Weekend in the Boreal

Sat Dec.19th 2009

After the bad cold snap of -40 c for the past week, we decided to take a trip north into the Boreal Forest to look for some owls. We arrived just as the sun came up and found out first hawk owl around 10am. It was off in the distance but eventually came closer to the road and perched on a power line. Within seconds it was caught, banded and measurements were taken. It was a young bird fom this summer.

We continued driving west and managed to see 9 more hawk owls and 4 Great Grays. We ended our trip banding 8 hawk owls and 2 Great Grays. It was an excellent day and seeing that many owls is always a nice surprise. I know alot of people down south who would love to see the northern owl species, especially in numbers that high.

Newly banded Great Gray Owl

American Dipper in Saskatoon

After hearing about the American Dipper by the weir in Saskatoon from Guy Wapple I wanted to check it out for myself. I hadn't seen one since 2001 while birding in Squamish BC for the eagle festival. We found a few of them fishing for salmon eggs as they were being laid. This little guy was fishing along the South Saskatchewan River eating minnows. I wonder where it is now, its -40 C tonight and I wonder if it is still along the river dodging ice flows.

Rough-legged Hawk & Northern Goshawk

Rough-legged Hawk

Went up north this past weekend to look for owls to band. We did see a Northern Hawk owl which quickly flew away and a gray phase Gyrfalcon who was eating lunch so we couldn't get setup for it. It carried whatever it was eating off to a fence post.
We did however come across 4 Rough-legged hawks though and the first one we saw, we caught right away. Was a beautiful day but not much for owls and so we decided to head home early.

I received a call from Shayne that there was another hawk bouncing around in the Goshawk trap so I headed out and there was this nice massive female Northern Goshawk in the trap. She wasn't happy to have me pin her down and tied up her feet.
I was happy that I was able to get her legs before she could grab me. Biggest Goshawk I've ever caught, this is 4 Northern Goshawks in 2 years. Hope it keeps up and it would be nice to catch an adult which look a lot different then these juveniles.

Northern Goshawk

Kestrel Boxes

July 18 2009


I got four days off of my busy schedule working for the Alberta Gov't so Michelle and I decided to head back to Saskatchewan for our days off and to check on the last of my kestrel boxes. Out of the 10 we checked we came up with two late nests. The rest of the boxes were occupied but we were too late. The birds that used them were long gone. Of the two boxes that contained young the first had five young, 4 males and one female and the other had three young, 2 males and one female.

© Mike Blom 2009

Spring Is Here!!!

March.16th 2009


After a long hard week of school/midterms the weather warmed up and the spring birds arrived 2 weks early. On my way out to my proff's place to check the Goshawk trap I noticed this female kestrel hunting in an abandoned farmyard just off the main highway. As soon as the trap was placed she came in like a heat seeking missile and was caught almost instantly.

Female kestrel

After banding her and taking a few measurements she was released and I was back on my way. I decided to check out the area south of Lindsay where most of the snowy owls turned up this past winter. I found 3 snowies, one younger male who was sleeping on a fence post. Another kestrel flew over and landed on the wires to the north. It was a male and he was caught just as fast as the female before him. Banded, measured then released.

Male Kestrel

After all that was done I headed back to school to meet up with Dave. He asked me to go out and try for some more after seeing the pictures of the two, so we headed out for another stint. All we could come up with though was a northern shrike which didn't waste anytime after the trap was dropped. After loosing a few drops of blood and alot of skin (Dave and myself) Shrikes are the worst possible bird to band! We set it free. It was a SY (second year) bird.

Northern Shrike

Great Horned Owl

JAn.26 2009

After work I went out just as it was getting dark, I had the massive female snowy owl in mind at the Lindsay airport. I setup my pigeon and pole net and she came in hard and fast and went completely through my net. No luck!

I took everything down and headed for home when I noticed this Great Horned owl hunting from the same spot the snowy used to hunt. This bird must have pushed her out of her hunting area. I tossed down my balchatri and before i could get back into the truck this owl was caught! This owl was an SY (second year) bird and it weighed in at 1520 grms and it's wing chord was 400mm. These horned owls are almost black compared to the ones back in Saskatchewan. My total now for snowy owls observed in the Lindsay area is 10, they seem to be on the move now.

Snowy Owls

November 25th 2008

Since moving to the City Of Kawartha Lakes 3 years ago I haven't yet managed to come across a single snowy owl until today. I found this HY (hatch-year) male sitting up on one of the poles at the Lindsay airport. I have been banding snowy owls since 2005 back in Saskatchewan, where i'm originally from and have been searching for these beautiful birds since I received my Ontario banding permits in 2006. This young male was in excellent condition weighing in at 1460 grms.

I am partnered up with a fellow bander doing a winter study on these owls for the remainder of the winter here within the City of Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough County and Simcoe County, if anyone has any sightings, I would really appreciate times and locations of SNOW's.

Thank you very much!