London Calling

 

My first full winter living in the Algonquin Park area has gone exactly, if not better than, I hoped for. There has been plenty of snow and wildlife to photograph, specifically moose, wolves, otters, and several bird species, with winter finches being a highlight. The birds visiting my feeders include a flock of about 20 common redpolls, which has been a pleasure to watch.

 

Despite this, I found myself missing some birds that do not reside in this area, particularly the northern cardinal and my favourite bird, the red-bellied woodpecker.

 

I travel back to London twice a month for a day trip to visit my dad, who now resides in long-term care as he lives with dementia. It’s a long day, but I love seeing him light up when I enter the room, and despite him being mostly non-verbal, he still laughs when I do something immature or say something off-colour. Our shared warped sense of humour has been a big part of our relationship, just like our love of nature has.

Last week, I decided to take my camera with me on my trip back to The Forest City and visit a couple of my favourite hotspots before heading over to see my dad. I hoped to see and photograph the cardinals and red-bellied woodpecker I had been missing.

 

I left home just after 5:00 a.m. and headed straight to Fanshawe Conservation Area, where there is always an abundance of cardinals to see. Arriving just after 10:00 a.m., it wasn’t long before I saw my first cardinal. Several other birds I hadn’t seen in a while were also present, with dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, and American tree sparrows also perched in the dense thicket. Juncos and American tree sparrows do overwinter in my current location; however, eBird lists them as rare, and I’ve only seen a few.

 

Most times when I visit Fanshawe in winter, I take some black-oil sunflower seeds to feed the birds, and I put some out on the ground on this occasion. After doing so, quite a variety of birds appeared, and in the tree behind me, I heard the churr, churr, churr call of a red-bellied woodpecker.  

 

While at Fanshawe, I had my picture taken by Mike Hensen of the London Free Press. Mike is a blog subscriber, and we’ve met a few times in the past. We chatted for a bit, and Mike asked me about the gloves I was wearing, which I recently blogged about in my post Warm Gloves For Wildlife Photography In 2026. Having spent a few hours at Fanshawe, I decided to head to my favourite birding area in London, Greenway Park, to see if any bald eagles were present and what interesting waterfowl might be on the river.

 

As I approached Greenway while still driving, I saw an adult bald eagle soaring overhead. I hoped this was a sign of good things to come. Entering the park, I saw another bald eagle perched in a tree across from the outflow of the pollution plant.

 

I parked at the main parking lot and headed for the lookout over the river. I observed hundreds of mallards and Canada geese, two more species that are almost nonexistent where I currently live. I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve heard the honk of a Canada goose.

 

Making my way upstream in the direction of the eagle, many of the ducks that typically overwinter on the Thames were seen: hooded merganser, common goldeneye, common merganser, and bufflehead. As I carried on, I saw a small group of my dad’s favourite duck, the redhead, both males and females. Further upstream, two greater scaup were swimming on the far side of the river.

 

Now at the eagle, I raised my camera and captured several images. I waited here patiently for several minutes, hoping the eagle would take to the air and I could capture some flight shots. A fellow birder approached, and we shared our observations. I didn’t catch the woman’s name, but she asked, “Did you see the harlequin duck?” I asked where, and she divulged it was in the rapids under the Guy Lombardo Bridge.

 

I dropped the eagle like a hot potato and headed back across the park towards the bridge. Looking in the rapids on the near side of the first abutment, there was a female harlequin duck. I dialed in my settings and captured several images as the bird moved upstream. I have observed harlequin ducks on the Thames River before and have always been amazed at how powerful swimmers they are in the strong current. On a few occasions, the bird flew just upstream of the fast-moving water and drifted back with the current as it dove, searching for food. I really liked the images I shot of the bird with its wings up against the white water and thought to myself, “If only this were a stunning male in breeding plumage.”  

 

Checking the time, I had to be on my way, as I was meeting my sister at 3:30 to see Dad, so I headed for the car. Exiting the park, two white-tailed deer bedded down in the snow caught my eye. I pulled over and captured a few images before saying to myself, “I really have to get going.”

 

I had a nice visit with my dad and sister, and left after getting Dad seated for dinner. I had a long drive ahead of me, but the memories of the day felt like adrenaline and kept me alert on route, or maybe it was the 20 ounces of coffee my sister poured in my travel mug.

 

If you are looking for great places to observe birds in London, Ontario, I can’t recommend Fanshawe Conservation Area and Greenway Park enough. Admission to Fanshawe is free during the winter months, and all of the birds I mentioned can be seen at the start of the Tamarack Trail. If you don’t want to spend time in the cold or have mobility issues, you don’t even have to exit your car.

 

The City of London parks department plows and salts the asphalt bikeway from Greenway Park to Springbank Park, as far as the Byron bridge, making it easy to walk in winter conditions.  

 

Getting out and enjoying nature is a great way to make the winter months fly by, so if you’ve had enough of winter, need your fix of birds, or want to introduce your kids or grandkids to nature this Family Day long-weekend, give these locations a try, I’m sure you’ll be happy you did.

 

Good birding,
Paul