BARRY the BIRDER: August 2022

Aug 31, 2022

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Fox Sparrow

(Passerella iliaca)

Highly variable, but the brightest, P.i. iliaca, breeds and winters chiefly in the east. Most subspecies have a reddish rump and tail and reddish wings. The underparts are heavily marked with triangular spots merging into a larger spot on the central breast. The Fox Sparrow is common and found in dense undergrowth in mixed or coniferous woodlands. It has a loud, rich song, a few clear whistles followed by varied, buzzy, short trills.

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BarrytheBirder

Known for arching its wings...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

MUTE SWAN

(Cygnus olor)

Mute Swans are readily identified by the large black knob at the base of its orange bill. The Mute Swan often holds its long neck in a S-shaped curve, with bill pointed down. It regularly swims with its wing arched over its back. In flight, wingbeats make a noticeable drone sound, while other swans have silent wingbeats. The Mute Swan is an old world species, introduced to North America and increasing in the east (Great Lakes and the central eastern shores of the Atlantic.

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Barry the Birder

Aug 30, 2022

B.C. sunrise and seabirds by Dave Kemp...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Sunrise over Comox, B.C.

Juvenile Red-necked Grebe

Harlequin Duck

Common Loon at sunrise

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BarrytheBirder

Dave Kemp photos from Vancouver Island...

Photos by Dave Kemp

PURPLE MARTINS

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Photos by Dave Kemp

Aug 29, 2022

On Bathurst Street - near the top of King Township

Early morning fish dinner for Osprey

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BarrytheBirder

Aug 28, 2022

On the Ravenshoe Sideroad - south of Keswick

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Great Blue Heron pictured above appeared in this space on Wednesday of this week...two days ago. The big bird was checking out a large arid piece of the Holland Marsh's northern reaches at the bottom of Lake Simcoe. One could normally expect to find this heron in a marsh, or at the side of a stream, or on the edge of a lake or swamp. Today, Friday, I photographed, in the same spot, what I believe is the same bird, despite the colour and lighting variations in the photos above and below. What could possibly be the attraction of this spot for this bird, is beyond me. Nevertheless, this bird seems attracted to the dry marsh in this particular spot.

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BarrytheBirder

Aug 27, 2022

Bathurst Street North - above Highway 11

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Pigeons try to get the spacing just right.

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BarrytheBirder

Aug 26, 2022

Ravenshoe Sideroad - Keswick

Photos by BarrytheBirder

OSPREY

GREAT BLUE HERON

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BarrytheBirder

Aug 25, 2022

Just south of Lake Simcoe...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Ospreys have created a nest upon a huge piece of irrigation equipment on the Ravenshoe Road at the south end of Keswick.

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BarrytheBirder

Aug 24, 2022

Early morning at the local B.C. pond...

Photos by Dave Kemp on Vancouver Island

Morning Droplets

Dragonfly

Morning - the pond

The Fly - Mother Nature

Pacific Tree Frogs

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BarrytheBirder

Aug 23, 2022

Largest heron in North America...

Photos by Barry Wallace

Great Blue Heron

Ardea herodias

Breeds across southern Canada south to Mexico and Florida. Winters from British Columbia and southern New England southward. It thrives in all kinds of waters, from subtropical mangrove swamps to desert rivers, even to the coastline of southern Alaska. Its diet is highly variable, mostly fish, but also frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, insects, rodents and birds. It is common and widespread here in Ontario and around the Great Lakes. It flies with slow wingbeats, with its long neck coiled back on to itself and it its long legs trailing behind. That thick, daggerlike bill is just over 14.3 cm long, or just over 5 1/2 in.