Life Bird in Dundas, Nov. 23

My plans were to visit Dundas this weekend to support my life long friend, Christine Robinson, as she was hosting a book launch for a memoir of life with her husband.  "Our Life Our Way" is a memoir of Active Faith, Profound Love and Courageous Disability Rights.  I thought I would give her a quick plug for the book, available on Amazon.

It just so happened that Deryl and I were able to get a life bird, thanks to our visit to Dundas.  A Western Kingbird has been hanging out at a local Butterfly Garden for the past few weeks.  Lady luck was with us and we found the beautiful bird with little effort!  He was very busy hunting for food and we watched him successfully earn his lunch. We will keep our fingers crossed that he migrates south or manages to find enough food in the cold weather. He is very close to a sewage treatment plant where insects may still be found throughout the winter months.

Just down the road from the Kingbird, 3 Black-crowned Night Herons could be seen fishing.

LaSalle Park, Burlington, Nov. 24

LaSalle Park did not disappoint us this morning.  In addition to a White-breasted Nuthatch, we found 40 other bird species!!!  This Nuthatch would not land on my hand, but instead searched for the sunflower seed caches hidden by the braver Black-capped Chickadees more willing to hand feed.

I closely watched a Winter Wren foraging for food, and was pleased when he emerged from the undergrowth of plants alongside the trail.

3 of his cousins, the Carolina Wrens were spotted nearby.

Burlington Lift Bridge

Another birding goal for the day was to find a King Eider.  Upon arriving at the pier under the lift bridge, we quickly learned it was easier to see the Eider from the Burlington side of the water.  There is a pedestrian walkway across the bridge, so I made my first crossing by foot along that stretch of road. 

As we started to walk along the pier, a Northern Mockingbird sat in a bush right beside us. (Deryl had walked by without noticing!)

There was no shortage of Ring-billed Gulls!

This Surf Scoter was one of my favourite birds of the day!

We also saw his "goofy looking" cousin, a White-winged Scoter munch on a mouthful of zebra mussels.

The immature male King Eider came within 75 feet of us.

I noticed a freighter in the Lake heading towards the Bay and wanted to cross the lift bridge before we were stuck on the wrong side of the channel. We were still walking across the bridge when the warning horn began to blast, but we made it safely back to the car! (The Burlington Skyway is shown behind the lift bridge.)

We estimated there were 750 Long-tailed Ducks hanging out at the pier.  This group took flight when the freighter approached.

One of the Long-tailed ducks floated close to the pier after they settled down again.

A White-winged Scoter had a big yawn! He may have been having a drink of water.