Gillian M's 2008 Year/Photo List (1 Viewer)

Gillian_M · Jan 6, 2008

Once again my goal for 2008 is to take a quality photo of each species on my year list. While I have managed to photograph most of the birds that I have seen to date, some are of very poor quality, and are more for my records than anything else. And then there are a few birds which I haven't been able to photograph at all, such as the Upland Sandpiper which I've only seen once, through a spotting scope.

My goal in this thread, then, is to keep track of each species that I see this year, and to add photos or even video where possible.

Unless stated otherwise, all birds listed will have been seen in my home town of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Any new lifers will be marked in bold.

Gillian_M · Jan 6, 2008

Seen January 1, 2008:

1. American Crow
2. Blue Jay
3. American Tree Sparrow
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Common Redpoll

Despite my intention to spend all morning birding, a winter storm with heavy snow prevented me from staying out for more than an hour. As a result, I only identified 7 species for my brand new year list on New Year's Day...less than half of what I achieved last year.

Gillian_M · Jan 6, 2008

Seen January 1, 2008:

6. Ruffed Grouse
7. Pileated Woodpecker

This grouse is very tame and even follows people around!

Gillian_M · Jan 6, 2008

Seen January 2, 2008:

8. Rock Pigeons
9. European Starling

These are the usual birds I see on my way to work every morning as well as downtown. You'd think that I'd be able to get a better picture of them!

Seen January 3, 2008:

10. Mallard

I went to a park along the Rideau River hoping to see some goldeneye or mergansers but only the usual mallards were present.

Gillian_M · Jan 6, 2008

Seen January 4, 2008:

11. Common Goldeneye
12. American Black Ducks

I went to a different section along the Rideau River yesterday at lunch and found some more ducks. Still no mergansers, however! I note this is the first time I've seen goldeneye out of the water...note the females on the ice at the right.

Gillian_M · Jan 6, 2008

Seen January 5, 2008:

13. Mourning Dove
14. Hairy Woodpecker
15. Downy Woodpecker
16. White-breasted nuthatch
17. Pine Grosbeak

Gillian_M · Jan 6, 2008

Seen January 5, 2008:

18. House Finch
19. House Sparrow
20. Northern Cardinal
21. Dark-eyed Junco
22. Brown Creeper

Gillian_M · Jan 8, 2008

Also seen January 5, 2008:

23. Townsend's Solitaire
24. Sharp-shinned Hawk

The Solitaire is very rare in Ottawa; luckily, it's been hanging out in the same juniper bush for a couple of weeks now. This is the best photo I've taken of it on three tries for this bird, though I'm still hoping to get one where the bird is actually in the juniper bush where it would be a lot closer to me. A sunny day would be nice for a change, too!

Gillian_M · Jan 12, 2008

Seen January 6, 2008:

25. Red-tailed Hawk
26. Northern Shrike
27. Rough-legged Hawk
28. Evening Grosbeak
29. American Goldfinch
30. Tufted Titmouse

I got my first lifer of the year on this excursion...the tufted titmouse has been visiting a feeder just east of Ottawa for a few weeks now. This is another rare bird for our city. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to photograph it. It would swoop in and land on the feeder briefly before disappearing into the trees with whatever it had taken, and I wasn't quick enough to capture it on the feeder!

Gillian_M · Jan 12, 2008

Also seen January 6, 2008:

31. Snowy Owl
32. Snow Buntings

These two species were seen east of the Ottawa area...so far east, that they are not within the local field-naturalists' club's study circle (which encompasses a 50-km radius from Parliament Hill's Peace Tower). So far, however, it's the only place where snowy owls have been reported this winter, and we saw three of them that day.

There was also a flock of about 400 snow buntings in the same area, and although we searched we couldn't find any other species such as horned larks or lapland longspurs mixed in.

Gillian_M · Jan 12, 2008

Seen January 10, 2008:

33. Hermit Thrush

Seen January 12, 2008:

34. Common Raven
35. Red-breasted nuthatch

There seem to be very few red-breasted nuthatches around this winter, and I am surprised I had to go searching for one for my 2008 list. Luckily I know of a trail near my house where one always comes to my hand with the chickadees, and he didn't disappoint me today!

Gillian_M · Jan 17, 2008

Seen January 16, 2008:

36. Common Merganser

Now all I need is one more bird and I'll have tied last January's number of species seen. That shouldn't be too difficult as I'm still missing some fairly common birds!

Gillian_M · Jan 19, 2008

Seen January 19, 2008:

37. Northern Mockingbird

I have now tied last year's total of birds seen in January. And the mockingbird isn't one of the common birds I still need!

Gillian_M · Jan 23, 2008

Seen January 20, 2008:

38. Great Black-backed Gull
39. Glaucous Gull

Gillian_M · Jan 26, 2008

Seen January 25, 2008:

40. Hoary Redpoll

(with a Common Redpoll for comparison)

Gillian_M · Jan 27, 2008

Seen January 27, 2008:

41. Bohemian Waxwing
42. Cedar Waxwing

Today I came across a large flock (>100) of waxwings feeding on common buckthorn berries and I was happily surprised to find that both species were present! Not only were they feeding, they were also bathing in a large puddle of open water. I took some video of the birds splashing about; you can hear them softly calling as well as a Pileated Woodpecker tapping in the background!

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/..._Finches/?action=view&current=MudLake1090.flv

Gillian_M · Feb 3, 2008

Seen February 3, 2008:

43. Horned Lark

Gillian_M · Feb 9, 2008

Seen February 4, 2008:

44. Peregrine Falcon

Seen February 9, 2008:

45. Wild Turkey
46. American Robin

We usually have some robins that try to overwinter here every year. There were about a dozen at Mud Lake this morning feeding near a flock of Cedar Waxwings.

Gillian_M · Feb 10, 2008

Resident Raptor?

Seen February 10, 2008:

47. Merlin

I wonder if this is a neighbourhood resident - I saw a merlin on the same road on Dec. 22 chasing a flock of finches. It didn't catch any, and landed nonchalantly on a different light standard. I saw this one while driving to a nearby conservation area, and stopped because it didn't look like a crow (which is what I was expecting it to be)!

Gillian_M · Feb 17, 2008

Seen February 17, 2008:

48. Canada Goose

I haven't seen any of these usually abundant geese since early December, before the deluge of snow, so I was surprised to find about half a dozen of them on an open area of the Rideau River while looking for gulls! (They were very far away, hence the poor quality of the photo.)

Gillian M's 2008 Year/Photo List (1 Viewer)

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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Birding since 2006!

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