Another slow birding day

Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the clear weather that has been so rare this winter. I started out by going to find the feeders that are in Forest Park near Embrun to see if the Tufted Titmouse was around. Now I feel something needs to be cleared up as to where Forest Park actually is as most people consider it to be part of Embrun. While its address may be part of Embrun it is not in actuality in the small town. Forest Park consists of 4(four) roads that are on concession road three. This is a continuation of the main Embrun road that runs east-west through the town. You have to cross over road 5 which takes you to St. Albert, which just happens to make some of the best fresh cheese. Like I mentioned earlier Forest Park only has four parallel streets. These are Maple Grove Street, Forest Lane, Larose Lane, and Manitou Street. Each one of these ends in a wooded area. I did not spend alot of time looking for the feeders as the woods are extensive.

I decided to go over to the Snowy Owl area as some Horned Larks were seen in the area. At first I did not see any of the owls or the larks, it was pretty empty of birds. On my way back to Concession 20 coming up Ste Rose Rd, the White Snowy was right on the snow bank the plows made. Unfortunately I did not see it until it took off and flew into the field. Nice to see its still around but would have been nice to get a real close picture before they go North again.

So a little disappointed i headed back into Ottawa and headed out to Bates Island off of Island Park Drive. It was also pretty quiet. Then off to Mud Lake to see if anything was happening there. I was able to get a fairly descent shot of a young male Cardinal. he stayed fairly calm while I took some photos. Also around were the usual Chickadees, Crows and a small flock of Cedar Waxwings.

Next leg of todays journey took me to, where else.......Shirley's Bay feeders. By this time the nice clear skies of the morning had been taken over by a gray-white cloud bank. So shooting was not the best. The feeders were very busy with lots of Chickadees, woodpeckers, red squirrels. The area also had an unusual large flock of Blue Jays. I would estimate there were at least 15-20 in the area. I don't know if you have ever been in an area with 15-20 Blue Jays before all making lots of noise, but let me tell you if you did not have a headache before you got there you surely will if you stay there for long. I did manage to get a few shots of the Blue Jays but the white skies make it difficult to truly capture the beauty of the birds.

My next stop was the Trail Road dump site where a Gyrfalcon had recently been seen. Apparently a couple other birders had the same idea. However much to our disappointment the Gyrfalcon was not evident. There were however a couple of Redtailed Hawks flying around, more than likely hunting. There were also large flocks of Starlings along the road side in the Sumac trees, also the ever present Crows in hugh numbers. This time I was very surprised to see that the gull population had also greatly increased in not only the shear numbers of Gulls but the varieties. Unfortunately I am only beginning to get to know the bird species but I did see some Ring Billed Gulls, and Greater Black Backed Gulls, some others that I am not familiar with that were pure white and a quite a bit smaller than the Black Backed Gulls.

I think I will head back there first next time the skies will clear. Maybe I can get some shots of the gulls for identification.