To The National Capital...

Recently I visited Ottawa and managed to take advantage of some pretty clear weather to get out a lot.  I went to Kanata to see the Gray Partridges that have been seen pretty much every day.  Every day, that is, except for the three in a row where I hung out behind Canadian Tire looking all around for them.  Seriously, did they just take a few days off?  Despite spending quite a lot of time looking for stuff around Ottawa and Gatineau, I really didn't find all that much outside of the usual suspects.  I did find some crossbills in Gatineau.

Crossbills are one of my favourites.  I think they're just great to look at.

One winter in Hokkaido, a flock or two of crossbills came down to Hakodate and spent a good part of the winter and early spring feeding on pine cones along the river. They were quite tame and would hang upside down only a few feet away while posing really nicely in the sunshine. Here's one from Hakodate.

While I was in Gatineau, the deer were also obliging.

A last walk through some beautiful forest just east of the city turned up little but for some regulars.  I have soft spot for nuthatches too.

I've got a week off coming up. I haven't seen any owls this winter at all (!) so I'm going to spend some time chasing some.  Almost unbelievably, I've never seen a short-eared owl so I'm going to try and track one down as well as finding some of the many snowy owls that have made their way south this winter.  Hopefully they all stick around for a couple of weeks longer to give me a chance to see them in between college basketball games.