Drew Monkman

Had a Gray Jay at my feeders today.  Dropped in, then took off after a few minutes.  Seems to happen once or twice a year here. Bruce Kidd, Douro/Dummer, County Road 8

Today, January 7th,  with the extreme cold, the birds were coming to the feeders even though a  Cooper’s Hawk was spotted 3 times. The third time, it had gone deep into one of the spruce trees looking for birds. When I was trying to find it, a Northern Shrike landed Read more

  Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) (1) – Reported Jan 02, 2014 by Tore Buchanan – Otonabee River – Trent U to lakefield, Peterborough, Ontario – Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.3828884,-78.272438&ll=44.3828884,-78.272438 – Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16270357 Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) (1) – Reported Jan 05, 2014 11:46 by Luke Berg – Peterborough–Little Lake Cemetery, Peterborough, Read more

Common Merganser and Common Goldeneyes photographed January 5, 2014 on the Otonabee River at Lakefield. Jeff Keller

Here is a photo I took this morning of a beautiful Pileated Woodpecker on a large old cedar tree in my backyard. It was just browsing around the trunk, yanking off bark and insect hunting. It wasn’t excavating holes in the tree. I’ve been told by my neighbour that when Read more

I just saw a Northern Shrike take down a House Sparrow between the house and the barn.  The shrike killed it slowly with its beak by grabbing the sparrow by the neck.  Then it picked up the sparrow in its claws and flew east (I assume towards our gulley which Read more

A strange creature that I had never spotted before died in my barnyard this week . I know it is a Virginia Opossum opossum but did not know they lived in the area.  Marie Adamcryck, Rice Lake (Note:  The Virginia Opossum has been expanding its range northward into the Kawarthas Read more

Golden Eagle (2) (Aquila chrysaetos) – Reported Jan 02, 2014 05:30 by Iain Rayner – Sandy Lake Pine barrens/Sedge marshes, Peterborough, Ontario – Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.659557,-77.8931522&ll=44.659557,-77.8931522 – Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16227700 – Comments: “Juvenile male at feeder, first seen at 730 am and seen three more times. Adult female seen north of Sandy Read more

We had a juvenile Northern Shrike in our backyard in town at Lock 19 this afternoon.  Interestingly I also spotted one just west of the Tanney cabin on the Kawartha Nordic ski trails at Haultain yesterday. Peter Beales, River Road South, Peterborough

  It has been so busy in my yard since the storm! The usual pair of cardinals has been joined by 4 more males and another female. They are so pretty in the ice and snow covered crabapple trees. I have had almost constant activity averaging a couple dozen birds Read more

A trip to Algonquin Park makes for a great winter outing! The Visitor Centre is open daily, 9 am to 5 pm, from December 27 to January 5. Opeongo Road is open and plowed right to the lake. A half dozen Wild Turkeys continue to come to get seed below Read more

  I received a report today that a Snowy Owl was sited off Hwy 35 at Ballyduff Rd.  Ken Branscombe also reported seeing a white owl in the vicinity of Hwy 7A & Pit Rd last week. Jane Zednik, Millbrook

How do you like this little visitor to our bird feeder this afternoon?  This Porcupine is the first one we’ve ever seen on our lot. At certain moments, it was right under the window and TOO CLOSE for pictures. It was not that big and we could see very little Read more

Here’s a picture of the bad boy that gave me a 4 woodpecker morning for Christmas!   Merry, merry… Michael Gillespie, Keene  

This Ruffed Grouse was in our ice-encrusted tree eating  small apples late this afternoon. Sabine Overink, County Road 6, Douro-Dummer (Note: Grouse will often fly up into trees late in the day to feed on the buds. Trembling Aspen is a favourite. D.M.)

Hello,                 Yesterday we had the largest woodpecker, the Pileated, and the smallest, the Downy, together at our bird feeders. The size difference is amazing. We have six types of woodpeckers visit our yard throughout the year: Downy , Hairy, Red-bellied , Northern Flicker , Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Pileated.  I Read more

Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) – Reported Dec 22, 2013 13:54 by Donald Sutherland – Otonabee River–between Lock 25 and Lakefield, Peterborough, Ontario – Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.4132687,-78.2625462&ll=44.4132687,-78.2625462 – Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16044516 – Comments: “female, just W CR33 along S shore” Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) – Reported Dec 21, 2013 13:00 by Scott McKinlay – Read more

  Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) – Reported Dec 19, 2013 14:45 by Daniel Williams – Peterborough–Little Lake, Peterborough, Ontario – Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.2965341,-78.3105472&ll=44.2965341,-78.3105472 – Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16028458 – Comments: “Mixed in with Hegu and rbgu. Dark back standing out against other gulls. Yellowish legs seen briefly as it found a spot Read more

We saw this big Bald Eagle today south of Young’s Point lock. It was finding food in the ice. Laurie McLaughlin-Maveal

The Snowy Owl is still in the Chemong Road/County Road 19 (Line Road 3) area. It was sitting on a bale of hay beside McLeod’s water treatment today, December 19.  I got some nice pictures! At 2:30 p.m. the bird flew down towards the farm across from Subaru/Hyundai. Jeff Keller Read more

  CBC2013 summary (1)

Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) (2) – Reported Dec 15, 2013 06:00 by Matthew Tobey – Peterborough CBC Area 7, Peterborough, Ontario – Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.2386484,-78.3948326&ll=44.2386484,-78.3948326 – Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15982062 – Comments: “responding to recordings, then to one another on Mervin Line” Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) (1) – Reported Dec 16, 2013 12:05 Read more

  There was a Snowy Owl this morning (~0800h) on the Rotary Greenway Trail north of Trent. It was in a dead elm, 300-400m east of the trail, on the hilltop in the open fields – opposite south entrance to Promise Rock Trail. Don Sutherland, Peterborough

Today, at the west end of Boshing Narrows on the north shore of  Stony Lake, two Bald Eagles were present. There was one adult and one immature. They were feeding on a Deer carcass (wolf kill). Note: The ice is problematic in this area. It is unsafe in places and Read more