Winter's for the birds, so get out there and enjoy them

Winter is a difficult time for many, particularly during a pandemic. Cool with Coldis a CBC Ottawa series highlighting people who've found creative ways to embrace the season, safely.

Click here tomeet a family bringing Mongolian knucklebone back,a woman teaching her kids to make a candy that's best enjoyed below freezing, ora father teaching his son a traditional Inuit winter game.

Outfitted with binoculars, a camera and a heavy coat, PhDstudent Peter Soroye is ready for a day full of winter birding.

"Birdwatching in the winter is actually one of my favourite times to do it," said Soroye, a birder since 2016.

For one thing, with less foliage in the way, birds are easier to spot. And winter's agood time for beginners to hone their knowledge of morecommon varietiesbefore some of the more unusual ones return in spring.

You don't have to go far from Ottawa's city centre to find a wide array of avian neighbours.

Soroyeespecially likes to bird along the Rideau River, which offers adiverse habitatofwater, forest and fields. (He's shared some of his other favourite spotsin the map above.)

Recently, Soroyespotted waterfowland woodpeckers, as well as sparrows and hawks. But his favourite bird to photograph in the cold is the chickadee.

"Chickadees are really inquisitive and really photogenic. They aren't like some of the shyer birds that fly away when they see you."

'A reset' intense times

For Soroye, birdwatchinghas become more than just a pleasant hobby: it's now an essential means of combating stress during the pandemic.

"I'm inside the same four walls all day for work, so when I get to step outside into nature, it's like a reset," he said.

He also enjoys catching glimpses of other creatures during his outings.

"You'll start to see raccoons, or if you go out early at dawn, you might see a beaver or muskrat on the other side of the river. For me, that makes the whole experience really fulfilling and satisfying," said Soroye.

For those interested in taking up winter birding, Soroye recommends first downloading a birding app to help identify different species, then hitting the trails

"When spring comes around and you start to see yellow warblers and other springtime birds coming up from the south, you really start to appreciate how much the whole landscape changes around you," said Soroye.