Lunch in Bayfront Park

I went to Bayfront Park for lunch, almost a month ago now, having not been there for a long time.  It's a quick drive from the office meaning I have more time to wander about in my one hour lunch break. It's a trade-off though because though there is more time, it's not always that active on the bird front.  Being late spring still, I thought I'd see what might be around though.

I headed along the marina side of the park and quite quickly caught sight of a Chestnut-sided Warbler busy collecting bugs.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Further along the path a Song Sparrow didn't notice me as it busily caught more bugs that thought they were hidden from harms way in the crevices of tree bark.

Song Sparrow

Up above, a silent but active little bird caught my attention.  It's the first clear shot I've gotten of a Warbling Vireo. It took me a while to ID this bird - what I had been expecting to see of the typical yellow flanks aren't really very evident.

Warbling Vireo

Off the trail, a little ways up is a low area which is not manicured lawn like most of the rest of the park. Here there are a number of bird houses that have been put up last year.  Most of them are now well used by a little group of Tree Swallows. A few have been commandeered by House Sparrows.  One male Tree Swallow let me approach quite close and I got this full frame picture.  Too bad it's still not terribly sharp.  I think between me zooming in too far (I try not to go past 400mm on my lens as it gets too soft) and some wind, the focus is a bit softer than it should be for such a nice close shot.

male Tree Swallow

In the same area, a pair of American Gold finches were bathing in a puddle of water.

male American Goldfinch bathing.

Walking back along the boat launch side I watched the Caspian Terns fishing in the waters below.  I kind of like how they are softly framed by the reeds in the foreground. Not often you get two terns together that close either.

Caspian Terns

Walking on a little further there was a pair of Yellow Warblers.  I managed to get a picture of both of them.

female Yellow Warbler

male Yellow Warbler
(note the barring on the breast)

While moving around the tree trying to get on the right side of the bright little yellow birds, I was scolded harshly by an American Robin.  Soon I found out why...

American Robin on nest.

As I headed back to the car, I caught the soft but high pitched notes of Cedar Waxwings and found a small group of them eating what I think are high-bush cranberries.

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

In the end, it was a nice relaxing stroll with quite a varied find of birds.  None new, but some nice close encounters.  The Waxwings were nice a close which was great, but the photo shoot was cut short by rain. I just made it back to the car as the deluge started.

Until next time...
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

I'm Back - Wier and Burt Road Outings

Where have I been?  Yes, I've been silent for almost two months with no post and very little visiting myself to the blogs I usually frequent.  It's a combination of having been quite busy (funny, I can't really remember any more with what), and having been away on three separate vacation outings. Two were with family, and one was a week chaperoning at a church youth conference with 175 young people - that was a huge privilege and a growing experience for me. Summer was full and went by very fast.  I just got back from a four day camping trip with just my boys up at Arrowhead Provincial Park.  I'll put a post up on that in the near future.

I'm going to condense my summer pictures into a couple of compressed/combined posts or I'll never catch up, and the details of the outings is quickly slipping into oblivion.

Back at the end of June, I made two Sunday trips to two different country roads close to home - one a previously visited place on the rail trail off Wier Road.  The walk, with Justin as my trail-mate looked like it was going to become strictly a butterfly adventure rather than birding. We walked along the treed path and then into an old, overgrown apple orchard where we saw a Common Wood Nymph Butterfly.

Common Wood Nymph butterfly

As we rejoined the trail, a Eastern Comma was hanging upside down on tree trunk, nicely contrasted against the greenery behind.

Eastern Comma butterfly

Further down the trail, we noticed a small beam of sun lighting up a Mourning Cloak.

Mourning Cloak butterfly

But, though there weren't a lot of birds, quality made up for quantity as my notice of bird in the branches above us turned up a lifer! A Chestnut-sided Warbler!! (#131).  It was hard to get a clear shot of, especially since, although it didn't seem terribly afraid of me, it stayed behind the foliage. It actually seemed quite curious, moving all around us. Made it hard to get a clear shot.  Exciting find though!

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

A Sunday or so later, I headed out alone to the east of St. George to Burt Road, a closed country road.  It was a hot, humid summer afternoon so there was not a lot of activity.

Like my previous outing, my first sighting was a butterfly - a very tired, frazzled looking Northern Crescent butterfly showing only part of the glory it was given by its Maker.

Northern Crescent butterfly

An oh so common Song Sparrow was singing its heart out on top of a bush topped with wild grape vine.

Song Sparrow

A group of Turkey Vultures had just taken off from somewhere close and caught the thermals, slowly rising above me and on to the east.

soaring Turkey Vulture

As I was heading back to the car, I noticed an American Robin with white streaked colouring on its back instead of the slatey black.  It's a condition called Leucism.  It's similar to an albino, but only the bird's feathers are affected and not their skin or eyes.  It's usually a patchy appearance as well. It is not very common condition.

Leucistic American Robin

When I got home, a pair of young squirrels were having quite the game of tag beside our house.  In the low light, I only managed to get a couple presentable pictures of the action.

Rambunctious squirrel youth.

Caught!

Well, hopefully this breaks the dam and the post will follow a bit more regularly again! 
Till then...
Keep enjoying His handiwork!