Stéphane’s Posting for Oct. 21/10

The First Snow

In a curious conflagration of South and North, we got thunderstorms yesterday evening after a day of intensely strong and warm south winds, while at the same time, 2 Snow Buntings (the first of the fall detected here) were seen at Dyer’s Bay dock. And today, as we enjoyed the first snow of the incoming winter, we captured and banded a Southerner, a young female Red-bellied Woodpecker. This species was completely absent of the Bruce Peninsula as little as 20 years ago but now breeds in several locations (according to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas).

More appropriate for this kind of weather and time of year was the one male White-winged Crossbill seen on top of a spruce, deftly feeding on a cone. As well, the first Northern Shrike of the season was expected (and almost predicted, when I said to Maggie that it was a “Northern Shrike weather”).

Stéphane