Happy New Year!

Bright and early this morning, 8 hearty soles headed out for our annual January 1st birding day.  We managed to find 41 species, excluding this White Domestic Duck, which doesn't actually qualify as a species for bird counts.  It was one of the first birds we found once the sun was high enough for photographs, and I thought she was beautiful!  Many of today's birds were too far away for photos.  Some of our target highlights included 3 Harlequin Ducks, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Screech Owl, 1 Snowy Owl, 1 Ring-necked duck, and a Great Blue Heron!

Not far away, rested this Mallard Drake.  The bright sunshine made the iridescent feathers on his head glow green and purple.

Gulls were still in abundance down river including a pair of Greater Black-backed gulls, taking a break in the sunshine.

Thousands of gulls were resting on the river, but suddenly they took to the air.

It wasn't long before we found the reason for their distress.  A pair of young Bald Eagles were soaring along the river shoreline.

We didn't find these Sandhill Cranes in the expected location near Port Lambton, but this nearby spot was actually closer to the road for photos!

A few more photos to finish off 2019...

3 Raccoon bums were visible yesterday as they tried to stay warm in a tree huddle.

A trip to Wawanosh Wetlands on Monday earned me a photo of a Red-shouldered Hawk!  In the picture below, his red shoulders were even visible in flight.

On Monday morning, when the grey clouds were finally pushed away, the sun worked magic along the Wawanosh Wetlands Trails, transforming the path into a natural tunnel...a nice way to end 2019!