Birds galore!

Since yesterday's weather proved to be much nicer than what was originally predicted, I went to the Montreal Botanical Gardens. At one of the feeders I saw a bird that I thought was a Pine Grosbeak until I got home and looked at the pictures on the computer (next time I should bring my binoculars!). It was a "first year" male White-winged Crossbill. This is a bird I have been hoping to see for years. I knew it had been sighted in the Gardens but I had never been lucky enough to see one until now! Its pink and yellow plumage (very exotic looking to me) will change to a deep pink.

I also saw House Finches, Redpolls, Juncos, Chickadees, Nuthatches and a Cardinal. It was a great day!

White-winged Crossbill



House Finches (male and female)




Cardinal

A wildlife week-end

Well, this has been a very pleasant week-end with numerous wildlife sightings. I went up to Mount Royal early Saturday morning and saw a fox immediately. It was trotting across an open area in the cemetery and then up a wooded embankment and off to the left on the ridge. I watched it carefully to see if it approached any of the denning areas that I know about but it simply disappeared among the trees. I am wondering if there will be fox kits this year. Another nice sighting was of a Cooper's Hawk. Also, I saw my first Woodchuck of the spring and after initially running away from me, it turned and walked directly towards me! It was only a few feet away and I was able to get some photos.

Today I went to a local woodland park and saw Chickadees, Goldfinches (in their "gold" attire now), House finches, Gray Squirrels and two Voles! I was very happy watching one Vole in particular and got some shots of it. I can't wait for Easter week-end to see what another week's progress of Spring brings.