have been a few records, including this next one which Josh P and I discovered on the Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count in December of 2018. It was the first confirmed one for this count, although one had been reported a couple of decades earlier.

This one stayed in Rondeau until at least late February, although it moved around a bit and was not always easy to find. There were lots of squirrels to feed on! Plus since it had been seen regularly, the novelty had worn off, and fewer people were out looking for it as time went on. However it was likely gone to its more northern haunts by sometime in March.

 In early January of 2023, another one showed up in the village of Shrewsbury, and initially could be fairly easily seen right from the street in this birch tree.

Again, this one moved around the village a bit, but was seen in various places for at least a month.

Fast forward to late December 2023, and this next one was found in a small pine plantation of a local conservation area not far from Rondeau.

It has been seen fairly regularly, but not by all who have ventured out looking. It will often be fairly high up, and visible only from a certain angle. And getting a good photo isn't easy, as there are often branches in front of it partially obscuring the bird, as well as affecting the focus. It has been present up until at least early February, and could likely remain in the area for a few weeks yet, especially given the fairly intense winter that continues.

In the same general area is this next one: a Northern Saw-whet Owl, which I photographed on the same day as the Barred Owl above.

This one likes to stay well inside a fairly dense pine tree, making nice clear photos a bit of a challenge. Fortunately for birders and photographers, they are more frequently found than any of the ones above, and can sometimes be quite out in the open.

Here is one of the first ones I ever found, in a small pine plantation just west of Cedar Spring, back in February of 1978. This photo was featured on a Nature Canada calendar in 1988.

I've seen a few others over the years in both Chatham-Kent and Essex, with some photographic success.

November, 1987

November, 1990

November, 1987

 Another owl that I photographed on the same day as the Barred Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owl of a few days ago, was this next one, a Long-eared Owl. It was one of two or three individuals, which have been roosting in a stand of White Cedars, but unfortunately are difficult to even see let alone photograph. They are often right up against the main trunk, with lots of cedar branches obscuring them.

 Another owl species that is primarily a winter visitor in recent decades, although there are historical records of them occasionally being present in suitable habitat during the breeding season, is this next one: a Short-eared Owl. They are most often seen in flight during later afternoon, or at least in more subdued light, and not always easy to photograph as they dip and dive in their search for something to feed on.....

...but on occasion, one will be perched out in the open, such as this next one, which I photographed along a pasture on this dull day in January of 2016.

Of course one of the owl highlights that many people look forward to, and have a relatively good success in seeing, is the Snowy Owl. They breed in the very far north, in the arctic lowlands, and every so often they have an eruption year when nesting success has been higher than average, so in the late autumn, they will migrate south where there is a better chance for food.

We usually get one or more on the St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count, but not always. A couple of years ago, we had an amazing all-time high of 23 of them! But during the last couple of years, we haven't had any. In fact there have only been a maximum of two reported in the count area this year, and then only for a couple of days before they moved to somewhere else. The dry autumn allowed many farmers to work up the corn stubble and other fields, making the habitat that the wintering owls often hung out in hard to find.

Birds that are almost pure white are adult males....

...whereas ones with a lot of spotting are usually immature birds, or sometimes a female.

Regardless, they are always fun to see, especially if they sit up on a perch with a nice background. This next one was perched on the roof of a small pump house along the roadside.

There are some owl species that are permanent residents of southern Ontario, such as these next two. An Eastern Screech Owl shows up fairly regularly in the cavity of an American Beech tree at Rondeau, providing good looks even from one of the main roads.

And elsewhere, where Wood Duck boxes have been erected, during the winter season, they may be occupied by a Screech Owl.
 

Great Horned Owls, another resident, are quite large, and can be fairly vocal. They can be found in woodlots throughout the southwest and beyond, and sometimes even within urban areas such as this next one, which has occupied a wooded area within the city limits of Chatham.

 They will sometimes nest where a large tree limb has broken off, such as in the crotch of this Willow tree, shown next.

...or sometimes where an entire tree trunk has snapped off, leaving a slight hollow to build their nest in.

This next photo was where a hollow was present in a Black Cherry Tree. The owlets were fairly visible in this setting, as the nest wasn't very deep down.

 After a few weeks, the young will venture out, testing their wings, and eventually trying to make it on their own.

I'm not sure whether the local owls are nesting yet here in Chatham, but if not, it won't be long. Stay tuned!

 

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Two More Bird Counts in the Rearview Mirror

 The Christmas Bird Count season is now over, except for finalizing numbers and entering them on the Audubon web site that hosts all the data from the thousands of counts held each year.

On Jan 1, we had the St. Clair National Wildlife Area CBC. I have been the compiler for this count since 1988. The weather was quite mild, about 5C, with light north winds. There was no ice or snow anywhere, which had advantages such as having lots of open habitat for the thousands of waterfowl and other waterbirds to occupy. Driving around was not a problem either, and spotting the white Snowy Owls against a dark farmland background made achieving a record number of that species much more likely. The disadvantage of such mild, open conditions, is that so much wetland habitat was unobservable due to the numerous open spots not visible to where we were able to access. So there were probably some species, and overall numbers, that were not documented.

How did all of this play out? We had 15 observers spread over the count circle, and saw 91 species, a bit shy of our record of 93 species seen a few years ago, but quite respectable. Waterfowl were well represented by 25 species, but by far the most abundant were ducks such as Mallards, shown in flight with a few American Black Ducks. At times it seemed much of the sky was filled with flocks of various sizes and mixes. We recorded over 10000 Mallards, but due to the inaccessibility of some prime wetland areas, there were likely more. (Note: most, but not all of the following photos were taken on the day of the count. When one is walking several kilometres carrying a 'scope and tripod, one sometimes decides not to carry those few extra pounds of camera equipment, especially with the threat of rain. However they represent what was actually seen on the day, even though they were taken a few days before, or a few days after, the count day.)

Northern Shovelers were present in good numbers, at least for that species, with 132 individuals recorded.

Canada Geese were numerous as well, with almost 9000 recorded. Some flocks were resting and feeding in fields of green....

...while others were scattered in the lower, wetter areas of harvested farm fields.

About half as many Tundra Swans as Canada Geese were recorded, in flight to or from their feeding and resting areas....

....but most easily in the open wetlands of the NWA.

A small number of Sandhill Cranes was observed, well away from the road, and almost invisible as their plumage blends well with the harvest corn field. The 25 cranes seen on the day beat the previous count record of 10.

We added two new species to the overall count list, with one each of Orange-crowned Warbler and Sora documented by two separate groups of birders. Somewhat surprisingly we missed species such as Hairy Woodpecker, Redhead both of which were undoubtedly present somewhere.

We did get a new record for Snowy Owls, as anticipated, but never for certain until all the results are in. The previous high was 18 birds, and this year we collectively recorded 23! The actual total reported was even higher, but after taking into consideration the probability of double-counting, settled on 23. When this count started back in 1981, we considered ourselves fortunate to record even one or two. Some years we didn't find any. In the decade prior to this day, however, we have never missed them, and have averaged 7 birds over that decade. Adding these 23 to the 2022 results will definitely boost the average a bit higher. One group of birders more or less in the heart of the snowies wintering territory was able to do a careful count and saw 11 from one vantage point!

Most were well out in the fields, but several were close enough for some quite satisfying photographs, as the following results will show. While not all of the photos shown above were taken on the day of the count, these snowy photos were.

To further illustrate how mild the weather had been to this point, I noticed this plant still in flower, with some individual flowers still in development! It is a member of the Mustard family.

What a difference a day makes. 

The day after the SCNWA CBC was the Skunk's Misery CBC, centered just west of Bothwell in eastern Chatham-Kent. As mentioned previously, as yesterday went along, the weather deteriorated, first with some light rain, then by the end of the day, some of it had transitioned to a wintry mix. Overnight, it had changed fully to snow, and by daybreak there was 8-15 cm on the ground, depending on where you were. While that wasn't too bad for a winter's day, it made traveling a little treacherous in places. Nonetheless, birders went out and began covering the designated territories as soon as they could. 

My territory was not nearly as productive as that of the previous day at SCNWA, but then it never is since the habitat is vastly different. The snow and cold did not help. The overall count currently stands at 64 species, although there is always the possibility of late additions.

I was mostly on my own, but did team up with Brett & Vicki for a few hours as we traversed a woodland that we had access to at the northern edge of Skunk's Misery. It was definitely worthwhile with some nice additions to our day's list, and two Golden Eagles were highlights. But since that was along a section of the 5 km trek which required that we go through the sometimes wet woods, none of us had a camera. Afterwards I jokingly said that the one was so close we might have gotten an acceptable record shot with a cell phone camera had we thought of that at the time.

Much of the territory was on private land with limited access, so combing through the countryside via the local road system is part of the process. I took a few photos of some birds along the way, such as these Mourning Doves.....

 

 ....with quite a surprising photo op of an adult Bald Eagle feeding on the remains of a carcass of some mammal just a few metres from the roadside. Fortunately it was not feeling any threat from me stopped along the road with my camera pointed out the window. These are hardly cropped at all.

A day or so later, I had the opportunity to look for Long-eared Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owl, both of which had been recorded on the Blenheim/Rondeau bird count. While I had a brief look at a Long-ear, I was not able to get any photos of it. I had more success with the saw-whet although it was well hidden near the top of a cedar tree. This first image is most of what I initially saw, at an equivalent of about 8X.

From a slightly different angle and cropping a bit, it got better.....

...and finally when I pished slightly, I got its attention just enough for it to take a quick look at me, giving me the eye as I had likely disturbed its daytime rest.

It seems that this little owl species is most often well, or at least partially, hidden. On occasion they will sit right out in the open, such as the time I photographed this one at eye level in a small white pine tree after a recent heavy snow fall.

This was back in the early 1980s, so obviously this isn't an original image, but a photo of my photo. I was fortunate enough to have it selected for the December, 1988 calendar produced by Nature Canada.

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