Heron Reserve Feb 10th

[Chris]

The feeders were quite active this morning. A good number of Juncos and Towhees. A few GC and WC Sparrows. Only had one WT Sparrow.


Dark-eyed Junco at Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve


White-throated Sparrow at Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve

The blackbirds were quite vocal along with a few robins as well. The Chickadees were doing their 'phoebe' calls and a few Bewick's Wrens were singing.

A few Herons were scattered around. One of them posed quite nicely


Great Blue Heron at Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve


Great Blue Heron at Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve

Finally, a Pied-billed Grebe.


Pied-billed Grebe at Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve

Seems to be a few more Robins around and a bit more bird song as well.

[Gord]

Great photos, Chris. We were there as well later in the day. The feeders were a little more quiet but we did manage a White-throated Sparrow as well. A Merlin and Sharp-shinned Hawk are taking turns raiding the feeders so may have contributed to the lower activity level.

I think we found a Fox Sparrow that's likely a hybrid between the Red and Slate-coloured subspecies. Not quite streaky enough on the back or strong enough contrast on the face between red and grey to be a pure Red. The wingbars also works for this combination. A beautiful bird that caught our eye right away. I've only ever seen a Red Fox Sparrow once quite a few years ago on fall migration.

_0244332 by Geordie LaForge, on Flickr

_0244327 by Geordie LaForge, on Flickr

_0244320 by Geordie LaForge, on Flickr