Fall Update

Hi all! Sorry for such a long while without posted. I was attending the Young Ornithologist Workshop at Long Point earlier for the first half of august, and after that I was on a road trip to Nebraska for a few days to see the solar eclipse, which was spectacular.

I have lots to post about, including my trips to Europe, Churchill, Long point, and the fall birds I've seen recently.

I've also been volunteering at the Delta Marsh Bird Observatory at Oak Hammock Marsh, helping out with bird banding. It has been a lot of fun, and we've caught some interesting birds.

American Redstart

I've been doing a lot of birding, both around my house and out for fall warblers, which I hope to make one or two posts about as well. So stay tuned, there's lots of posts to come. :)

American Redstart

Evening Grosbeak and Owl

A few days ago, when I was playing outside, the Great-horned Owl flew out of some trees! How exciting! I call it the Great-horned Owl, because it comes back every winter. For quite a few years, it has come back to our yard for the winter, sometimes we would see it every day, sometimes we'd see it a few times. It came back very early this year.
The day before I heard some jays mobbing something, I didn't pay much attention to it, but now that I think about it, they must have been mobbing the owl.

A little while later I saw two yellow birds in a tree. Evening Grosbeaks! Their calls confirmed it. I had heard the calls earlier in the day, but didn't know what the were, until I saw the birds.

Evening Grosbeak

There was a male and female in the tree, the male's colors are brighter than the female. I ran back and got the camera. When we tried to get a little closer, they flew off. We found them in some other trees, a bit deeper in the woods, so we couldn't get too close to them. We still managed some decent photos though!

Evening Grosbeak

We didn't get any good photos of the female bird. We have heard them a few times since the first time we saw them.

Evening Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak

I've heard one before, and it's a completely new bird for William.
The temperatures are getting colder now, the feel of winter is in the air.

The Colors of Autumn

We have had an especially brightly colored fall this year. There are a lot of very red leaves, and yellow leaves.
There aren't many birds around, so I took these still photos instead. Here is a selection of photos I took of the colorful leaves.

And that is the gallery of autumn photos I took.

Feathers on Friday

The Fox Sparrows have returned now, they are everywhere.

Fox Sparrow

Other FoF posts:

Bird Boy
Prairie Birder
The Cats and the Birds

Feathers on Friday

It is definitely sparrow migration! There are always lots of sparrows at our feeders. It is also definitely fall. We had our first frost the other day. I really love autumn, but I say that about all of the seasons.

Harris's Sparrows are one of my favorite sparrows, especially in fall plumage. Here is a Harris' Sparrow beneath our feeder.

Harris' Sparrow

Other FoF posts:

Bird Boy
Prairie Birder
The Cats and the Birds

Don't forget to try and guess on the Weekly What Bird.