A nip in the air

10-11 November 2007

With the clocks going back birding is now pretty much limited to weekends, here in Canada it was a week later than Europe to match with the USA. Perhaps with the strength of the Loony (Canadian Dollar) against the US Dollar we should have demanded a change of an hour and ten minutes, a little political joke there. Interestingly, despite the Loony rising by 25% against the US Dollar in the past six months, prices of imported goods from the USA have not dropped, yet another way for the thieves of banking and commerce to rob you.

Back to the birding and unless we were willing to drive over to Abitibi to stand in someone’s yard to look for a Painted Bunting or the same distance but the opposite way to Rimouski, to stand in someone’s yard to look for a Blue Grosbeak, our options were slim. Purple Sandpipers have returned to Tadoussac, good, we might eventually, but the thoughts of a long drive after another long week was not tempting and so birding was to be a strictly local affair. This turned out to be OK and the ‘pits’ (St-Lazare sand pits) had Northern Shrike and Bohemian Waxwing to enjoy, plus lots of Canada Geese to pick through for the inevitable Cackling Goose.

In the garden a nice pair of visitors were a pair of Evening Grosbeaks. Hopefully they will stick around and the male will get his chance to pose for the camera. Another visitor that is becoming increasing regular is Pileated Wodpecker. As an experiment I moved a feeder to just outside the living room window. The regulars soon took to it and the endless procession of Black-capped Chickadees is a big improvement on Canadian TV (except for the excellent Corner Gas). The Pileateds soon found it and bound in regularly to make short work of the suet blocks. Having this beast of a woodpecker less than four feet away from you is pretty memorable, I wonder if the Ivory-billed Woodpecker searchers have tried suet blocks.
























Especially for Derek, Woody Woodpecker.





















A Hairy Woodpecker damaging our trees again!


















A late Fox Sparrow, not dead you understand, just late in the season.













































Mme Evening Grosbeak, the male was a little coy but its nothing to carp on about.