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!

From Firewood to Birds

A few Saturdays ago I was cutting up a dead tree along a busy road, and a driver did a u-turn, stopped, and got out.  He approached asked if the place was mine?  Uh oh! No, but it was in the ditch so I figured it was fair game, was my reply, wondering if I was going to be challenged on my ability to claim it. Turns out he wanted me to cut up a tree where he lives, and I could have the majority of it for my favour to him in cutting it up.

I did both of us the favour and got a good trailer load of nice dry Elm.  They live on a large tree farm, with a 2 acre, fish stocked irrigation pond, and immediately I started noticing all the birds around.  I had to make a run back for lunch with my original load of wood, and with the gentleman's permission and encouragement, returned with my camera as well.  After the "work" (cutting firewood is the fun part!) of cutting the tree down, chasing a Yellow-rumped Warbler around some big willow trees.

male Yellow-rumped Warbler

male Yellow-rumped Warbler

male Yellow-rumped Warbler (here you can see the yellow rump)

male Yellow-rumped Warbler

Next I headed to the pond where a group of probably about a hundred mixed swallows were hunting.  On the way, a Chipping Sparrow stopped to preen allowed me to approach quite closely for a nice picture.

Chipping Sparrow

On to the Swallows... you'd think with that many flying about, I'd have captured at least one or two good flight pictures.  Harder than it seems - though I did start learning some tricks by the end.  Zoom out and let the bird come into view, rather than trying to zoom to extents and show them farther away.  My first intuition was that it would be easier for the latter, to follow and capture, but it wasn't in my experience.

female Tree Swallow

male Barn Swallow

I was trying so hard to capture the white tail feathers on the barn swallow.  When it fans its tail out, there is a band of white that shows, and almost looks translucent.  You can see it in the picture above, but it's more displayed (maybe not more visible here) in the picture below.

male Tree Swallow (l) male Barn Swallow (r)

three Swallow species: male Barn Swallow (background), Bank Swallow? (mid),

male Tree Swallow (foreground)

male Tree Swallow

male Barn Swallow

As I headed up past the farm house, the lady of the house pointed out a nesting bird in a hanging basket she had left when she noticed the eggs in it.  A House Finch pair has set up home there.  I'm a little perplexed though... the closeup shows what I'm guessing are little larvae of some sort, but the eggs would not have hatched yet, and so I'm not sure why the male would be there with a delivery of food.  Could it be that its infected somehow with a parasite? Anyone know anything about this at all?

House Finch on hanging basket nest.

(note the tiny larvae on the closeup on the left)

After thanking the kind homeowners, I spotted the Chipping Sparrow again.  It was searching for bugs in the grass lawn, and passed behind a large tree.  Anticipating it moving in the same direction, I took the opportunity to quickly sneak up close with the tree blocking my approach.  It came into view just as I thought and gave some nice full frame pictures and didn't seem to mind my presence.

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

On my way out the lane way, I had to stop once more for a male Brown-headed Cowbirds that was posing on the tipsy fence of the neighbouring farmer, and then it joined it's mate in the corn stubbled field.

male Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbird pair

I saw a few other birds that I have now forgotten with the passage of time.  I hope to get a chance to pop out there again some time as I'm sure there are more to discover.

Thanks very much Brant or the opportunity to wander around your place.  I'll be sure to "warn" you first if/when I come again, if not only to keep your "killer" Jack Russells off of me. :)

Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!

Nursery Tails

Fall is here, and the Mountain Ash in our front yard has become its usual attraction for Robins and Cedar Waxwings.  Though this year, there seem to be much fewer of the latter.  Then again, we've been outside less with all the rain we've had.

American Robin in  Mountain Ash

There were only about five Waxwings in our front yard, and they are much more skittish than the robins.  This was the only one that looked like an adult.  The others still had mottled looking juvenile feathers.

Cedar Waxwing in the neighbour's
Cedar tree.

But I was headed to the nursery for the morning to get some shrubs, replacing the ones from our recent garden renovation that didn't make it during the "drought" this summer.  As I headed over to the nursery, I saw a number of Red-tailed hawks.  This one was perched in a small tree on the opposite side of the road.  Birds are designed with so many features to allow them to achieve flight.  The large size of a hawk like this is deceiving in relation to weight, and seeing them on a small branch at the top of a tree would seem that it would end up breaking its perch.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

It flew to a Spruce tree nearby and displayed the red tail it is named for.

Red tail of a Red-tailed Hawk.

Red-tailed Hawk

At the nursery, I discovered a few birds enjoying the dense groupings of plant stock as cover to search for food.  A few Yellow-rumped Warblers were there, and after my first introduction to them in waning light, I was glad to be able to run back to the car and grab my camera and get some pictures at ISO 400 instead of 3200!  This one perched nicely on top of the greenhouse hoops.  Once down in the plants, it was impossible to get a picture with a more natural looking setting. The foliage was too dense and they were too quick.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

When they fly, you can see why they are called what they are... the bright flash of yellow is more obvious from the rear as their wings move to take flight.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Not a bad day... got an errand done and saw a few birds along the way.

Shots from the Lodge Part 2

Last year at the Lodge, a pair of Merlins were nesting just across the lake from the Lodge, and the klee-klee-klee call of the adults and two juveniles were heard often.  We saw them wheeling in the sky and saw them a number of times, once close enough for pictures once we found the nest.  This year I was hoping to see them again, but the sky was empty of their cries.

However, at the end of my Monday trip out by Tait Lake I suddenly heard the distinct calls of Merlin.  I tracked them down to a stick nest in a huge White Pine in the backyard of a cottage of someone who lives, ironically, not more than 10 minutes from our place.  Though they had heard the birds all summer (and from the residents, sounds like they've nested there three years now), they didn't know what it was and had never spotted the nest, so they gladly gave me permission to hang out there for a short while in exchange for my service of information.  This nest is about 3.5km (as the crow flies) from the nest site by the Lodge.  I wonder if one of the Merlin from these either of the nests is an offspring from the other.  I was surprised to find active (at the very least last year they would have been active together) nests that close.

This was my first sighting -
Juvenile Merlin close to getting its first year plumage.

While taking pictures, I noticed the wing of a woodpecker (compared to the pine needles, likely a Downy Woodpecker), the only remains of a meal.  The male, who does most of the food provision during nesting period and before the young fledge, probably surprised the prey using its characteristic attack from above hunting style.

A Merlin's supper remains of a woodpecker.

Adult Merlin

I think there was still another juvenile in the nest as the adult paid a good deal of attention to it.  Possibly one or more of the birds hadn't fledged yet as that time of year would be right around the time they normally would do so.

Adult Merlin watching nest.

Later in the week, I took an early evening cruise in the canoe around Lily Lake, the shallower lakes by the Lodge.  This lake has more gradual topography along its edges with swampy fringes and gradual banks.  That is in contrast to Rock Lake (the connected lake where the Lodge is) which is rimmed with rock cliffs and steep banks.

Sunset on Lilly Lake showing the
Lake's typical surroundings.

While doing my slow circuit of the Lake's perimeter, I saw and heard a conversation between, what sounded like two Chipping Sparrows.  Approaching it from the water, I managed to get relatively close, and get a few pictures.  Later, when looking through the pictures, I was pleased to discover that it was a Swamp Sparrow though.  That is life bird #92.  Its pulsing chip is very similar to that of the Chipping Sparrow, and from a distance, its appearance is too.  But the habitat of swampy areas rather than grassy openings was a good clue, and from some research, found out that the "chipping" rate of the Swamp Sparrow's call is somewhat slower.

Swamp Sparrow

Through out my circuit of the lake I had heard the raspy grate of a Raven calling continuously.  I couldn't see it anywhere, though at one point I thought I saw a dark spot in a tree and took the picture shown below, but figured it was nothing.  Later I found out it was... a little later I approached the closest shore and got out to see if the boggy plant material on the edge would support my weight for a better vantage point.  The Raven flew out of the spot I had wondered about.  I hadn't added this bird to my life list earlier, but figured I'd insert it at the bottom as this is really when I saw it first - up north when I worked in Northern Ontario for a summer during university)  It then bumps my list numbers up.  But this was the first photograph opportunity, if you can call a black blob in a picture a photographed bird?

Common Raven
(look for the black blob 1/3 of the way up)
(and this is a cropped view at that!)

With the light waning with the sun already behind the trees, I headed back to Rock Lake to join the rest of the gang for and evening of games and snacks.  As I canoed along the edge of Rock Lake, I noticed a bird foraging along the ground, moving across fallen tree trunks and through the low brush.  I never got a close look but it looked like a thrush of some sort.  By the time I slowed the canoe, put my paddle down, and camera up, I had no chance for a picture as the bird soon headed for cover. Right after that I noticed what I figured were Chickadees busy higher up in the Cedars and Pine branches, flitting from little branch to little branch.  But thankfully, I lingered and a flash of yellow made it obvious this was not the common bird I had assumed.  Quickly switching to ISO 3200! and shutter speed of 1/50, I hoped I could capture enough light for a picture to at least ID the bird.  As I clicked away, a second bird appeared, and I'm assuming it was a pair I saw as the markings are somewhat different - the angles of the pictures on the birds are different so hard to be sure.  The pictures below is what I got with some lighting, cropping and sharpening editing. It's obvious enough from the pictures though that they were Yellow-rumped Warblers, Myrtle variety.  Another life bird - #93!

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - female?

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - male?

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - female?

I must say, this bird was one of the most exciting finds of the week.  It took me a little while to ID it up at the lodge - all I had was my Android version of Sybley's on my phone, though later in the night I did go on the internet (on my phone) and peruse through Cornell's website (a resource I love to use) and finally figured it out. 

So that left my week, so far, at 4 life birds if I count the Raven given it did change my list.  And I saw more...  So, I'm going to leave the rest for a third post so I don't bore you with a long drawn out one here.

I hope you are all enjoying the nice summer weather, and if you live in Southern Ontario, finally some significant rainfall.  I'm off to a wedding tomorrow of a girl from church who's dad is a farmer.  I'm sure they're having mixed feelings about the desire for rain for the crops and no rain for the wedding!

Till next time...