Saturday 19 December 2009

Hawks and Doves

Had an early trundle around Buttertubs Marsh this morning, having been dropped off by Jen as she headed off to work, God bless her!
Much of the water was still ice covered and consequently birdless. In fact the only 'waterbirds' seen in an hour and a half were 2 hooded merganser, 2 great blue heron and glaucous-winged gull! Of course, a few mallard and wood duck had sought sanctuary on the river but the lakes were bereft of wildfowl.
A couple of flocks of bushtit and many varied thrushes kept me alert while other regular passerines included robins, towhees, fox & song sparrows, house & purple finches, chestnut-backed chickadees, brown creeper and a lone American goldfinch.
A juv bald eagle circled over the marsh and headed east pursued by a couple of ravens.
Two trumpeter swans flew high north-west.

I then walked through Bowen Park which while birdier than last week was still relatively quiet. The highlights here included a Cooper's and a sharp-shinned hawk - the latter feeding on a luckless red-breasted nuthatch. Hairy woodpecker, golden-crowned kinglets, flickers, Bewick's wren and such added to the tally.

Later on in Nanaimo I noticed both Cooper's hawk and peregrine over the downtown area, my attention being drawn in each case by the panicking pigeons (rock doves).

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