Monday, February 20, 2012

Carden in Winter

It's official: Shrikes love the Carden Alvar; Loggerhead Shrikes in the summer, and Northern Shrikes in the winter. On a quick drive through Carden Alvar today we saw four Northern Shrikes. Maybe that's not unusual for some people, but last year I only saw one Northern Shrike in total, and that wasn't until the end of December.

Northern Shrike

We didn't have time to drive up Wylie Road, and Alvar Road was too snowed in for us to risk travelling on, but just by driving south on Victoria Road and then west on McNamee Road, we picked up a few new birds for the year. This included our first Snow Buntings that with the mild weather have been scarcer than usual.

Ruffed Grouse
White-winged Crossbill


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