Good afternoon Ontbirders. It's not too often that I get to make a report so early in the day but thanks to Stan Bajurny's and my successful morning in Minden we came home early.
The day started out slowly as we checked out the Crabapple tree reported in an earlier report and all we came up with is a tree covered with frost. In fact all the trees, buildings, bushes, etc. were covered in frost, it was a nice sight. We then started to drive the streets and residential roads southwest of the bridge starting beside the Hospital where we found about 50 Common Redpolls and on some other streets at feeders another 75 or so Common Redpolls. We then headed back to the Crabapple tree, nothing. We drove past the tree and turned around and Stan said there's a bird in the Crabapple tree that turned out to be a beautiful Bohemian Waxwing not 30 feet in front of us in the frost and sun.. After we watched this little beauty for awhile we again headed south and west of the bridge and up Bobcaygeon Road. About 300 yards up this road we stopped to look at 4 Ruffed Grouse up in a tree feeding on buds and a good look at them we had and they also let us drive under them without flushing. Further along the road we came upon some feeders with 6 Common Redpolls and a single Hoary Redpoll feeding with 8 B-C Chickadees and overhead a Common Raven, the second of 12 Ravens in the Minden area. Happy with the birds so far we again headed for the Crabapple tree and as we turned the corner we could see that there was more than one bird in the tree this time. The other birds turned out to be 6 female Pine Grosbeaks and again we had close up looks and in fact as close as about 10 feet away beside the open van window. On our way home along Hwy 48 just west of Port Bolster (north of Pefferlaw) we spotted some Wild Turkeys in a field on the north side of the highway. We drove ahead to Brock-Thorah Townline West to turn around and here we spotted a Porcupine feeding in a tree. We headed back to the Turkeys (just east of Brock Road 17), parked and counted 53 birds and even witnessed the spectacle of them all flying for about 50 feet. A nice end to a nice day. DIRECTIONS Minden is north of Lindsay on Hwy 35 (which starts as Hwys 35/115 at exit 436 on Hwy 401 east of Oshawa. In Minden to get to the Crabapple tree turn left (west) off of Hwy 35 on Main Street, drive to the bridge over Gull River and immediately turn right and the crabapple tree is on your right and is the 1st tree you will see. The Waxwings and Grosbeaks have been reported there from at least Jan. 22nd. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Eliminate annoying spam! My mailbox is protected by iHateSpam, the #1-rated spam buster." http://www.ihatespam.net "Norm Murr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
