Day 2, Owls 2

Yesterday, my dad and I decided to go birding, and we decided to go to the south-western portion of Lambton. I had 3 personal goal birds for this trip, of which, in the end, we got all 3! But on the drive down there we also got some good and/or year birds! For example, near Rutherford, on Oil Heritage Rd, we spotted a large Buteo sp. in a tree right beside a field, once we got a bit closer, it turned out to be my first Rough-legged Hawk of the year! We decided we wanted pictures, so we turned the car around and took a few poor but ID'able pics. But the bigger surprise was, climbing trees, surrounded by field, was a little Brown Creeper! Another Year Bird! Which wouldn't'v been seen if we didn't turn around for the Rough-leg.

But soon enough, we were back on our trip towards our first stop. Our first stop is the place that last year, at the SFN CBC, I got my lifer Short-eared Owl. This year, because we split into two groups, I didn't go there, but, the people that did, flushed up 4! So I figured they should still be there. But a couple km down the road from there, we spotted some weird, camo, birds sitting on a stump on the other side of the ditch. What was it? A Short-eared Owl! We quickly turned around and started taking pictures. Sadly, none of mine turned out as good as I had hoped, but some of my dads are really good! Here is the best one I took:

 It was a very beautiful bird, and was the first time I'd seen them not in flight! Definitely the highlight of the day!

So we made our way to the location we expected Short-eareds, but as we walked all along the grass, none were flushed! But I did actually get two new for year species whilst we were there, a calling Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a Northern Shrike chasing another bird along the forest! Shrike was another of my goal birds for the day, so that's 2-down, 1-to go.
Our final location is where we have gotten Long-eared Owls both CBC's we have done. And today was no different, as my dad walked through trying to flush them, I was at the end watching the get flushed out! We saw at leased 8! As I was watching them flush, I was trying to get pics, but, they are so dang fast!! No possible way to catch them!
So that's 3/3 of my goal birds for the day! And soon enough it was time to head home.
So after day two of birding, I am up to 52 species for the year!

Good Birding!