ONT Birders: In general for birding it has been a painfully slow winter so far. The Redpoll invasion never materialized here at least at my place. I have had 3 big socks of Njyer seed out since New Years and they are still mostly full. The occasional Goldfinch is about all for finches- not a single Siskin or Redpoll. There are a few Grey Jays around with a friend of mine having a couple coming to his feeder since before Christmas. A first winter male Harlequin Duck was photographed on the headrace of the Power Plant on the St. Mary's River last week but hasn't been relocated since that I know of. It is probably spending most of its time on the rapids which is a bit of a challenge to access in winter. I had a female Black-backed Woodpecker at my place this afternoon feeding on my dead Spruce Trees (thanks to my Spruce Budworms). I have one about every second year and American Three-toeds about every third or fourth year. They typically stick around a couple days and are extremely nomadic travelling from Spruce patch to Tamarack swamps randomly. You much more often see their work (scaled trees) then the birds. I new one was around as last weekend I came across a huge Spruce that was almost entirely scaled. Today the female Black-backed was in the tree beside it. Interestingly I usually have an assortment of 10-15 Downy,Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers coming to my feeding station-currently I have 2 Downies and that is it. I never remember not having several Hairy Woodpeckers coming in to my feeders. Absolutely no reports of any Great Grey Owls,Hawk Owls or Boreal Owls yet.
If anyone is in the neighbourhood and wants to stop by my place to look for the Black-backed Woodpecker E-mail me and I can provide instructions. Hopefully things pick up. Kirk Zufelt The Power Plant headrace in the Sault can be accessed by taking Huron St. south from the International Bridge, turn left on Canal Rd. and follow that to the end. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
