Oxford Spring Birds

By Andreas Trepte (European Robin)

Despite it being technically winter, the weather has been incredibly mild and many of the local birds have come out and started pairing off for spring.

There are far fewer birds here than in Hamilton but they are more varied as well. Sparrows and starlings are the most common birds in urban Ontario since they were brought over from Europe by colonists. However, I have yet to see either of them on their home turf. Instead, the most common bird is the woodpigeon closely followed by magpies and ravens.

By Mark Medcalf (Had a Good Jay Out)

European robins, which are no bigger than a sparrow, seem to be the most vocal of the British birds. Most mornings I can hear them calling from the garden outside my window. Although the semi-domesticated mallards that live in University park are the winners if you count each individual quack.

Coal tits, which look identical to chickadees except for a patch of white on the nape, are also common but much more shy than the birds above. They disappear into bushes or hedges as soon as you catch sight of them. Coal tits also have a very similar song to the chickadee, but the syllables are less distinct.




The most interesting looking bird I've seen so far was a jay. They have black, blue and white patches on their wings which cause them to give a burst of colours when they take off. Closely following the jay, is the pheasant which I caught a glimps of in a farm across the river from University park. However, it was too far off to get a good look.

By Mary and Angus Hogg (Red Kite at Bellymak Hill)

Finally the most unusual bird I've seen is a Red Kite which where nearly extinct a mere 100 years ago but have rebounded following a successful re-introduction program. The red kite is essentially a very large hawk with distinctive white bars on the underside of the wing, clearly visible when it is lazily circling in an updraft.












Image Sources (I keep forgetting to bring by camera along so I thank these people for putting their photos up under Creative Commons liscences)
 
By Andreas Trepte (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

By Mark Medcalf (Had a Good Jay OutUploaded by snowmanradio) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Red Kite at Bellymack Hill (Mary and Angus Hogg) / CC BY-SA 2.0