A New Year Has Begun

Its nice to welcome in 2023 as the activity of a busy Christmas season starts to die down. For those who forgot, the Schedule of Events for the 25^th Huron Fringe Birding Festival became available to view online in December. Its time to check it out and see what interesting events might appeal to each of you.

Huron Fringe Birding Festival – Schedule of Events

With the milder winter in this area so far birds have been able to find more of their food naturally and haven’t been showing up at feeders as much. If the snow arrives again as I suspect it will, I’m sure more birds will be visible in yards near the feeders. There are still some surprises when you go for a drive in the countryside as a large flock of Snow buntings may fly over or settle on the road in front of you to entertain you, before off they go across the fields again! There do seem to be fewer Snowy owls in the area this year but its still quite exciting to come across one sitting on a fence post or even trying to hide behind a rock out of the wind. They usually pick a high spot in a wide open area so once you are away from trees keep your eyes open and you may get a treat.

Male Snowy Owl

The lake is still open, so ducks and grebes are still visible along the shores or in bays that aren’t quite frozen yet. Up to 50 Bald eagles have gathered in the Baie du Dore area to spend the winter and hopefully catch some fish or duck as the season progresses. While the bay is not frozen these large birds can be seen easily from shore as they perch and watch over the area. Once the cold weather hits and the ice returns the eagles will be much farther out perched on rocks or high pieces of ice.

Juvenile Bald eagle

If you see a collection of gulls, stop, and check them out carefully as there have been some interesting gulls seen in Ontario this season. From Great-Black-backed all the way down to the smallest Little gull several species have been observed with rarities mixed in. It’s a good time to hone your gull skills as there are a variety of ages of each of the species as well.

Several other winter bird species are presently around but by spring they will again be winging their way north so get out and see if you can find some Evening grosbeaks, Pine grosbeaks, Common redpolls, Northern shrikes or other birds not seen so much in the warmer weather. EBird is a good way to see what species are being seen in your area as well as where they have previously been seen.

Pine grosbeaks

Enjoy the winter as it unfolds but as you peruse the 25^th Huron Fringe Birding Festival schedule of events keep in mind that registration is active on March 17^th this year at 6:00 am. You can create an account before this and be ready just to log on to select the events you want to attend.

Have a wonderful winter of birding fun and get ready for the Festival when Spring rolls around.