Chirps and Cheeps

A Photo Journal of My Birding Adventures & Observations

My birding blog site


  February Birding

Published: October 20, 2016
Tags: General Observations, winter birding, eastern screech-owl, little gull, cedar waxwing, american kestrel, pileated woodpecker, fish crow, eurasian-collared dove, black-capped chickadee, rough-legged hawk, horned lark, snow goose, red-shouldered hawk, american tree sparrow, merlin

My apologies for being so delinquent in making any posts most of this year.  I've become a little disheartened in a lot of the impact social media has had on my favorite pastime but I've been thinking that I shouldn't be put off quite as much as I have been. So - in an effort to update my blog, I'll be posting some birding I did during the year - but by the month until I'm caught up!  It's a little bit crazy of an approach - and each post will probably hit a variety of places, birds, and adventures, but it's the only way I can think of to get caught up.  So here goes my first post - February 2016!

February is a good month to see some of our winter visitors, typically a few types of finches, owls, and hawks.  I did have a couple of Snowy Owl sightings, but not many this winter.  The same went for Short-eared Owls.  And I saw ZERO Northern Saw-whet Owls this past winter!  I was rather turned off by the crowds of people who come out for these cuties so I found myself avoiding the very creatures I adore.  Not good!  This next year will be better!

A couple of very nice sightings were of a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk, many huge flocks of Snow Geese, an off-course Western Tanager, a little Eastern Screech-Owl, and a handful of other birds that weren't notable - just nice!

blog photo
Eastern Screech-Owl enjoying some sunshine.

blog photo
Two Little Gulls (one visible) at Devil's Hole in Niagara Falls

blog photo
Cedar - not Bohemian Waxwing!

blog photo
American Kestrel in Dunkirk

blog photo
Pileated Woodpecker in Rochester

blog photo
A Fish Crow in Rochester - uh uh!

blog photo
Eurasian-collared Dove

blog photo
Horned Lark in a snowy field

blog photo
Rough-legged Hawk

blog photo
Rough-legged Hawk

blog photo
Black-capped Chickadee

blog photo
A poor photo of a beautiful pair of Red-shouldered Hawks

blog photo
Thousands and thousands of Snow Geese were seen this day - this photo doesn't do the spectacular sight justice!

blog photo
A little closer view

blog photo
American Tree Sparrow

blog photo
Western Tanager

blog photo
Western Tanager

blog photo
Merlin in East Aurora



button link to my bird search