On the Water: January 1 to February 1 Bird Sightings

Grand River Kitchener ON- January 2022

Today is Groundhog Day, Candlemas, and the halfway point between winter solstice and spring equinox. The days are noticeably longer and birds are preparing for spring. This is also World Wetlands Day, with the hashtag #ActForWetlands. 

The Pioneer Tower, which marks the area where my husband's ancestors settled in this region over 200 years ago, is opposite one of our city's wastewater treatment plants. The effluent from the plant enters the river and keeps ice from forming, even when it is extremely cold as the past month has been. Many waterbirds from areas to the north spend the winter here.

Hooded Mergansers

A pair of Hooded Mergansers dove for small fish on the opposite bank from the trail where I was walking. Waterbirds wear their best plumage from fall to spring making it easy to identify males from females. By summer the fancy feathers will have worn off. 

Canada Geese

This was a cold day and a Canada Goose stood on one leg and then the other as if it was trying to keep at least one foot warm. It is hard to believe that Canada Geese were scarce in the mid-20th century due to previous overhunting and more recent wetland habitat losses. 

Male Common Merganser

Common Mergansers also spend winters in our area. When we see these birds on Manitoulin Island in the summer where they breed and the males do not look like this at all. 

Male and female Common Goldeneye Ducks

There is an abundance of Common Goldeneye ducks on the river this winter. The heads of the male birds are iridescent and appear green or black depending on the light. Females have brown plumage. 

Female Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfishers are found year-round in southern Ontario but they need open water as they perform a noisy, head-first dive for small fish. I heard this female Kingfisher before I found her with her rust-coloured belt, fluffed up for warmth.

These ducks spend their non-breeding months on rivers and lakes but will nest in wetland marshes and swamps. The Kingfisher nests in deep burrows in earthen river banks. Over 70% of southern Ontario wetlands have been drained and filled in for farming and other development. Urban sprawl continues to threaten natural areas but there is increasing awareness of the importance of wetlands and the species they support.