Notes From a Northwestern Ontario Backyard – December 2020

Hello, hello, hello!

Wow, it has been a good long while since I’ve posted here but this has been an UNREAL year for me, as I’m sure it has been for many of you. After my last post in February, my best friend got very ill in late March (not Covid). She was in the hospital battling a severe illness for 2 weeks before she lost the fight. This was a nearly-40 year long extremely close friendship. To say I was devastated just doesn’t cover it. I lost my drive, my enjoyment in life … I avoided so many things I used to love for so long … birds, photography, writing. When fall came around, I finally had the urge to pick up the camera again. What I’m going to show you in this post is mostly just one photo from each month, of a bird or birds that visited my yard. Let’s go back to the beginning of the year, shall we?

January 2020

The super handsome Canada Jay. Sometimes there is only one, sometimes there can be 2 or 3. The sweetest birds EVER!

 

February 2020

The Ruffed Grouse – also known as the Rock Star of Cornell’s Ontario Webcam 🙂

 

March 2020

The Crow – at one point in early spring, I had 22 Crows in my backyard. Not sure what my neighbours thought of that. 🙂

 

 

April 2020

At the end of last winter, my backyard was taken over by my favourite Blackbird: the Rusty. I had likely over 200 of them a day, at one point. A single Mourning Dove showed up in April too.

 

 

May 2020

I was thrilled to see a pair of Mallard Ducks fly into my backyard one day in May! It was a long cold spring & luckily, I had some cracked corn left from winter feeding to put out for them. They came around almost daily for a few weeks.

 

June 2020

One morning, I looked out my livingroom window and saw this adorable little Eastern Bluebird sitting on my retaining wall post. It was a chilly morning, hence it being so fluffed up. They nest around here in summer but have yet to win the battle over my birdhouse with the Tree Swallows.

 

July 2020

Considering how long & cold spring was, summer was beautiful here. I grew lots of marigolds & nasturtiums from seed. Combined with everything else blooming in the yard, it was a haven for Ruby Throated Hummingbirds like the young male in the photo. They were the best distraction for me over the season.

 

August 2020

I’ve never had so many Purple Finches (like the male in this photo) in my yard (50+ at a time!) as I did all last winter & spring. In summer, many of them moved off for nesting time. I never saw that many again the rest of the year and this winter now, I haven’t seen a single one. Odd seasons!

 

September 2020

Watching Sparrows in the fall is always a joy. This year, I had a bumper crop of White Crowned Sparrows. As in this photo, I had entire families of them for late August, September and October.

 

October 2020

I didn’t see the normal number of different Sparrow species in my yard this fall as I normally do. This lovely Fox Sparrow (plus one other) was a treat to have around for a few weeks. I would hear them when I stepped outside but only saw them when I came back in the house. They are our largest Sparrow.

 

November 2020

As usual, November brought me a few surprises to my yard. A few late migrants visited my yard including a Red Winged Blackbird and this White Throated Sparrow. The biggest surprise this year though, is a Western Meadowlark! (on the right in this photo). These last two are still here, the week before Christmas. The Sparrow is living under my back deck & it comes out to feed a few times per day. The Meadowlark showed up in my yard at the end of November, after a friend had told me it had been under her feeders for a week before that.

 

December 2020

The White Throated Sparrow seems to be doing quite well. It’s living under my back deck but once in a while, like the other day, I’ll see it sitting in my pine trees or having a snack under my feeders. I can sometimes track it down by following its quiet little cheeps.

 

This handsome Western Meadowlark is my big surprise of this fall migration season. If I’m going to see something fairly spectacular duing migration, it will likely be in Novenber! I don’t know how it ended up here but I will do my best to help it survive the winter that is knocking on our doorstep. It will sometimes disappear for 3 or 4 days & I’ll think I’ve seen the last of it but then one morning, it will be out there again, under the feeders or right up on the platform feeder, giving my webcam viewers a huge thrill! It has already survived a couple of days of low -20’s C temperatures and there is more of that coming over Christmas next week. Wish him/her luck!

 

As I’ve mentioned, Cornell’s Project FeederWatch webcam in my backyard is back up and streaming for the winter season. Check it out if you have a moment. It’s not always very busy but you never know who might show up on cam. 🙂 https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/ontario-feederwatch/

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May we all have peace, happiness & good health in 2021.