Great Backyard Bird Count 2020

15 February 2020

     Each year at Waterloo Region Nature (the finest little nature club in the universe) Mary Ann Vanden Elzen organizes our participation in the annual backyard bird count conducted across the continent.

     We do it in style, however!

     Instead of peering out our own windows into our own backyards, we visit the homes of three members of our club, who welcome us with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, aromatic steaming cider, muffins, cookies and the like, and at the last stop, lunch. Having been spoiled in this fashion so frequently, I cast my unanimous vote to continue this tradition forever!

     Brenda Holvey hosted us first. Brenda's husband, Alan, had always been there to welcome us too, but Alan passed away last year at the age of ninety-three, and it is a tribute to Brenda, now ninety-one years old, that she is still living in her own home and continues to welcome so many fellow naturalists. I should add that she received sterling assistance from Meg Slater.

Brenda

     I can tell you from personal experience that no one is possessed of more intelligence, good humour and wit than Brenda. I am so happy that she is my friend.

     Here we are looking anxiously at the feeders, which were for the most part not patronized extensively.

     Of course, given the very strenuous nature of this kind of birding, we had to keep going back to refuel with food and drink.

     Paul Bigelow always acts as the official counter for our group and seems to be enjoying his coffee, since there was not at that point much to record.

     Others kept looking and also did not miss the opportunity to mingle and socialize, a very important part of this event.

     It is a measure of the paucity of birds visiting Brenda's well-stocked feeders that the visit of a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) generated excitement and hoots of joy among this corps of expert birders!

     As we left to move on to our next destination, Miriam turned to get a shot of Brenda's house.

     Fraser and Nancy Gibson were the next to host our group; their house being mere minutes from Brenda's location.

     Fraser, a very fine naturalist, has an array of feeders of different types, dispensing a range of seed, with suet feeders also, and there was lots of activity at the Gibson Fat, Protein and Good Taste Café.

     Fraser and Nancy are so fond of bird houses that even their house plants are so equipped.

     I spent a good deal of time fixated on this abode, waiting for the tiny occupants to fly in or out, but if they did they escaped my scrutiny.

     A Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) and a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) were content to feed on the ground on seed knocked down by energetic birds at the feeders, who obviously had specialized training in eating only one out of four seeds, strewing the remaining three hither and yon - more hither than yon actually.

     These House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) were the proud holders of the avian equivalent of a gold medal in seed tossing.

     Their friends lined up along the fence and in the conifers just waiting to join them.

     Happy humans sipped, snacked and watched.

     A pair of House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) obligingly perched on opposing sides of a feeder.

     I made the facetious remark that males are more handsome than females, and Mary Ann was quick to retort, "Yes, that happens with birds, David!" Touché!

     Black-capped Chickadees in characteristic fashion visited a feeder, grasped a seed, and left.

     And what would a day at the bird feeders be without a squirrel waiting his turn to filch a little snack?

     Soon it was time to move on to Sprucehaven, our final destination, where Dave Westfall, Sandy Hill and Jamie Hill would be our kind and generous hosts. This is a view looking out from the family room window towards the barn where we do our Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) research.

      Everyone was happy to mingle, chat, eat, drink, eat some more and watch birds.

     A wonderful feast was laid on for us, a veritable smorgasbord of so many good things, it begged for a return visit to the table. 

     There are many feeders at SpruceHaven and the birding was commensurately good. Here are shots of some of the species seen.

Dark-eyed Junco

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus)

American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)

Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

     

     All too soon it was time to head for home, and one by one, we started to leave.

     It had been a terrific day characterized by good fellowship, great food, every bird was a joy to see, nothing could have been better.

     A huge vote of appreciation is due to Mary Ann for organizing the event as she does year after year, and to Brenda, Fraser and Nancy, and Dave, Sandy and Jamie for hosting. 

     I am already looking forward to next year!

Final tally: Mourning Dove (3), Downy Woodpecker (2), Hairy Woodpecker (1), American Crow (1), Blue Jay (1), Black-capped Chickadee (11), Red-breasted Nuthatch (1), White-breasted Nuthatch (1), House Sparrow (36), House Finch (5), American Goldfinch (9), American Tree Sparrow (2), Dark-eyed Junco (10), Northern Cardinal (5).  Total: 88 individuals of 14 species.