There are lots of beautiful birds you can see only in winter

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This week:

Everyone knows that in the fall, many familiar birds migrate to warmer, sunnier places and aren't seen again until the spring.

But as it turns out, for many northern birds, "warmer, sunnier places" aren't necessarily hot spots like Florida or Mexico — they're places in southern Canada like Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax and the southern Prairies.

That means winter is the only time when most Canadians can see Arctic waterfowl like long-tailed ducks (see photo above) and buffleheads, tundra birds like snow buntings and snowy owls and boreal birds like common redpolls.

Not only can you see species that remain far in the North at other times of the year, but many of them also congregate in huge numbers that make them easier to see, and there are no leaves in the way.

Emily Rondel, president of the Toronto Ornithological Club, says many Arctic ducks need open water so they can dive for food, and Lake Ontario is often the first open water body they find when they fly south. That means thousands form groups or "rafts" on the lake that she calls the "winter waterfowl spectacle."

"It's really, really exciting to see those species because we don't get to see them at other times a year," she said. "They have all sorts of different, amazing colours and patterns and they're all really uniquely beautiful … plus I can count on them. I know that they're going to be there every winter."

Likewise, in winter, other kinds of Arctic ducks and shorebirds such as snow geese and dunlins flock to places like the coasts of B.C. and Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan has the highest winter density of snowy owls anywhere in the world, says Stan Shadick, who runs popular snowy owl tours out of Saskatoon in the winter. His company, Saskatoon Custom Bird Tours, also offers a tour to see willow ptarmigan, another Arctic species that only comes within reach of southern Saskatchewan in winter.

"One of the fascinations of bird-watching is there's always something different to see," Shadick said.

Yusuf Attia, a biologist with the conservation group Birds Canada, said because many Arctic birds congregate in urban areas in winter, researchers can get help from the public to monitor them during events like the upcoming Great Backyard Bird Count, which runs Feb. 17-20.

"We can actually count a lot of them all in one place, whereas in the summer, they're just more spread out," he said. Arctic species like long-tailed ducks tend to scatter across largely inaccessible northern lakes, forests and tundra during the breeding season.