Grass Lake and West Shore of Hamilton Harbour

The very first day of June was a Sunday and I went to Grass Lake for a quiet afternoon. I started out walking on the south side of the 570 AM antenna field where five huge metal spires send the radio signal at the KW Cambridge area.  I met one of the technicians there one evening last summer and chatted with him for hours into the darkness. It was a very interesting chat as he explained lots of the technical information about the antennas and system. The first two (southern) towers actually cancel out background signals, the middle one sends out the radio signal, and then the last two (northern) towers repeat and boost the signal.

Being early afternoon, there wasn't a lot of bird activity, but a Tree Swallow perched for a picture for me not far from its nest box in the radio field.

male Tree Swallow

There were a few pairs of Bobolinks flying around, but not as many as I've seen in the past. I hope that's only because they were all attending nests or young.  But I finally saw as well as got a half decent photo of a female. I'd only ever seen the males before. I still love hearing the completely unique call of these birds. It is such a un-birdlike sound. I've noticed recently though, that Red-winged Blackbirds share slightly in that very different sound characteristic. Has anyone else noticed or heard it too?

female Bobolink

Along the same fence line, you are always sure to see some of the Savannah Sparrow pairs.  They, of all the birds in this area will allow you to get closest.  Moving slowly but surely, they often let me get quite close. It's interesting how different birds characteristically allow approximately the same distance until they are no longer comfortable with your approach.

Savannah Sparrow

Walking towards Grass Lake, a House wren was signing heartily in a small patch of mostly dead Pine Trees.

House Wren

As I walked along the dirt road which sweeps around the water's edge of the shallow, grassy lake, a pair of Sandhill Cranes quietly glided in. I was too slow on the draw and missed getting any pictures.  They landed quite far back in where the deeper, open water is and proceeded to make their presence known to the rest of the lake with their loud calls and comical head movements.

distant Sandhill Cranes

I got startled as I walked along the road edge when suddenly, something large enough to move a significant amount of the long grass at the top of the bank moved quickly towards the water's edge.  The creature turned out to be a large snapping turtle and made a mad slide down the bank, crashing into small trees and branches as it headed for the cover of the water. I went back to the spot and noticed a circular track it had made in the grass with an untouched area of grass left in the middle about a foot and half in diameter. Being early June, it's possible it was looking for a nest site, though it didn't seem like a prime location given a hard packed gravel shoulder with grass roots reinforcing it all.  Then again, those stocky legs and sharp claws would likely suit that task well.

I had heard that there was a Brown Thrasher nesting on the north west end of the lake, but saw no sign of the nest nor the bird. I headed home and decided to leave the opposite directly I usually do, and though not intentionally, past the supposed Thrasher location.  Just as I passed, a big Brown Thrasher flew right in front of me and swept up and landed in a dead tree.  Quickly stopping and trying to get my window down and camera up and ready was too long for the bird to get wary and it flew. I got out and after some searching finally found it way up in a big tree.  I climbed a bank for a better view and still got some nice pictures of life bird #204.

Brown Thrasher

Later that week, I headed out early in the morning before work to the east shore of Hamilton Harbour close 1to the Canadian Centre for Inland Waters on the west side of the QEW.  There had been reports of American Pelicans regularly visiting the man made islands for a number of days and I thought I'd see if I could get some pictures in the early morning sun. Turns out I waited too long and they were not reported again.  But I got to see the large colony of Caspian Terns nesting there mixed among the Ring-billed Gulls doing the same.  You can just make out the fuzzy, well camouflaged young of both species in the pictures.  I'm not sure what the Tern in the middle was doing. It had caught a nice little fish, but was just standing in the same spot for quite a while.  I'm surprised it was not attacked by the other birds around it and either forced to down it quickly, fly away to protect his catch, or drop it and flee. But none of those things happened and I'm not sure what it was waiting for.

nesting Caspian Terns and Ring-billed Gulls

Sharing the same island, but perched on the trees that are barely surviving the acidic anointing they are receiving are the Double-crested Cormorants also attending to young.

nesting Double-crested Cormorant

I was standing on a narrow beach that was just beside a flight path where, over and over again, Cormorants were swooping down from just crossing the QEW bridge for a short, low approach over the water to the island. Many were still bringing nesting material and after many pictures I finally got a half decent one.

Double-crested Cormorant with nesting material

Until next time...
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Deafening!!!

I had a site visit to do a couple weeks ago and swung by Eastport Drive where I hoped to catch some sights of young Sea Gulls and Cormorants.  I should have brought ear plugs!  Wow, it is incredibly loud!

Ring-Billed Gull on nest.

The only immediate evidence of the Ring-Billed Gull colony are a huge row of sentinels along the jersey barrier.  I should have taken a picture of this.  On the other side, amongst the weeds and rip-rap down to the water's edge of Hamilton Harbour are thousands of gull nests with spacings of often less then a meter.  There are gulls of all stages ranging from eggs to larger, soon to fledge young.  Some eggs were being tended to by sitting parents, some were abandoned, and still others had holes evidencing sabotage by other gulls or having been eaten by some predator.

Ring-Billed gull eggs.

Ring-Billed Gull chick.

Fish meal for a Ring-Billed Gull.

As I mentioned, the location is also known for the huge colony of Double-Created Cormorants.  Below you can see a small taste of the thousands or birds.

Eastport Drive Colony

Cormorants feed their young regurgitated food.  This can't be a pleasant way to get your lunch!!

Double-Crested Cormorant feeding its young.  You can
just see the bright blue inside of its mouth here.

Double-Crested Cormorant nest with young.

Double-Crested Cormorant

The location is also quite reliable for seeing Black-Crowned Night Herons.  They are more shy than the seagulls who let you walk within a meter or two and the cormorants.  There were three hidden in the trees, behind vegetation which remains on the trees closest to the road where the cormorant's feces aren't dropped.  There feces are deadly to the trees they nest in.

Black-Crowned Night-Heron

Being close to the Burlington Lift Bridge, I stopped there briefly to see if the in my short time left I could spot the Peregrine Falcons.  There were a few other Falcon watchers there and I had timed my visit well (obviously without knowing) as one of the female young had just fledged that morning.  She had taken up hiding inside one of the beams but we found her perched beside an opening.  Though not a picturesque location, it was exciting to see this amazing creature up close.  Turns out though, that however the young bird got in there, it wasn't a simple matter of getting out.  If you're interested, you can read about the ordeal here.  Good news is, all ended well.

female fledgling Peregrine Falcon

 One of the adults was seemingly uninterested in the plight of its offspring was way up in one of the big hydro towers preening away.

Peregrine Falcon adult preening in the hydro tower on the Hamilton side.

I am getting really behind on my posts.  I just checked the date of these pictures and it was back on June 4th!  My posts have fallen to almost a month behind!  Oh well.  More pictures to come.

Keep enjoying His handiwork!

Quick Post

I'm getting far behind on my posts... that's a good problem really I guess because it means I'm getting some nice shots that need to be shared.

This is from a lunch trip to LaSalle Park and I'll keep it brief with a few pictures.

I stopped by the small inlet to the right of the parking lot first, and a Double-crested Cormorant was diving quite close by.  I had not known, but when in breeding plumage, their wing feathers actually have a lighter outer edge to them giving a scaly look. 

Double-crested Cormorant in breeding plumage.

As I headed east along the boardwalk, I spotted a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds that paused in a tree long enough for a picture or two.  With the back light, it was hard to get a shot of the male.

Brown-headed Cowbird pair

female Brown-headed Cowbird

I walked inland this time hoping to see something else for a change.  There is a small pond, and there I spotted some sunning turtles, and lots of American toads croaking away.

Painted Turtle sunning

Of course, as soon as I tried to take pictures of the toads with their throats bulging with air to release for their croaking chorus, they stopped.  I waited forever, but they never started again.

American Toad

The male American Toads will hop on the female and hold on with tight "horns" on their fingers in what is called grasping.  They , and wait till she releases her eggs.  When the eggs are released, the male releases his sperm and tries to fertilize as many as possible.

grasping pair of American Toads

More posts to come soon... Horned Grebes, Warblers, and a Flicker nest.

Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

On the Way to a Meeting

About two weeks ago, I took my lunch hour very late in the day, adding it to a trip I had to make to City Hall in Burlington for a project meeting.  I first made a quick stop at Valley Inn Road.  There weren't a lot of birds, but the welcome sunshine and balmy temperature made a quick stop there enjoyable.  A new bird (life bird #102) made the stop very worthwhile.

A Golden-crowned Kinglet was meandering its way through the wildflower greenery that bordered a walking path.  It was very comfortable with me being quite close, meaning a number of almost full frame shots.  At that range though, it was hard to stay ahead the little bird and I struggled to get more than just rear end shots.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

More rear views.

Golden-crowned Kinglet foraging through the wildflowers

Golden-crowned Kinglet eating wildflower seeds.

Golden-crowned Kinglet eating a fly.

A few other birds were there as well, my first Hooded Mergansers of the fall mixed in with the usual Mallards and gulls. A Black-capped Chickadee landed close in front of me to pull a few seeds from the goldenrod which were changing from their summer, bright yellow to fall, soft white.

Mallard Duck in flight.

Black-capped Chickadee feeding on Goldenrod seeds.

A lone Double-crested Cormorant was sunning on the shore one of the Valley Inn Road ponds, and with a  closer look, I noticed that sadly, it had a deformed wing.  Unless it's a mild winter, I'm not sure it will survive.

Double-crested Cormorant with deformed wing.

After my meeting, I headed to LaSalle Park in Burlington with the remainder of my "lunch hour" time.  To be clear, regularly my lunch hours often disappear into work hours at the office.  So I'm not advocating shifty use of my work day hours at the expense of my employer!

View from LaSalle Park across Hamilton Harbour looking
at the Industrial shore of Hamilton.

There were lots of Mallard Ducks, and a gather of Swans.  People regularly feed the waterfowl there by the bucket full.

Mallard Duck drake.

Mallard Duck

There is a small tail there which starts from the parking lot and splits to a short boardwalk through the forest or heads along the shore of the harbour.  With the sun out after a number of gloomy days, the birds were active.  A few Downy Woodpeckers were drumming the trees.

Downy Woodpecker

There were also a number of Golden-crowned Kinglets flitting about through the trees.  Their movement is similar to Chickadees, though their foraging calls are a softened, higher pitched peeping call, almost monotone.  They will often hover trying to pick off bugs that are at the end of leaves or that have tried to escape the little birds.  Similar to Chickadees, these birds are constantly moving.  With a straight on view, they have a comical looking face as thy have two dark lines that trail down from their beaks.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet

I met another photographer gentleman (Rey, please email me if you read this) there and talked for a while.  During our chat, I first thought I was being distracted by a nuthatch.  But it was well camouflaged to the tree, and was going up, not down as is typical of the former.  It was quite far up in a huge, beautiful, old Oak tree.  The best picture I could capture was the one below.  Upon looking at a zoomed in few on my camera screen, and checking my Sibley's app on my phone, realized it was a Brown Creeper.  I've never even seen or heard of this bird before so it was kind of an exciting moment.  (Life bird #102)  The shot below is heavily cropped with lots of sharpening!

Brown Creeper
(in this picture, actually moving down the
tree rather than its characteristic movement up)

On my wayback, I chased a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos that have moved into the area for the winter. Along with them was one lone White-throated Sparrow which was life bird #103 for me.  Not sure why, but I had never seen one of these before till now.  The light was really getting low and I was badly in need of heading home for the night.

White-throated Sparrow with
Dark-eyed Juncos (male (right) and female (left))

So, I was thankful to be able to combine being outside on a beautiful day with a work errand, and got three new life birds to boot!

Late afternoon sun shining through fall
colours of Oak Trees at LaSalle Park

Not All Detours are Bad

This summer my route to work has been lengthened with two detours.  As frustrating as they can be, both have turned out to benefit me with seeing birds up close.

But first, during a site visit for work out in Campbellville I saw a few opportunities for a few photographs.  I had my camera along to take site photos of a development I had to provide entrance designs for, so was able to take a few photos near the site and on the way back to the office.  A pair of Barn Swallows were preening over Campbellville Pond in the morning light.  Unfortunately the sun was shining from across the pond so the lighting was hard to work with.

Barn Swallows

Some turtles were sunning on a log.  They must have very good eye sight because it is hard to get close without them slipping quickly into the water.

A pair of turtles sunning with one thinking about it.

Honey Bees on Purple Loosestrife

Female American Goldfinch
hiding in the Chickweed

A Trumpeter Swan was preening on a floating log.  It was tagged, so I submitted a bird encounter report.  I haven't heard anything back, and may never get a response.  The number on the metal band on its right leg would have given them more specific information than just the wing tag.  That obviously wasn't going to happen.  I didn't think Trumpeter Swans usually stayed around this area during the middle of summer.  Hopefully I get some sort of response.

Trumpeter Swan with wing tag.

On my way back to the office there were a few Wild Turkeys on the far side of a harvested wheat field.  When I stopped and got out, only one turkey remained for a picture.  Either it was smart enough to know I didn't have a gun, or it will be the one the hunters get during Turkey season.

Wild Turkey

From Wild Turkeys, to Turkey Vultures... As mentioned earlier, my detoured route to work has taken me down Old Guelph Road on the East border of Dundas.  One morning, a number of Turkey Vultures were roosted on a hydro tower, preparing for a day of soaring.

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vultures are not the most attractive birds, their featherless heads giving them a rather unappealing look.  However, they are a bird with many specifically designed characteristics.  Their heads and most of their necks are featherless to minimize the affect of reaching inside dead bodies for tasty treats to eat.  They have an incredible sense of smell enabling them to detect the odour of dead animals before their more mediocre sense of sight locates them.  This is because they can detect this odours at concentrations of as low as just a few part per trillion (AllAboutBirds.org). This sense of smell is sometimes used by officials with trained birds to detect natural gas leaks.   Turkey vultures have amazing digestive systems.  In order to eating decaying animals and to be able to overcome diseases and poisons which killed the animal in the first place, they have special stomach acids and bacteria which will destroy those toxins.

Turkey Vulture

On my continued progress back to work from my field visit mentioned earlier, my route took me along the same detour of Old Guelph road.  At one point right in front of me, a Red-tailed Hawk launched off of a hydro pole and swept down into the long grass in pursuit of some prey.  I pulled over quickly and grabbed my camera (which was unusually with me and at the ready).  As I was stepping out of the car, the bird landed on a hydro pole right across the road.  It must have been preoccupied with its failed operation because it didn't notice me at first. I was hardly 15m away.

Red-tailed Hawk

I was hesitant to even move to raise my camera for fear that it would notice me, but with a slow and steady movement I lifted it and got off a few shots before it did look straight at me for a moment, and then flew off. As it left, it cried out loudly to another Red-tail which must have been perched nearby and they headed out together for the protection of the trees in the distance. A beautiful bird!!

Red-tailed Hawk

On my continued way into the office, (lunch time by this time) I quickly stopped at the York Street bridge which goes over two railroads and the waterway link (a remnant of the old DesJardins Canal) between Coote's Paradise and Hamilton Harbour. In Coote's Paradise, a large group of Double-crested Cormorants were feeding, then lifting off, circling to gain elevation and crossing over at the bridge to spend time in the harbour.

Hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants in Coote's Paradise

Double-crested Cormorant in flight.

Double-crested Cormorant flying over York Street bridge.

Double-crested Cormorant approaching the bridge.

While waiting for the next cormorant to approach, I spotted a dragon fly facing into the wind.  I wonder if it was using the breeze coming from Coote's to blow bugs towards it and just waiting their to snag them as they blew by.  Hard to photograph though - it hovered, but never long in one place and it's a small object focus on zoomed way in.

Hovering Dragonfly.

I popped down the long set of stairs and walked a short bit towards Bayfront Park.  A small man made island off the shore in the Harbour was full of sunning cormorants.

Double-crested Cormorants sunning.

A juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron was perched up in a Willow hanging over the water, and a lone Mute Swan was bathing and preening its feathers, while a two Opsrey were noisily calling as their wheeled about in the air overhead.  

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

Mute Swan

Osprey

I still chuckle now as I write this.  There was a couple standing beside me exclaiming at how nice the spot was and something to the effect that it was nice to see wildlife around.  I was able to point the Night Heron out to them and tell the the name, just as some Caspian Terns flew round the bend.  Moments later the Osprey noisily appeared, and I'm pretty sure a cormorant surfaced pretty close by.  I can't remember if there was anything else, but I could point out some interesting birds, all literally within a few minute's time span.  It was almost comical.  The couple was very appreciative and it was very rewarding to be able to look back and realize that within a short time, I've learned quite a few birds by name and can share it with others to add to their enjoyment of an afternoon out for a walk.

Just before I left, a Turkey Vulture made a teetering glide just overhead as it crossed the ridge of York Road.  A nice finish to a detoured drive into work.

Turkey Vulture in flight.