Ruthven - Bird Banding for Kids

In between starting and finishing this post, my dear Grandmother died and went to her Heavenly Father.  I wanted to share a few thoughts, which are at the end of the post....

After quite a lack of any birding or photography in my life for the last while, things have picked up quite nicely.  This Wednesday I headed back to work after a nice vacation of just over a week filled with lots of Christmas and New Year's gatherings with family and friends.  That morning I was treated to see two coyotes chasing a rabbit through the snow across someone's lawn.  The next day, on my way to work, I had to turn around after noticing a small flock of 40 or 50 sparrow like birds which didn't look at all like sparrows.  Once I'd located them again, it turns out they were Snow Buntings (life bird #105).  I didn't have my camera, so I hope a trip into work will find them again in the same location, along Hwy 5 just west of Lynden Road, a driveway to a grain storage/mill where spillage from the trucks likely attracts them.

Saturday, I took my three boys to Ruthven where Peter Scholtens was hosting an event for kids which was sponsored by A Rocha Canada and Bird Studies Canada.  The kids were introduced to birding, bird banding and then were able to watch them take the birds out of the mist nets, band the birds, and then each child was able to take a turn to release a bird.

Andrew releases a Common Redpoll

Jordan releases an Common Redpoll

Head Bird Bander Rick sets Justin up with a bird.

Justin releases an American Tree Sparrow

Peter sets up a scope for the kids to look through.

The three amigos.

We all went for a hike out on a loop along the Grand River - it was a beautiful day for the outing with the wind having died down over night and the sun shining brightly.  It was a nice surprise to see friends from church (Dave and kids) there too.  A big thanks to Peter and Rick (and I'm afraid I don't know the name of the other lady bander) for putting this on for the kids (and big kids too!)

The group on a bird hike.

There were lots of Common Redpolls there, which was a new bird for me (life bird #106).  They were very comfortable with people near by, meaning I could sneak in some photography time while the boys played with friends on the grounds.

male Common Redpoll

male Common Redpoll

male Common Redpoll

female Common Redpoll

male American Goldfinch

Those weren't the only birds to be seen, but I disciplined myself to no birding pictures till the end (taking your telephoto lens off the camera will do the trick) and then a limited amount at that.  A Great Blue Heron lazily flew over, and a pair of Common Ravens were heard and then seen, followed by a Bald Eagle slowly coasting over the grounds.

Bald Eagle

Grandma...

I made some headway on starting this post yesterday afternoon, and then left to spend time with my grandmother during the night hours... I was taking my turn at her bedside along with the rest of my mom, brothers, sisters, cousins and uncles and aunts as she finished her earthly days.  Not long after I got there, she peacefully died and was freed from more than 12 years of Alzheimer's.  Although still sad, our family (her 10 children, 63 grandchildren, 129 great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild) is all thankful that she now, with a clear mind is thanking her Saviour face to face!  She was a godly woman and it was very touching to see that although she didn't know any of us at the end (so far as we know), she would still mouth the words to many of the hymns and Bible passages by memory as we would sing and read with her.  Those tucked away words never faded and were never confused.  This week will be a mixture of feelings as we gather as extended family to remember her life, contemplate the shortness of this life, and the be reminded of how we will all stand before our Maker one day.  I pray that all of you will be able to say one day, "It is well with my soul!" because you love Him as your personal Saviour.

Here is one of the many notes my Grandmother wrote while her mind was still somewhat clear in the earlier years of her Alzheimer's....

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. "

Isaiah 40:31

The Big "100"

As mentioned in my last post, I spent a few mornings at the mud flats of Coote's Paradise off the east side of Princess Point created by the lack of rainfall from the very dry summer and fall.  I waited for the golden glow of the early sun's rays to come over the tree tops.  With the slow advance of the edge of light, mud and water and shore birds became light enough for photographing.

Well, I hit the 100 mark on my birding life list!  Though not anywhere close to the huge count of Josh Vandermeulen who is currently doing an Ontario big year (At the time of this post, his blog reports he sits at 331, and we are all hoping he can surpass the record of 338.) I'm still pretty pleased with my 100th bird on my list.  At first I had not planned to do the list thing, but somehow it just happens as you start to tally what you have seen so far.  I'll introduce bird 98, 99, and 100 in order, all shore birds.

The first shore bird was from a group of Lesser Yellow Legs, wading in the soft mud hunting for small creatures living there.  These birds breed in Northern Canada and have pretty much finished their migrating pass through our area on their way south, mostly to South America.

Lesser Yellowlegs arriving.

Lesser Yellowlegs wing stretch.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs and turtle.

The next shore bird I found were a group of Least Sandpipers wading along the eastern shore just off the recreation trail which links with Bay Front Park.  They are the smallest of the Sandpipers (often called Peeps).

Trio of Least Sandpipers

My 100th life bird happened by accident really.  I was taking pictures of the Least Sandpipers and saw this bird up closer and snapped some shots thinking it was a more brave bird of that group.  But when editing, I noticed the markings seemed different.  To tell you the truth, I didn't even know what the Least Sandpipers were till after receiving some help from some other birding/blogging friends Caleb and Dwayne - thanks!  I have to admit that for the most part, many of the shorebirds all looking very similar and hard to clearly distinguish.  I'm sure if saw them more often and was routinely IDing them, that would change, but that is not likely to happen. For now anyways, the key to IDng the Least Sandpipers is their yellow legs.

Life Bird #100 - Semipalmated Sandpiper

A song sparrow was also foraging, resting the drier mud portions for bugs and other food.  Some Mallard ducks were preening across the water.

Song Sparrow

Female Mallard Ducks preening.

A Great Blue Heron seemed to be waking from what may have been its roost for the night.  I think they usually will roost in trees, but this may have been a safe spot for the night.  It was definitely going through a thorough stretch routine of each leg, wing, neck... That neck of theirs is quite something.  All herons have very long necks, and they seem to have a couple of hinge points allowing them collapse quite compactly.  I search on the net quite a bit and didn't find anything specific about it.  Notable is that herons do this, but cranes and geese fly with their necks fully extended.

Great Blue Heron waking up.

Great Blue Heron wing stretch.

Great Blue Heron neck stretch.

On the way back to the car, heading back to work, I had to try and capture these sights... the dew was heavy on the huge number of spider's webs all over the golden rod and other brush.

Morning dew on a spider web.

Spider

On the way home that night, I saw quite a few birds and stopped making me quite late for supper.  Some how, at the moment it seem perfectly logical that a stop is justified and that it will only take a couple minutes.  I don't often have the camera in the car on the ready, so this time I didn't resist.

I stopped first at a bridge on Hwy 5 which crosses Spencer Creek where I very regularly see a Great Blue Heron  in the shallow waters.  I thought I'd try and sneak up on him.  I didn't work and I only got some blurry fleeing flight shots.  What I hadn't noticed was a Green Heron right on the shore, just in front of me, close to the bridge.  I was just about to leave and I must have finally scared it and it flew up into a tree a little ways off.  I have had similar things happen often, and I have to remember to look around more carefully after having seen one bird - often there are others.

Green Heron.

On my detoured route home, I drove past, turned around and shot this Red-tailed Hawk from my window before it grew too wary of me and flew off.  Further on my drive I repeated for a much larger Red-tail which was likely a female, being larger than the males.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

I've noticed this set of woodpecker holes on a dead tree I pass every day to and from work.  I've seen a woodpecker right at the hole once during the summer, but as mentioned earlier, I rarely have the camera with me and am often on my way to work or just about home.

Woodpecker nest?

This time I stopped and noticed a dead Elm close by where there were a number of Red-bellied Woodpeckers flitting about from branch to branch along with a number of other birds.  There are 6 birds in the picture below, and at least four different birds.  If someone is really good at silhouette, they can fill me in on what they think the other birds are.

Can you find the 6 birds in this photo?  One is a Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Below is some help... I've received a few comments already on this one. :)

1. ???
2. Blue Jay
3. Mourning Dove
4. ???
5. ???
6. Red-bellied Woodpecker

Just down the road is Fairchild's Creek and again I almost snuck up on a Great Blue Heron.  A Belted Kingfisher chided me as well and stayed long enough for a distant photo.

Belted Kingfisher

I seem to have days where I get to see lots of birds all one after the other, and then other days when I see next to nothing.  Well, I'm still behind on posts, so there are more to come for the blog anyway.  One more blog post on the Princess Point area of Coote's Paradise to come, and then a post on a trip up to the Lodge again.  Fall is coming with the crisp air, full bodied clouds and blue skies, amazing colour display of the turning leaves.  Fall...my favourite season.

A Turn for the Terns

Acting on a post from Pete Scholtens on the Hamilton Birders Group site, I headed to Princess Point early before work a few weeks ago (yes, I'm very behind - this was last August I believe) with word that the mud flat in the outlet from Chedoke Creek was exposed and populated with lots of shore birds.

I started on the east shore of Princess Point and across the water on the mud flat where a mix of about 30 to 40 adult and juvenile Caspian Terns were raising a very large ruckus.

Part of the large group of Caspian Terns mixing company with gulls.

Aside from raptors, one of my favourite birds are Terns.  They have such clean lines, the rhythm of their flight is so unique and purposeful, and they are constantly busy with an eye to the water, resulting in frequent plunges into the water in pursuit of a small fish.  I spent some time trying to capture them as they circled around, resulting in some nice photos and a large crick in my neck and shoulder from holding my camera posed for so long.

Hovering before the plunge.

Deodorant still fresh?

Caspian Tern

Flying into a bit of sun.

A catch of a small fish is the reward of the many attempts they make.

Caspian Tern dive.

Unsuccessful dive attempt.

The smaller Gulls there (I never was able to ID them) waited opportunely for just after terns begin the ascent from the water after their dive and then chase the Terns, hoping to harass them into dropping their catch for a hijacked meal.  Interesting, considering the Gulls were smaller than the Terns.

 

Caspian Tern chased by smaller gull.

A successful catch.

This Tern's crop shows evidence of a recent meal.

Caspian Tern in flight.

As I headed back to the car along the shore, I flushed this group of Mallards which had been sleeping under a willow tree.

Female Mallard Ducks taking flight.

At the same time an Osprey circled overhead, and Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons were wading in the waters. Although I enjoy my work, they were all making me want to linger instead of heading to the office. So, over the next few days, I headed back a couple mornings, heading to the other side of the outlet, closer to the mud flat to see the shore birds. A post on that to follow.

Shots from the Lodge Part 4

I'm afraid I lied... Well, not really, but I said Part 3 was the last post from the Lodge.  Only thing is, I forgot a picture in my last post... of a new bird no less.  I saw this one just before the Swamp Sparrow the evening I did the slow turn around Lily Lake. Along with a few other similar birds, it was quite a ways off, darting amongst the snags of dead cedars that border the lake.  The birds would flutter out from their perches, likely catching bugs mid-air, and then fly on to a perch of another dead branch.  The picture below is very closely cropped and even with some help from Picasa in the sharpening department (thus the additional graininess), I was still not completely sure of what it was.

So, I sent the picture off to Dwayne, another birder with much more experience.  He also has a blog, interestingly named Nerdy for Birdy.  Although Dwayne has more birding years and many more birds under his belt than I do, I appreciate his down to earth blog style, and it's one of my favourite to follow.

Eastern Phoebe in dead Cedar tree
(very closely cropped shot!)

So... based on the habitat and behaviour of the bird, and Dwayne's ID help, I'm pretty sure the bird is an Eastern Phoebe and it joined the list as life bird #93.  After the help I had gotten from Dwayne (thanks!), I felt bad I had somehow missed it in my last post, so I had to add "Part 4" to the Lodge series.

My next post ... butterflies from a spot near to home....

Shots from the Lodge Part 3

This is my last post of three (part 1, part 2) from our family vacation up north at the cottage.  This time I am going to keep my commentary short and just let you enjoy more pictures than my ramblings.  I have a few other posts in the queue from a couple other picture taking opportunities... and I don't have a lot of time to type up something long here.

American Bullfrog

Ant carrying grasshopper leg.

I wonder what the weight ratio is of cargo to carrier?

Eastern Chipmunk

The next two pictures aren't the clearest, but I managed to capture this Chickadee hanging on a leaf which had been modified into a home by some insect.  It got the bug (larvae?) out and you can just see it in the second picture.  (click on the picture to see it larger)

Black-capped Chickadee -
foraging in rolled up leaf 

Black-capped Chickadee with bug

Life bird # 96 was found in the same Birch tree as the chickadees, busy searching not the leaves, but the crevices and crannies of the rough bark.  I've seen many White-breasted Nuthatches since starting this hobby, and it was nice to finally see its cousin.

Red-breasted Nuthatch 

Here's life bird #97, last of the cottage birds... a Hermit Thrush.  I'm quite sure that is what it is anyway.  The side shots weren't clear enough for posting, but from them I believe I have the right ID.

Hermit Thrush

This Red Squirrel wasn't shy - once it noticed me, it set up a ruckus and came directly for me through the trees, and stopped about 4m away and scolded me soundly!

Red Squirrel

Right around the lodge, the grounds are very sandy and there were many, many little excavated holes from these little Sand Wasps.  They dig their holes in the sand like a dog, flinging the sand quite a distance between their legs.  They are digging burrows where they will bring prey (other bugs) which will be come the food for the larvae from eggs they lay underground.

Sand Wasp digging a burrow - you can just see the sand flying.

Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly

The next picture represents some fun, but also the loss of some Uncle points with some of my nieces.  My nephew John-Michael and I were wandering around the edge of the land and noticed a large Smallmouth Bass protecting a whole school of its young.  We caught a Leopard frog and I tried to take some pictures of it.  Unfortunately, that's easier said than done, and more than few frogs gave their lives for the cause.  My conscience was appeased by the small dent in the frog population this would make, but my nieces did not agree with this.

Smallmouth Bass catching Leopard Frog

Just an interesting shot showing how waves (the physics ones too!)
actually bend around an obstruction.

Fuzzy juvenile Loons with parent in the background.

Tawny Crescent Butterfly

Eyed  Brown Butterfly

One thing I added to my wildlife list was a beaver.  There have been beavers on the lake in the past, but this time we were able to follow one in the canoe.  I was out with the boys sans camera, so never got any pictures.  He seemed to almost be enjoying the game and popped up either side of the canoe numerous times.

That ends the summer version of the Lodge shots.  We hope to go back there in the fall with some friends and family and we'll see what we see then.