Toronto Ice Storm 2013

Some of you out there may not know that Southern Ontario got hit with a pretty nasty ice storm the weekend before Christmas.  In the eyes of some in other parts, it wasn't that bad, just because they had seen worse...  like Quebec had in 1998 I believe where many people were without power for 3 weeks or more!  But for myself, family, friends and most people around here, we had never experienced anything like this.  The devastation...

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Snowy Owls #5 and #6

The Snowy Owl invasion continues and I follow reports along with my own gut feelings about these birds whereabouts and came across 2 more Owls recently.  Oh, and #4 surfaced yet again!Snowy Owl #5 was way the heck out on a pier in a lakefront park in Mississauga.  I was scanning the area and something caught my eye far off in the distance.  I guess it was the shape if nothing else.  And in my bins I was second and third guessing...

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Wooly... Snowy!

I was on my way home from work last night and I saw my fourth Snowy Owl.  He was sitting on the guard rail along highway 401 just over highway 410.  It freaked the heck out of me, just wasn't what I thought I would see mere feet from the truck and eye level.  Just like others I have seen over the years along the 401, it's the bird that escapes a photo because it's just plain suicidal to try and do such things on a busy highway, never...

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Hello Mockingbird!

I started the 2013/2014 season of Project Feeder Watch about 1 month ago.  I'm not sure how many years I've been doing it but it is getting near a decade now.One day, so long ago, our now friends Jim and Lynda from the Etobicoke Wild Birds Unlimited store suggested to me that I do the counting for Bird Studies Canada and become a 'citizen scientist' after I was telling them I was marking our kitchen calendar everyday with bird sightings.I still...

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Here Come the Snowys... again

Wow, I can't believe we are in the midst of another Snowy Owl invasion!  It was only 2 years ago since the last one.  Yet somehow this one sure seems bigger or I am just reading and hearing a lot more this time around.The birds are just popping up everywhere!  Earlier this week there was a count of approximately 200 in Newfoundland.  The Snowys were making news as authorities wanted to cull the birds around JFK airport in New...

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Rob to the rescue again, sort of

Wednesday December 4th was my first day back on the job after 7.5 weeks away due to a shoulder injury.  I knew it was going to be a very long, and probably rough day.  I've been so used to getting up before 7am, napping in the afternoon, and just going to bed whenever...  meaning, not having much of a routine.I made it through the day, being up real early, no nap, an 8 hour shift and home by 10:30pm.  And I found myself still...

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