European Starlings

Back on Father's Day (Yes, way back then!) we went to Holly's parents to be with them for the day.  It was a beautiful day with typical early summer weather - seems we've pretty been receiving the same weather pattern ever since, save a few hotter days here and there.

young European Starlings being fed.

At some point I was out watching the kids ride around in the court beside my in-law's house and happened to noticed two little head's just in the shadow of a knot hole in a tree right beside the road.  I waited a bit, and despite the heavy kid traffic of bikes, scooters, and go-karts right below, a parent soon arrived and two young starlings rivaled the noise of the kids demanding to be fed first.

Quiet down there kids!

You've had enough, now quiet down!

European Starlings have likely replaced the Passenger Pigeon as one of the most numerous birds on the North American continent.  Passenger Pigeons used to be by far the most numerous but are now extinct. Some might wish for the same plight of this bird such as farmers whose crops can be devoured by the huge flocks of Starlings.

Little remnants of baby fuzz left.

An interesting fact I found on the Cornell Bird Site is that the entire NA population of these birds comes from 100 birds that were let go in New York in the early 1890's. Apparently someone thought that we explorers should benefit from all the birds Shakespeare had mentioned.  Hmmm...


And to end off this Father's post, a very belated note of thanks for my Dad.  Don't fear, I did thank him that day, but belated in relation to this blog post.  I'm thankful God has blessed me with a great Dad. One thing that comes to mind at the moment is his example of diligence and patient persistence at his job of 41 years (and counting... did I get the time right Dad?).  That's an accomplishment!  Thanks for bein' my dad Dad!

And while I'm on the topic, I'm thankful for my Father-in-law too (we were at their place!). :)  Seriously though, I think back to a few months ago when I was asked to attend an optional work function of a client of mine who really wanted me to come.  I declined, letting them know that my in-laws were over for supper that night.  I was quickly reminded this would be a perfect opportunity to skip out... after all he couldn't stand his in-laws and would jump at the opportunity. It made me realize I have a lot to be thankful for as my in-laws are great and I deeply appreciate them too.  I definitely was home that night.

Till next time,
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

P.S. I must note that one of my dear sister-in-laws (who I don't half mind either) pointed out that day, that I had spent more time taking pictures of these birds than I had spent with the family, or even the Father-in-law, it being Father's Day and all.  I prefer to think her sense of time is slightly off. :)

P.P.S.
My brother-in-law reminded me of this photo during our vacation this week... I had forgotten to share it with you. ;)  I should have taken a picture of the ground below the tree... what a mess.

Bayfront Park Finds

Another dated post here... The weather has finally been spring like here in Southern Ontario!  And it's great!  A couple weeks ago, I headed to Bayfront Park for a lunch break that needed to be shorter. The park is a quick 2 minute drive, almost literally down the hill from where our office is. I hadn't been there for quite some time and thought I'd see what there was to see.

In the Marina side of the park, a pretty pair of Lesser Scaups were dabbling around.  Click on the picture to see it full-size: I never knew Scaup's heads were iridescent.  This shot shows it brightly glowing purple.

Lesser Scaup pair

Next, heading off the paved trails, in a small, un-manicured portion of the park along the water's edge there was a small flock of Tree Swallows having spousal discussions about whether the price matched the location and the view of lots of brand spanking new bird nesting boxes around the park. 

Tree Swallow Pair

Keeing with the iridescent theme, these pretty little birds bright colours are brilliantly blue.  I didn't realize though that the females also have some nice little specks of the blue iridescence in their plumage too.

female Tree Swallow

male Tree Swallow

 As I rounded the point towards the "beach bay" I thought spotted a familiar shape, but check myself. This is necessary because in the Hamilton area, "that" silhouette is usually a Double-Crested Cormorant .  But, a second look confirmed my initial impression.  A Common Loon was diving for food.  Initially it was relatively close.  I wonder if it is a first year bird... though distant, the cropped pictures still seem to show just the slightest of the remaining brown plumage characteristic of a juvenile.  Not sure though.

Common Loon

Though not common in the area, they are often seen during the migration period.  Not sure how many have been noted in the Bayfront Park area though.  Mostly I've heard them observed/reported along the shores of Lake Ontario.

Common Loon

As I continued along the trail, a European Starling lingered long enough in one spot for me to get a couple pictures.  They are always on the move with their twitchy, almost nervous pursuit, appearing as if they are frantic for food after having gone without for days.  In the spring, they are actually beautifully decorated with highlights purples and greens with contrasting feather tips dipped in a light tan. 

European Starling

The relatively common Song Sparrow, aptly named for its prolific singing, posed nicely for me for this shot.  Its mother will be upset though for not wiping it's beak before the pictures.

Song Sparrow

Last spring in February, at almost exactly the same location, I discovered my first White-winged Scoter.  This year, it was definitely not my first of the year, but I spotted a lone bird sleeping, bobbing in the gentle waves, not an apparent care evidenced by its bill tucked under a wing.  Once it had drifted close enough to the shore, it stretched and went to finding lunch of mussels and crustaceans along the water bottom.

White-winged Scoter

White-winged Scoter dive.

Standing on the armourstone blocks that edge the water, I could clearly see it swimming, hunting with great speed through the boulders and obstacles in the water just ahead of me only meters away. Then he would pop to the surface and crunch the foraged mussel or captured crayfish and swallow it shells and all.  They have powerful mussels in their crop which break up the shells of their meal and they break down and then digest the tough meals.

White-winged Scoter eating Crayfish.

White-winged Scoter eating mussel.

Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

A Lure or Deterrent?

This past weekend we went with the family for the yearly Christmas event with my wife's side of the family for a great time of food, fellowship and fun for all.

Saturday afternoon, we headed out for a walk along the Bruce Trail to enjoy a crisp and sunny day.  With a crowd of about 15 of us who went for the "long walk" along the Bruce Trail, most of the wildlife was likely flushed on ahead by the rambunctious kids running back and forth. It was never intended to be a silent photography run and it was fun to be out with the kids who seem to have endless energy!  But cameras were along to document the event, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also on the lookout for wildlife along the way.

On the way back, towards the end of the walk, I did linger back and ended up seeing a few of the more winter loving birds: chickadees, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, blue jay, and one nest which I wasn't sure if it was a raptor's or not.  Not much really though.  I strayed off the trail at one point seeing a large flock of noisy starlings gathered to scavenge the spilled grapes from a harvest recently past.  Lately there have been a number of people posting links for videos of some pretty fantastic flocks of starlings.  Their movement creates some pretty fantastic effects as the change directions, seemingly with one mind.  This was a small group though, with not nearly the same effect.  However, soon I sighted a Red-tailed Hawk, also watching the flock.  I don't believe they are quick enough to chase and catch these birds, preferring to hunt small mammals on the ground and surprise them from above.  But as I approached, it was annoyed enough by my presence to move to a tree further away, crying back at me in annoyance.  Soon there were two others circling over head as well.

Seemingly contrary to my previous assumptions though, at one point I thought I was going to see one of the hawks go straight into the flock of starlings for a kill.  The raptor must have been behind the birds though, creating the effect of being right inside the flock.  It gives the appearance of what would seem like "shooting fish in a barrel" for a hawk.  But I was surprised that the starlings didn't flee at the sign of the hawks, nor even how close they seemed to let the hawks fly by.  Although the pictures collapse the sense of depth, they weren't too far away.

Red-tailed Hawk behind a flock of Starlings.

Red-tailed hawk behind Starlings (almost in the middle of the picture).

My little side track off the trail ended up with two mysteries though.  One I solved, the other not...

Mystery #1 - Unsolved
Later when looking at the pictures (none of which turned out great being so far away), I noticed one of them had a rather strange looking neck.  Here are some crops in the filmstrip series below.  I'm afraid the compilation lost some of the quality, but they were crops already.  I'm not sure if anyone has any thoughts on what I'm seeing?  Is it a growth of some sort, or a really buff hawk who has been working out on it's main breast muscles? Not likely!

Red-tailed Hawk with mysterious looking neck - a growth of some sort?

UPDATE: see this post for the mystery solved.

Now, mystery number two...