Quick Trip to the Sault.

Happy 2014 Everyone! Hopefully everyone has had a great start to the New Year.

Drive out to Sault Ste. Marie

I started off the New Year with a quick trip to Sault Ste. Marie to visit some relatives. While there, of course, I tried to also get a wee bit of birding in!

We were able to visit some awesome family who took us on a snowmobile ride through the back bush of the Sault. I hadn't been on a Skidoo since I was super young, so it was really so much fun being back on one!  When we first started off we right away saw a Bald Eagle flying overhead while zooming under the powerlines.  Now, although they are not my favourite raptor, they are incredibly beautiful.  Later on the ride we came across a tree that had about 4-5 Bald Eagles perched in it! What a sight!  I was kicking myself that I had not brought my camera with me and it was so cold that my little powershot actually froze shut!  But, it was nice for once to actually just sit and watch.   There weren't too many other sightings, minus a few chick-a-dees and ravens, but I'm sure had the machines been quieter there would be a lot bustling back there!

Out on the Skidoo

View from the Skidoo rest stop!

 The last day we did a little bit of touristy things and although we didn't see too many birds I was able to get a nice shot of two!  The first stop was at the Sault Locks.  Here I was SO excited to see an Owl, that was oddly perched on top of a lamp post. Upon closer inspection it had a polka dot belly and was certainly made of plastic...oops!   Looking into the locks themselves there were a bundle of ducks diving and floating in the fast (and I mean really fast!) water.  We were finally able to spot one for a longer period of time to see that they were Goldeneye!  

Goldeneye in the Sault Locks

 Next stop was near the Roberta Bondar Tent Pavilion.  The snow was deep (and we had crappy boots on) but we managed to only see a few more Goldeneye and a flyby of some common Mergansers!

Common Merganser

That is about it for that trip!  We recently also took a stop at Kelly Lake here in Sudbury to look for the Gyrfalcons that had been reported but had no luck.  Seems like you need snowshoes to walk out to where they perch so looks like it may be a skunk for us!

Happy New Year and Happy Naturing!

Sault Moose!