Ernie and Burt

Actually, Ernie did not show. And neither did Bert, but I did spend time with Burt (Road) twice last month. Mid May I took a Sunday afternoon two weeks in a row to go just east of town to a dirt road which is all but closed due to a bridge over Fairchild's Creek which has been condemned and never replaced.  The quiet lane passes through a mix of settings including the creek, low scrubby growth, open farmer's field, and then some hardwood forest.

Down by the creek, a couple Yellow-rumped Warblers were flitting around collecting bugs.  I believe this one is a 1st year male.

1st year male Yellow-rumped Warbler

As I walked along an Indigo Bunting scolded me and then sung from the tops of the trees, keeping out of view for pictures.  I heard lots of protest from blackbirds in the distance and wondered if I might find an owl on my own. But soon after, the reason for the noise flew over - a Red-tailed Hawk with some Red-winged Blackbird pursuers on the attack.

Red-winged Blackbirds repelling a Red-tailed Hawk

Across the bare farm field, some deer stood watching me and then finally trotted into the bush.  I decided to follow and hiked around in the woods in that direction.  At one point, both a deer and I spooked each other as I came around a clump of trees... it must have been bedded down in the long grass and jumped out to flee, scaring me as well.

White-tailed Deer

On the way back, I passed along side an open scrubby area full of lower bushes and tangles of still dead raspberry stalks and I thought I'd see if I could raise some sing of life from some perfect habitat for Common Yellowthroats.  I use it sparingly, but resorted to playing bird calls from my phone with Sibley's Bird app [link].  Immediately I got the reaction I expected with the chattering scold to warn the interloper.  It was accompanied by lots of posing, tail up and head down and forward ready to attack.

male Common Yellowthroat

aggression pose of the Common Yellowthroat

The little guy was so intent on seeing who the offending visitor was, it was hardly even aware of me and came quite close.  Almost two close to keep up with with the camera to take a picture.

male Common Yellowthroat

The activity brought out the female as well and I got a pretty good shot.  It was early enough in the season that I'm thinking she was likely not nesting yet and maybe thought the new male was worth checking out.  Most of the time she would stay low to the ground and skitter through the tangled undergrowth, just giving glimpses of a view.

female Common Yellowthroat

As I stood up to leave the pair in peace, I noticed a raccoon sleeping up in tree not are into the bush bordering the Yellowthroat's territory.  However, it seemed to look odd and not quite right. I realize they can look quite strange while wedged into a crook in the treed, but this one looked some how very large in the body, and with quite a thin and matted head.  I'm not sure if it's pregnant (seems late), sick (would seem to match the strangely thin looking face and flat head hair).  Not surprisingly, when I returned on my next Sunday visit, it was no longer there.

Racoon (pregnant, sick, awkward?)

A few Turkey Vultures flew overhead and swooped quite low and fast over me.

Turkey Vulture

On my first trip, a Indigo Bunting was passing back and forth between two trees, singing its song to ensure everyone knew where it had claimed home to be.  I didn't get any great shots.  But my second Sunday outing was much better finding a second bird not very far away in a clump of isolated trees in the field. I was surprised their territories would be that close. I could actually see the other Bunting flying around along the lane way a short distance away still visiting the same trees.

Indigo Bunting ruffled by the wind.

Again, I thought I'd try the bird calls briefly and saw for the first time the phenomenon I had saw and shared [link] in a previous post of a video showing the wing wage warning.  The next two pictures show it clearly.

Indigo Bunting wing warning.

Indigo Bunting wing warning, more pronounced.

A bright and brilliantly coloured bird!

Indigo Bunting

Heading back to the car, as usual later than I should be because of the one more picture delay, my eye caught the tips of two big ears just barely poking out of the grass behind where the Common Yellowthroats put of their show for me the previous week.  In the picture below, the female White-tailed Deer I had spotted had already noticed me and was trying to figure whether she needed to get up from her comfortable spot.

White-tailed Deer doe.

Decision is made and the white flag was lifted and soon she bounded into cover, and then proceeded to let me know she was not impressed at all with a long series of surprisingly loud snorts. I didn't see any other activity and was half hoping I'd see some fawns come out of the grass somewhere with those warning sounds.  If they were there, I saw nothing.

White-tailed Deer doe.

On the way back, I spotted a Blue Jay busy making a nest, busily carrying and arranging twigs in a big, old Sugar Maple.

Blue Jay nest building

Just before getting back to where I left my car, I was delayed even further with a Eastern Bluebird who also wanted its picture taken, though shyly as it would not let me get too close.

Eastern Bluebird

I'm getting really far behind here on posts...Lots of chores around the house this spring so the picture editing and posting does not happen as often. I've not been out birding in a while either. Hopefully I can change both "problems" a bit soon.

Till then...
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Arrowhead Provincial Park

Back in September, I was finally able to follow through on a promise to my boys to take them camping for a weekend up north.  It wasn't for lack of will or trying, but it was hard to find a weekend that would work.  Finally, a weekend was chosen and with a site booked list making, planning, and then packing started in earnest.  The weather forecast changed by the day and it included some rain and cool temperatures.  But we stuck with the plan.

We headed up to Arrowhead Provincial Park near Huntsville on Friday morning with the van packed with gear, three eager boys and a dad, and the canoe strapped on top.  The drive was pretty uneventful in the traffic department with the highlight of spotting a Pileated Woodpecker on a hydro pole on Hwy 11 just before Bracebridge.  After setting up camp and leaving the canoe down by the beach, we biked down to Stubb's Falls.  Along the way, I was surprised to bump into a couple (Ralph and Charmaine) I knew from a church we both attended when young people.  They were there the exact same nights as us, and about six sites down the same road as us.  Having them so close sure came in handy later in the weekend!

The falls were a great spot for the boys, lots of interesting rock formations for them to scramble around on.  But a highlight for me was a juvenile Great Blue Heron which seemed to love the fall's final plunge pool as its hunting grounds for the entire weekend.  We visited the falls every day, and it was there every time.

Needless to say, the boys were quite agreeable to stay at this location for lengths of time, building dams, walking in the cold water, and sliding on the rock slopes.  While they did that, I was quite happy to set up shop on a rock across the pool and hope I could capture the heron successfully catching a meal.  That never happened, but I did shot a few hundred pictures which I've filtered down to a smaller selection.

Here was the scene at the bottom of the falls with the heron seeming not to mind our presence.

juvenile Great Blue Heron at the bottom of Stubb's Falls

The boys building dams in the rocks.

Another activity the boys kept busy with
(their mom later wondered if I thought of their pants wearing out from sliding down the rocks)

 
These pictures are a mix of shots taken over the four days.  I perched on a rock just big enough for me and my tripod, getting cramped, kinked legs and tire shoulders from keeping my finger on the shutter waiting for plunges of the sharp bill.

My observation post.

  

Wing details

Alert!

The stab!

Unsuccessful

Missed!

Another try...

the plunge! But still nothing!

juvenile Great Blue Heron closeup.

After all that waiting, I never saw the bird catch anything, never mind try to get a picture of it. The first day we arrived and saw the heron at the falls, the couple we knew graciously agreed to watch the boys so I could race back to the site and grab my camera.  Ironically, when I returned the let me know I had missed the heron making a nice fish catch.  That would have been a nice shot!  But it was still enjoyable to be that close to a beautiful, large bird.  I'm pretty sure the fact that it was a juvenile was the reason I was able to get that close.

We did lots of hiking, biking, canoeing, and enjoying the sights at the park.  The nights were cold, temperatures going down to 2 degrees overnight one night, but we kept warm and enjoyed the outing.  Sunday night it rained hard, and our site flooded out.  Thankfully Ralph came to the rescue with a camping shovel and we trenched the water out of our depressed site and into the forest.

On one of our hikes we saw a Pileated Woodpecker, and I was able to get my first pictures of the bird.  It was eating berries from a tree (not sure what kind), and never gave me a nice clear view, but it was still exciting to see a bird not common to the area I live in.

Pileated Woodpecker eating unknonwn berries.

Pileated Woodpecker

Red Squirrel behind our camp site.

Here's shot of the camping gang.

We did a hike around the lake, without seeing much in the way of wildlife.  We did see what I had initially thought was a Loon way across the lake.  Later looking at the pictures and cropping them way in, I had a moment where I thought it could be a Yellow-billed Loon.  I think I'm wishing too hard, and a more realistic, though still a somewhat interesting conclusion that it is likely a Double-crested Cormorant.  I don't think this location nor habitat, namely a smaller, northern lake, would be considered normal for this bird. I'm open for corrections to the Yellow-billed Loon!!

Double-crested Cormorant???

Entering Arrowhead Lake from Little East River.

I'm looking forward to doing this again with the boys.  I've since bought some more camping equipment and I'm ready for the next adventure with the boys.  Hopefully next time my brother and his boys will join us too.

Till next time...
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Sunday Evening at Grass Lake

A warm Sunday evening... sounds nice, especially talking about it as we approach the cooler weather of fall.  Fall is actually my favourite season, but warm summer nights are great too.

With a reasonable amount of light left in a July night, I headed to Grass Lake for an evening outing.  I've only ever been there between services on Sundays and was very interested to see what the lighting and creature activity would be like at that hour.  I met a couple who have been driving there many a Sunday evening, setting out their lawn chairs, and with their backs to the sun enjoying the scene and sounds .  I can see why they say they have missed few weekly evening visits.

There wasn't really any activity at the water, so I headed up the road to the grassy field and saw this Savannah Sparrow nicely lit in the evening light.

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Heading back towards the lake, a pair of Eastern Kingbirds were patrolling the warm evening air busily catching the many insects that were circling higher up in the sky.  The Kingbirds were efficiently launching from one tree which had a dead portion and with repeated success capturing what seemed like large flying beetles or something similar.

Eastern Kingbird pair

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

 

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird with dragonfly catch.

 

Eastern Kingbird pair in the orange glow of evening sunlight.

I was able to get quite close to the pair as they kept returning to the same tree.  A section of dead branches reached to the evening sky, while the healthy portion of the tree below apparently was host to new life.  I guess after a while they trusted me and betrayed the location of their nest that until then, unaware to me was right ahead.  That was a nice surprise.  With the fading light, I was able to get a few pictures with my ISO setting maxed out as far as I dared and shutter speed set low enough to make me hope my hands would hold steady.  The nest was up high enough that I wished I could gain a couple feet of better viewing angle.  I realized my sunroof might let me stand in the car and get a better view.  I backed up the car, leaving a comfortable distance and popped up through the car roof.  Soon a realized with socked feet, it would be even better just standing on the roof.

Eastern Kingbird chicks

Eastern Kingbird chicks hear a parent approaching.

Eastern Kingbird chicks being fed.

While I was photographing the Kingbirds, I heard the consistent flapping of wings across the roadway.  Looking over I saw three Mourning Doves a top of the fence and one was constantly "pestering" one or the other.  Being so late in the summer, I'm not sure if they would still be courting for another brood anymore?  They do have a number of broods a summer, so I guess it is possible.

Mourning Doves

As the sun set to the west, the moon was rising in the south and I quickly captured the overlap of the birds and the second light that was created to shine on this world.

Eastern Kingbird against the rising moon.

Eastern Kingbird silhouetted against the moon.

As I drove home for the night, a glance over the field yielded my eye just catching sight of someone eying me as I drove by.

White-tailed Deer

White-tailed Deer

White-tailed Deer

Till next summer arrives, we'll enjoy the crisp temperatures, beautiful colours, and crunching sounds of fall.

Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!