It's the last weekend that the Banding Station is open at Tommy Thompson Park, after the day tomorrow we will be closing up all the nets until Springtime comes around! Tomorrow will be your last chance to not only drop by the station to see what we catch during the day, but it is also the last day for the Sunday morning bird tours. The bird yours meet at 8am by the front gates of the park and end around the banding station!
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| Toronto Skyline |
The past two weekends have been a little slow when it comes to numbers, but wonderful when it comes to variety! Owl banding has still been happening full swing and we have almost hit 30! The only owls we have banded have still been only Saw-whets, but really you can never get enough of these little guys! I posted a few of my most favourite photos from the past two weeks! One of the Saw-whet Owls is in a little different of a position..this feisty gal decided to show us her angry side and give us a few looks!
Second on my favourites list was a surprising flock of Eastern Bluebirds! These beauties showed up and treated us to a new bird at the station as well an amazing sight to the banders and the lucky visitors who were there to see them up close and personal! The first time I had the pleasure of seeing these stunning birds was surprisingly at the Cambridge, ONT Christmas Bird Count. The second time was in a much more usual place for them, the Carden Plain. These are grassland birds, meaning that they are usually found in grassland habitats, such as meadows, pasture, prairie, etc.
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| Eastern Bluebird Group Shot |
Today, we were able to get a really pretty bird that I had yet to "officially" see, a Snow Bunting! I know that I have probably seen them before while birding, but I had never been able to ID them and say "hey! over there is a snow bunting!" These little guys are starting now to migrate into the area where you will be able to see them all winter! The lower Great Lakes is about as far as they go as they normally are in the very high arctic regions!
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
Lastly, we had a surprise visitor today from the nearby pond...a Mallard! This guy was a happy surprise puddling around in one of our water nets! Cat carriers were used to bring them back to the banding station where I was very excited to have gotten my first banding tick! (Minus the Canada Geese I've done!). This lovely bird was certainly very full of energy and didn't forget to give me a slap across the face with it's wing when it took of!
Hopefully we will be able to get some great birds (in great numbers too!) tomorrow!! So if you have some moments make sure to stop by the Park and see what you can see!
Happy Birding!
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