Birding in the Carman area is pretty good, providing a good variety of birds.
On Sunday 21 March 2010 we finally got some pictures of a Pileated Woodpecker we have seen fly by at a distance and heard call many times.
We heard it call close by and stopped, a moment later the Pileated landed about 75' away. I took several pictures, but unfortunately there were several small branches that obscurred the bird and the pictures were not of good quality. I tried to move closer to the Pileated but walking on crusty snow I didn't get much more than 10' before it flew off. I continued on into the treed area, but the Pileated had gone. I did find several pieces of ancient farm equipment about 50' beyond where the Pileated had been.
We will return to the area in the next few days to place a suet feeder and seed feeder, then sit and wait. There are many small birds in the area so we should have at least several different types of birds to photograph until the Pileated turns up. As well the farm equipment should provide numerous photo's.
During the winter we regularly see White and Red Breasted Nuthatches, House Sparrows, House Finches, American Goldfinches, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Pine finches, Blue Jays and Black Capped Chickadees.
Last summer we had more than 20 different types of birds at our feeders in town.
Hawks out here are quite numerous and last fall we saw 3 Bald Eagles in the area.
We are close to the northern limit of a number of birds so we hope to see some of them in our travels.
This spring we plan to go further afield to areas south of Morden and West. We also hope to go East to the Manitoba Ontario border as that is the boundary for many Eastern birds.
We have seen 4 fairly uncommon birds in Carman since last summer; a Red Headed Woodpecker in the summer, a Swainson's Thrush also in the summer, in March 2010 an Eastern Screech Owl and of course the Pileated Woodpecker yesterday.
On Sunday 21 March 2010 we finally got some pictures of a Pileated Woodpecker we have seen fly by at a distance and heard call many times.
We heard it call close by and stopped, a moment later the Pileated landed about 75' away. I took several pictures, but unfortunately there were several small branches that obscurred the bird and the pictures were not of good quality. I tried to move closer to the Pileated but walking on crusty snow I didn't get much more than 10' before it flew off. I continued on into the treed area, but the Pileated had gone. I did find several pieces of ancient farm equipment about 50' beyond where the Pileated had been.
We will return to the area in the next few days to place a suet feeder and seed feeder, then sit and wait. There are many small birds in the area so we should have at least several different types of birds to photograph until the Pileated turns up. As well the farm equipment should provide numerous photo's.
During the winter we regularly see White and Red Breasted Nuthatches, House Sparrows, House Finches, American Goldfinches, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Pine finches, Blue Jays and Black Capped Chickadees.
Last summer we had more than 20 different types of birds at our feeders in town.
Hawks out here are quite numerous and last fall we saw 3 Bald Eagles in the area.
We are close to the northern limit of a number of birds so we hope to see some of them in our travels.
This spring we plan to go further afield to areas south of Morden and West. We also hope to go East to the Manitoba Ontario border as that is the boundary for many Eastern birds.
We have seen 4 fairly uncommon birds in Carman since last summer; a Red Headed Woodpecker in the summer, a Swainson's Thrush also in the summer, in March 2010 an Eastern Screech Owl and of course the Pileated Woodpecker yesterday.
