The last day of February

28 February 2007

With vacation days burning holes in my notebook, I decided to take advantage of the unseasonable temperatures and go birding, what a surprise eh!

My main target was Carolina Wren, a species right on the edge of its northern limit in the Montreal area, for a few more years at least. One had been seen regularly at a fine set of feeders in Chateguay so off I went.

The feeders are well placed and by surreptitiously parking in a quiet spot I could scan the very birdy garden looking for the wren from the cover of the car, this also offered photographic opportunities. I had been there half an hour enjoying Red-bellied Woodpecker, lots of American Tree Sparrows and even an Eastern Towhee briefly when two fine examples of Quebec workmen showed up and started a pump that screamed for 45 minutes and rather upset the birds. The relief when they turned it off and took their van, complete with maximum decibel radio, away was tangible, suddenly singing birds were everywhere, sounding louder than usual. I couldn’t decide whether they were singing louder to out blast the pump or whether the lack of screaming pump meant everything else was enhanced. To cut a long story short, I didn’t see the Carolina Wren.

After checking a few other local spots but seeing little I decided to trek across Montreal to Laval and try out the best owl wood in Quebec, Bois Papineau. On arrival the first bird I saw was an Eastern Screech Owl sat sunning in its hole, a good start. I then wandered around all of the spots where I’d seen owls before but finding none. One reason might have been a team of teens on a loud outing; it must be something new on the curriculum since I was at school. They even made the sound of the screaming pump seem attractive.

I had just about decided to beat the traffic and go early when I came across a group of birders/photographers looking intently at something, another screech, excellent. Then a dog walker asked me (in French) whether I had seen the Grand-duc d’Ámerique (for UK readers pron Granzuck damerike). He then happily led me to the nest with the mother Great Horned Owl sitting tight, ignoring the gathering throng of birders. It got better.

Thanks to the linguistic duality of virtually every Montrealler I’ve ever met, I discovered that the Chouette Rayee (Barred Owl) was also on view today and so I made my way to the spot expecting to peer into the tree tops for views. The owl was just sitting 25 feet up a tree on a bare side branch looking faintly bored. Its bill and feet were stained red, probably courtesy of a squirrel’s meaty bits, and it was not in the least interested in us no matter how much squeaking, grunting or subliminal ‘who cooks for you’ was going on.

The small group of watchers drifted away but I stayed and moved around for better light, unfortunately that meant all I could see was the birds back, then, the man with the dog came by and that sparked the owls interest, it even moved around to show its front to us, what a nice bird.

So February ended well with four year list additions making it 98 so far. March might be a good month if we get an early thaw, on the other hand it could be bitterly cold with snow dumps, c’est la vie.

Now the photos.



















American Tree Sparrows, soon to be off north.






























Male House Sparrow, naturalised Quebec birds have different calls from those in the UK, Le cheep cheep.





















The first Eastern Screech-Owl, they don't move much!












































This side on view of a Barred Owl shows why they can be overlooked, their subtle browns can blend nicely with tree trunks.





















Mother Great Horned Owl blending nicely into the background.
























The second Eastern Screech-Owl, equally as active as the first.




















Back to the Barred Owl and the side on camouflage can work but, front on, when you are the size of a small refrigerator, its hard to be inconspicuous.
























Despite my convincing attempts to impersonate a nervous squirrel, the Barred Owl only gave me a cursory backwards glance, then..For all those observers who have never seen a Barred Owl move much, here is a sequence where the bird actually turns around, full circle on the perch.















































Just organising my feet.














































Nearly there.























What's that, dog, edible, yes, hungry, no just finished lunch, just check out my bill in the earlier shots if you want to see the stains.