For now here is a photo of a Whooping Motmot, they used to be called Blue-crowned but a recent split, whereby a species with a large range is divided up into several different species, made life interesting for us having seen them all, I’m not sure the Motmots give a hoot or a whoop about it all though.

The next stop was Rue Higgins, Chateguay, where two Red-bellied Woodpeckers put on a show and a Carolina Wren popped in to join the rest of the feeder tenders. Ste-Catherines was next, not too  much on show and chilly, it would be really good if there was some sort of parking viewing there from the top of the hillside there, we had a quick look from the no parking sign  but it was not ideal. Our final stop was Nun’s Island where, after a bit of looking (for the stamped down snow!), one of the rufous form Eastern Screech-Owls sat imperiously at the entrance to its hole. Later Marcus picked up a Winter Wren picking its way under and along the snow covered boardwalk.

Below a few photos of the day, enjoy.

We returned home via Casselman, seeing a dark Rough-legged Hawk, the absolutely obligatory Snowy Owl (so easy there) and a flock of several hundred Snow Buntings. Not bad for a few hours and we got a Tim’s coffee and lasagne for lunch.

Snaps below, the Snow Bunt photos just give you an idea of the flock, the fields are full of them. Feel free to click on the big group and count them if you have no sort of social life, it passes the time!

The change of landscape has seen the garden feeders working overtime, the Pileated Woodpeckers have been particularly busy, interestingly, when they are attending the smaller birds hang back. I counted that the Black-capped Chickadees visited the Sunflower seed bucket 27 times in four minutes but only twice in the same period when the Pileateds where around. My Sunflower seed bucket is actually a recycled hanging basket holder of the type you are now expected to dump after one season, they make a great bulk feeder.

After snow dumps, the white birds around the St-Clet lanes tend to be braver and so it turned out when we nipped out for an hour or so this afternoon. One of the female Snowy Owls sat on a house roof not too far from the road. Although the bird was well placed for viewing and digiscoping, the lack of snow on the roof was a clue as to why that spot was popular, the heat haze coming off the roof meant that the shots are only of record quality.

The excitement of the big hole and the men who looked into it (Bernard Cribbins, sadly missed and don’t worry if you don’t get it, few will) meant that I was restricted to waving my lens at the feeder birds. The temps are just about in the positive during the day at the moment and so the feeders are mainly attended by Black-capped Chickadees and both nuthatches.

One interesting bird news item locally is the presence of a Harris’s Sparrow out near where the invisible goose was (posts passim) in the Richeleu Valley. I’ve only seen one once before, in a back garden out near Trois Rivieres and so will go and look for this one but.. ATTENTION, PROPRIÉTÉ PRIVÉE! says the bird news web site, so perhaps this one will be a hard find. Incidentally congratulations must go to Louise Simard for her rare birds in Quebec site, she has just passed the five million hits mark, if you have never visited here is the link http://www.quebecoiseaux.org/index.php?option=com_oiseauxrares&Itemid=133 to todays page, its in French, naturally, it really is the main supplier of rare bird information in Quebec.

At first glance it looks to be a welcome addition to the available literature on odonata in North America although I suspect the Quebec data is out of date, simply because there appears to be little accessible information regarding the status of odes in Quebec since the 90s. The guide is illustrated by photographs, in the same manner of the companion western version, which has been available for some time. I have a backlog of dragonfly images that I have been waiting to work on and will be putting the new guide to work over the next few weeks. The next step in popularising odonata in North America, and providing a true field guide is to produce an illustrated guide on a par with the excellent European publication, in the meantime, this will do nicely.

The feeders were quiet, not a grosbeak year, but the driving loop was quite good value and the animals in their winter furs looked very smart. A new addition since our last visit was a group of Arctic Foxes and a young male Moose. We were quite surprised to see the Black Bears up and about, the weather was around -4 but they were waddling around having piled on fat for the winter. I presume when they wake up like this they are only active for short periods, I don’t know whether they eject their anal plugs created at the onset of hibernation or whether that happens once in spring, either way, when they do eject them you do not want to be stood behind one.

Whether you like places like Parc Omega or not and they are contentious places for the purist, there is a big benefit in showing people, especially kids, what animals that are out there look like. A general interest in wildlife can develop into a passion in later life and if seeing a few captive Arctic Foxes skitter around their pens plants a seed, good. Anyone thinking of going over to Parc Omega, Highway 50 is now open and takes you all the way there, no more slowing down for all those little towns.

Below a couple of shots of Common Raven and a winter male Wild Turkey followed by a few of the captive animals.

First up is an Arctic Fox, not quite in its full white ‘plumage’. The Arctic Foxes were very vocal and active and knew very well that they were being gawped at.

Next are a couple of Timber Wolf shots.  We once saw and Eastern Grey Wolf at Tremblant, it crossed the road right in front of us. We later heard that one had actually been in he camp ground and had woken some kid by licking his ear, neat.

The Black Bears were very lardy, more ass than anything else, this gets them through the Quebec winter, this year they have not had it so bad, I hope the relatively mild winter continues, even at the expense of no skiing which I can live without, I have done so far.

Below are a couple of Coyote shots. They can be easily found around the St-Clet fields in winter, hunters go after them with skidoos. I once saw one legging it across the fields with an oven-ready Chicken in its mouth, no lunch for Granny.

Last but not least, Arctic Wolf, these lads are very impressive, they have a calculating stare. You really would not want one of these hanging by it’s jaws off your tender bits.

The first is a slightly out of focus action shot. The Northern Flicker was busy doing what they do, exploring a utility pole for a snack, nearby a box held a pair of American Kestrels with young. I was focusing on the pole, waiting for the flicker to emerge from the back of the pole (how do they always know which is the back of any given pole or tree?) when suddenly the Amercian Kestrel launched itself at the flicker, which naturally took evasive action. Even though the shot is out of pin sharp focus, the lighting and the poses accentuate the action.

The second shot shows a couple of Red Fox cubs, seemingly playing copycat (or fox) while having a good scratch. These were part of six or so that were messing about in a field out in the boondocks near Huntingdon, Quebec. A parent stood at the back of the field watching and the cubs were just bouncing around the field until I showed up. The road was gravel and I was at about 50kph when I rounded a bend and saw the action. Braking, opening the window, steering with my good knee, grabbing the camera, turning it on and getting it to focus took seconds, the foxes seemed surprised and lingered for perhaps 15 seconds more before scampering back to the den. One shot, no great depth of field but a pleasing view, pity I didn’t have it on rapid fire.

The full list in order of observation was: Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch, Blue Jay, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Mourning Dove, American Robin, Starling, Common Raven, Northern Grey Shrike, Northern Cardinal, Rough-legged Hawk, Rock Dove, House Sparrow, Grey Partridge, Horned Lark, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting, Common Grackle, Red-tailed Hawk, Mallard, Common Goldeneye, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Tree Sparrow, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Long-tailed Duck, American Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Common Loon, Tufted Titmouse, Rusty Blackbird.

Below is a map to orientate you as to where we went today and where I regularly go birding and report from, courtesy of GoggleEarth.

At the end of each year I write up the statistics for the year relating to how much or how little I actually got out birding. This year I made a concious effort to get out more.

Birding days out – i.e going out specifically to look for birds & wildlife = 293 making a life total of 7366.

Visits to St-Lazare sand pits birding etc. = 228 making a life total of 1090.

Life lists: World –  2614, ABA area list  – 550, Quebec list  – 316, Pits list  – 208.

2011 year list 467, 2011 Quebec year list 227. 2011 pits year list 163.

Quebec continued to frustrate where rarities are concerned and I missed a few things and resolved not to travel far unless I can make a proper trip of it.

The North American list was bolstered by the Arizona trip with hopefully more to follow, yes you can see 740 North American species in a year with luck, effort and resources, I suspect I can only claim one of those criterea, the middle one. The same Arizona trip added to the World list, for that to increase significantly in the future a few trips are needed, trips currently outside of our scope but who knows?

Next year could be interesting. I intend to consolodate the dragonflies, work on the butterflies and keep on with those birds. I might need to think about my local patch but I say that every year and still end up down there and still get pleasantly surprised sometimes.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog, all 185 posts (I’m sort of presuming some of you did get past the Snow Bunting) and I will strive to entertain and inform next year when I may carry on with my memoirs, click on 1981 at the begining of the post if you don’t know what I mean. I’ll also be constructing my bird guiding pages in January so we will see where that goes.

Good birding.

Mark (and Sandra)