Over the Christmas break (December 22nd 2011) I went birding at Amherst Island near Kingston. This was my first time using my new camera. My dad and I set out to look for owls and a Purple Sandpiper that had been reported there days before by Bruce (http://brucedilabio.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html).
It was a gorgeous winter day on Amherst island after storms the days before. We arrived later than we had wanted to and took the ferry over scrounging up as much change as we could find and barely making it on.
At the dock in Millhaven we saw Goldeneye (above), Canada geese, Mallard ducks, ring billed gulls, bufflehead, sharp-tailed duck and scaup before even getting to Stella.
Driving up and down the Stella 40 Foot Road we saw multiple hawk species including Rough-legged hawks, Red-tailed hawks and marsh hawks. We also saw bluejays, starlings, house sparrows
The same snowy owl as seen by Bruce was in the same tree on the NE side of the island on Front Road.
Further down Front Road was another Snowy sitting in a field that I think I took a hundred pictures of.
White breasted nuthatches and black-capped chickadees frequented the feeders in owl woods as I chased a Red-bellied woodpecker around trying to get a decent picture of it (which didn't happen). Also in owl woods there was recent evidence (scat and fresh pellets) but no owls were found despite hours of searching.Tree sparrows were seen close to owl woods.
As the night came and we headed back towards Stella we saw what was likely the short eared owls flying in fields along Front Road but they were to far away for a good picture.
We got 18 species in total and could probably have gotten about 30-40 if we had looked more since we were missing some common birds. The day ended and we drove back to Ottawa disappointed to have not seen the Purple Sandpiper or Saw-whets but satisfied with the day and very hungry.
