On Saturday, January 5th, the YMs spent the morning identifying birds on the Macnamara Trail in Arnprior.  The very first bird we saw was the local and ever charismatic Black-Capped Chickadee.  Walking along the trail, we decided to head directly to the bird feeders to see what we could see, and return at a slower pace.  At the feeders, we were happy to see a small variety of birds waiting for us.  Several Chickadees, White-Breasted Nuthatch, and a Downy Woodpecker were enjoying the feeders and generally not deterred by our presence.  We were able to get very close looks at these individuals, and count the numbers in the area.  Once we had finished our counting, we returned to the front of the trail, after Alicia gave us some interpretive lessons on what we saw.  There were many woodpecker holes, and we discussed the differences in size, especially for the Pileated Woodpecker!  

Our next stop was to Alicia’s house to see her backyard feeders, and enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies.  Special thanks to Monique for supplying the goodies! The otherwise active feeders were a little sleepy this morning, but we did see a large number of Common Redpolls.  Everyone had a good time warming up inside, and having good conversation before we all had to go back to school after the winter holidays!  After everyone left, Alicia reported that a Cooper’s Hawk came to the feeders and scared all the birds away!  The total species count for this outing was 20.  Thanks to everyone who came along!