Alternate Bird Names, as suggested by my Parents

While my parents aren't as, er, into birding as I am, they still point out the birds they see and get excited when they find one. They try their best, but they don't always get the name right. Here are some "alternate" bird names, as suggested by my parents (and some a few others):

Yellow chickadee, canary: American goldfinch
Canaduck: Canadian Goose
White goose: Mute/Tundra swan
Green Headed duck: Mallard
Mallard with the big bill: Northern Shoveler
Brown headed/long tailed mallard: Northern Pintail
Saw-Billed duck: Merganser
Dirty Bird, black goose: Cormorant
Little crane: Killdeer
Crane, Stork, Big blue crane: Great blue heron
White heron: Egrets
Little black duck: Coot
Tree pheasant: Ruffed Grouse
Eagle: Turkey vulture
Eagle: Red tailed hawk
Eagle: Seagull
Eagle: Osprey
Hawk: Eagle
Great white owl: Snowy owl
Blue swift: Tree swallow
Blue woodpecker: Belted kingfisher
Black-and-white woodpecker: Hairy/Downy woodpecker
Black-winged Redbird: Red-winged Blackbird
Sparrow: Wren, chickadee, nuthatch
Red Chickadee: House finch
Red Jay: Northern Cardinal

Not a bird, but:
Platypus: Muskrat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I have a bad habit of assuming all warblers are yellow warblers"

Still here? Check out my Instagram account! @falco.columbarius 

Month in review- April 2016

After this April, I've decided we need a season between winter and spring. The trees were pretty late to bloom,  I'm curious if that will affect the migrating birds.

The biggest thing that happened in April was my Florida trip. While the main purpose of this trip was to compete with my school bands at Disney World, I managed to squeak in 8 lifers. I forced myself to part with my birding gear, and set off with only my phone and my knowledge to assist me in seeing as many new birds as I could within the strict schedule. That's what you gotta do when you're a young birder!
(all photos from this trip taken with my phone)

The performance venue at Disney

 The best part (bird-wise) was Gator land. When I heard there was a free-flight aviary and a breeding marsh there, Gator land instantly became the thing I looked forward to most. When we arrived, I dragged my friends right to the marsh and pointed out all the species, explained the difference between snowy, great and cattle egrets and snapped millions of photos all while they smiled and nodded, pretending to have and idea of what I was talking about :)

A Wood Stork. Most of the birds there were pretty tame, which prompted my friends to take selfies with them.

A Little Blue Heron.

There were many nests very close to the boardwalk, like this Great Egret. This bird spurred some research about Great "white" herons.

Anhinga

  

Check out those little fluff balls!

If we didn't have to meet up at a certain place 15 minutes after we arrived, I probably would've never left the breeding marsh. I picked up these species there

• Little Blue Heron
• Tricoloured Heron
• Wood Stork 

After meeting up to watch "gator wrestling" (which was very dumb in my opinion. It wasn't educational at all and made the gator obviously uncomfortable), I dragged my friend to the aviary. On the way there, we saw a baby Gallinule. It was just an adorable ball of fluff the size of a golf ball, zipping around the water behind it's parent. 

The aviary had budgies and two Eastern Rosellas. For $2 you could buy a stick of bird seed to feed them. Obviously, I did.

Me with two budgies. That's the fourth species i've hand-fed.

Me with a budgie.

My friend with a bird on his hat. A bird on the hat is worth two in the bush?

An Egret on a Gator

A Victoria Crowned Pigeon at Animal Kingdom. I knew this was a big species, but I wasn't expecting it to be that big!

During our Jazz performance, one of my friends ran in asking me to identify a "duck" they found.  Fair enough.

Back home:

A picture from a "misadventure"

The above picture is from a neat birding spot I found near my house. I have no idea if it's private property or not, but there are no signs so I'm assuming its safe.... It was a great walk, with plenty of spring arrivals such as Meadowlarks, kestrels and sparrows. The highlight of that walk would be either getting a response from a White-throated sparrow or seeing five sparrow species in one bush (White throated, song, chipping, Savannah and american tree).

Lifers for April

• Little Blue Heron
• Tricoloured Heron
• Wood Stork 
• Fish Crow
• Eurasian collared dove
• Carolina Chickadee
• Boat tailed grackle
• Red-shouldered Hawk

Coming up for May is the "big day". Unfortunately I may have to sit out of this year's big day because of pit band, but I'll see what I can do. Happy birding!

Bonus bird pun: What do you call a Phoenix on the move? A Flame-n-go!

Month in Review- March 2016 FULL

March, also called 'Hlyd month', or 'stormy month' by the Anglo-Saxons. "Stormy month" is a very appropriate name, if you ask me! This month, our area has experienced snow storms, ice storms, flooding, wind storms, heavy rain, and even thunderstorms! But with the spring storms comes spring birds. The first wave of migrators arrive, as the winter birds head back north. Familiar faces arrive- Robins, Grackles- and winter friends prepare to depart.
Here's March in Review...

*note- This review will be a bit longer than normal. In the future, I'll have individual blog posts for the events as they happen.

Tuesday March 8th-
I decided to go out for a 'quick' bike ride after school before staring my homework. I only took my binoculars, because I didn't expect to be out too long- just a quick ride around the neighbourhood. The weather was absolutely beautiful! I took advantage of the weather and decided to bike down a backroad that led to the local water treatment plant- one of my favourite birding spots. On the way there, I came across a flock of Snow buntings. I was really excited, as this was the first time I was able to observe a flock; all the other times I have seen Snow buntings was when I was in the car without opportunity to stop. Just when I though things couldn't get any better, I heard a Horned lark! The songs of Horned larks are right up there in my favourites list. And to add to that, I saw a single Lapland Longspur- Lifer #257! I decided to push my luck a bit further and visit the water treatment plant. There was nothing too notable there- Mallards, Canadian Geese and American Crows. As I prepared to leave, I noticed a truck pull up the driveway, and just sit there. I was starting to get nervous. A few minutes later, a person got out, walked a few feet and stared at me for a few minutes. I tried not to acknowledge him and stay out of sight, but it was still a bit sketchy. He got back into his truck, turned around and watched me for a few more minutes. I decided to go and get my bike, running all the possible scenarios through my head of what could happen. As I walked towards my bike (which was a few feet in front of the truck), and as I did, the truck slowly made it's way out of the driveway, then pulled over about 700m up the road, then carried on once they saw me bike towards them. On my way out, I saw a really nice female Northern Harrier.


March 10th-
My two year birderversary! I didn't do anything special, because I was going out birding two days later.

March 12th-
On March 12th I went birding with Brereton Field Naturalists near the Minesing swamps. My dad was away in Dominican at this time, so my mom dropped me off in Barrie. The morning started off with some American Tree Sparrows and Cardinals.

After, we spent most of the day scoping out flooded fields. Here are some pictures-

A rough legged hawk, and another near the bottom right. There were three RLH and one RTH in that spot.

A snowy owl with a wing tag. I overheard someone saying it was from  Michigan. I tried doing some research on this guy, but came up empty handed. His tag is #12

Canadian Geese. I observed something funny in this field- while one goose was feeding, another came up to it and pushed it over, causing it to do a flip. 

I had a great day! Here's a list of notable birds seen on the trip:
Pine Siskin
American Tree Sparrow
Killdeer
Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Tundra Swan
Rough Legged Hawk
Red Tailed Hawk
American Kestrel (Two- Early record!)
Snowy owl
Bald Eagle

Horned lark

Snow Bunting
Sandhill crane (Heard only)

And best bird....'

Greater White Fronted Goose (Lifer 258)

While watching some tundra swans, I heard a strange noise overhead. I recognized the call, but couldn't quite place it. One of my young birder friends told me it was a Greater White Fronted Goose, and he had been researching them the day before as he had seen the reports from eastern Ontario.

Afterwards, we met up for a nice lunch of Pancakes and Sausages, then left for home.

March 13th-
Early in the morning, my dad took me out to the water treatment plant, where we saw three Tundra swans- Two adults and a Juvi, Mallards, Canadian Geese, Redheads, Buffleheads, Goldeneyes, A single Canvasback, and a raft of Ring Necked Ducks (Lifer #259, 260).

Bufflehead ducks at the WTP

Later that day, My dad and I went back to where I saw the Greater White Fronted Goose. A couple other birders were there looking for it too, but without success. I felt really fortunate to have seen it the day before. Instead, we had Wigeons, Wood ducks, Northern Pintails, along with the regulars. While my dad was engaged in conversation with one of the birders, I decided to photograph a Snowy Owl down the road.

One of the many pictures I got of the Snowy Owl

March 14th-
Two little notable things happened this day. First, I saw a Cooper's hawk in my backyard, which is a new Provence bird, as well as a nice addition to my yard list, and saw the local Merlins 'copulate'. Last year, I saw the Merlins go from one, to two, then three... up to six! I enjoyed watching them grow up, and hope to experience it again this year.

Backyard Coopers hawk

Merlins. #thingsonlybirdersgetexcitedabout :)

The rest of the month was pretty quiet for birding. I'll have less and less time to bird over the next few months, as I am involved with my High school's production. Every other year, we put on a play, this year we are doing The Wizard of Oz, and I'm playing Clarinet for the 'pit band'. Our rehearsal schedule is crazy, with practices almost every night of the week and near full days on the weekends.


All the best for April!

Bird Joke- What's the difference between a Cordilleran Flycatcher and A Pacific-slope Flycatcher? I don't know, you tell me!

Misadventures of a Young Birder

Welcome to my new blog! My name is Hannah. I am a young birder living in the South Georgian bay area of Southern Ontario. Let me tell you how I got into birding:

Me taking pictures of ducks in Minesing swamp

My interest was first sparked by my Great Grandmother. I visited her small cottage in the backroads near Woodstock, New Brunswick every summer. Her walls were filled with posters and news articles about loon conservation or an interesting local sighting, her mantels decorated with plates featuring each of Canada's provincial birds, and her side tables crowded with birding magazines. And then there was her Audubon bird clock and her dog-eared 1970's Peterson Field Guide. I was 5 at the time, and every time I visited, I would climb into her green La-Z-Boy chair, flip through her bird book and match the pictures in the book to the pictures on the wall. It was like a game to me, and I guess it still kind of is :).
One day, My cousin (about 11),  My sister (about 8), and I (about 6), found a bird under her bird feeder who had hit the window. The birds was a live, but barely. The first thing I did was ran inside and grabbed my Great Grandmother's Bird Book. I think I ID'd it as a Mourning dove. We found the phone book and called a local wildlife rehab centre. That was the first time I had held a bird in my hands. That moment added another log onto my brewing interest of birds.

Fast forward to 2008, the year my Great Grandmother passed away at 90. That was also the year I received my first bird book: A 2004 National Geographic Field Guide. I dabbled in birds for a few years, but had not yet discovered the world of "Birding"...

...Until March 10th, 2014, When I visited Homosasa park in Florida. It was there, at the spur of the moment, when I decided I would try to take pictures of as many bird species as I could with my Canon Rebel XS and My 300mm lens.

A picture from the day I got into birding. 

Two year, Three field guides, Two binoculars, one scope and 260 birds later, Here I am: Misadventures of a Young Birder. Come with me, as I try to navigate the world of birding as a 15 year old among adults, all while trying to explain the difference between a Chickadee and a Goldfinch to my parents.
Welcome to Misadventures of a Young Birder.

Me finding my birthday bird- Little Gull- In Barrie

A bird joke- What's the difference between a Baltimore Oriole and a Bullock's Oriole? Not much, according to some scientists a few decades ago!