Little River Pond ~ Vancouver Island, B.C.

Photos by Dave Kemp

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

(Poecile rufescens)

My photographer friend Dave Kemp, on the east-coast of Vancouver Island, has sent along photos of a bird I never knew of before: the Chestnut-backed Chickadee.   He took these photos at Little River Pond, near Comox.

YELLOW WARBLER

Yellow Pond-lily

(a.k.a.) Yellow Waterlily

or Cow-lily

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BarrytheBirder

Swans are nest-building in Aurora...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

A female Trumpeter Swan adjusts nesting material at a new nesting raft on the large pond, at  the Aurora Community Arboretum, north of the town's municipal offices.   At the same time (below) the male swan is seen grooming his feathers on the same nesting site.   Presumably, his grooming is as important as his mate's nest-building. 

Nearby (at left), a sign advises readers to never release aquarium plants, water or animals into the Arboretum pond.   It can be harmful for the pond's environment and inhabitants, as well as pets.

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BarrytheBirder

Big Ontario blow-down...

Photo forwarded by Kathie Braid

My friend and long-time colleague, Kathie Braid sent me these photos from the Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge in Pefferlaw, Ontario.   The SOH took in 102 animal refugees in one day, after the recent tornadic storm across southern Ontario! 

 

Baby Bunnies

Baby Skunk

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BarrytheBirder

Tree Swallows displaces bluebirds...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Tree Swallow

(Tachycineta bicolor)

 'The bane of the bluebird's being'

Tree Swallows are one of the earliest spring migrants in southern Ontario, and when they arrive in open areas where bird houses exist, they routinely go about displacing bluebirds, that have arrived even earlier and have started occupying nest boxes.   The bluebirds invariably retreat to bushy fringes.  Starlings and wrens also displace the bluebirds that the Tree Swallows have missed.   I have witnessed this in the Cold Creek Conservation Area of King Township for decades, and still the bluebirds instinctively return.

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BarrytheBirder

Richmond Hill Millpond...

 

Photos by Barry Wallace

After the big storm

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BarrytheBirder

On the Richmond Hill Millpond...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Double-breasted cormorant

(Phalacrocorax auritis)

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Barry Wallace 

What a beautiful bird...

 Photo by BarrytheBirder

Indigo Bunting

(Passerina cyanea)

Length 5.5".   Breeding male is deep blue.   It is common in woodland clearings, and bushy borders in USA and southern Canada, and rare but regular to Atlantic Canada.   One of my daughters spotted her first ever Indigo Bunting, close to her home recently, in Aurora, Ontario.   She couldn't wait to tell me about her sighting and was very impressed with the colour of this beautiful passerine bird.

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BarrytheBirder

Turkey Vulture...from my balcony

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I took this photo of a Turkey Vulture gliding by my 5th floor balcony at the Delmanor Retirement Residence on Butternut Ridge Trail in Aurora, on the Victoria Day weekend.   That amazing wingspan is just short of 70 inches (175 cm).   In this photo, Its dark wing linings contrast with its silvery flight feathers.   Its head is red, its bill is white and its legs are brown.   It generally feeds on carrion and refuse.  Two decades ago I would see this big bird in the Great Lakes region only in the summer months, but now I can spot them in the same area almost 9 months of the year.

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BarrytheBirder

Tired gosling...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Despite lots of encouragement from mom this Canada Goose gosling, beside a pond in Kinghorn, just couldn't go any further without a rest.

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BarrytheBirder

Often called the Wild Canary...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

AAmerican GoldfinchH 

(Carduelis tristis)

The Audubon Society says "Since their main food is seeds, nesting does not begin until midsummer or late summer, when seeds are available.   Because they nest so late, only a single brood is raised each season".   In winter, they gather in large, not-so-colourful flocks (see photo below).

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BarrytheBirder

Rainy day at Richmond Hill Millpond...

                                                                                                             Photos By BarrytheBirder

Staying dry under mum's tail

          Tempting the fish

                                 Serenading the fish

    Carp or Catfish?

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BarrytheBirder

 

Birding photo file miscellany...

Photos from my files

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BarrytheBirder

Richmond Hill Millpond...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

GOSLINGS GALORE

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BarrytheBirder