Gilligallou's Blog — Fall Birding

In addition to our chickadees, nuthatches and winter finches, owls are an absolute favourite of ours and many others. This is a great time of year to grab a friend or two, head out into the field and organize your own owl prowl and see what kind of species you can find here in the greater Ottawa area.

Welcome to October, birders!  As we head into the final quarter of 2019, it’s an exciting time of year both inside the store and out there in the great outdoors. As the leaves continue to turn colours, it won’t be long until our deciduous trees are completely bare from their beautiful fall colours as they prepare for the winter months. The same can be said for our backyard birds as many are still either preparing to take off or are simply passing through our area in search of food and slightly warmer climates. While migration certainly does take centre stage...

In tandem with this year’s annual finch forecast, we thought it would be timely to touch on a few helpful hints and tips that can prepare your yard for a possible visit from a finch or two. There is definitely a lot that goes into our chances of spotting house finches, purple finches, redpolls and the like. Let’s break down this year’s potential as well as what you can do to increase your chances of spotting these wonderful birds of winter.

 Keeping your feeders filled and ensuring that our birds have reliable water sources are key during this pivotal season as they require more energy and resources than any other time of the year. With this in mind, we wanted to touch on a number of unique factors that our birds use to determine that it is time to get that much needed preparation underway in order to be successful during this season.