Sunrise and seabirds over Vancouver Island by Dave Kemp

Photos by Dave Kemp

                         Sunrise over Comox

Juvenile Red-necked Grebe

Harlequin Duck

Common Loon

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BarrytheBirder

Yellow-rumped Warblers heading south...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Yellow-rumped Warbler

(Dendroica coronata)

Common in coniferous and mixed woodlands, also widespread in thickets during fall migration.   The eastern form, commonly called the "Myrtle Warbler" is the most widespread winter warbler in the East.   It is replaced in most of the west by "Audubon's" Warbler   They will be heading south along southern coasts as far as Mexico.

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BarrytheBirder

Lake Wilcox Park ~ Richmond Hill

Photos by Barry Wallace

Natura genertrix  (Nature is our mother)

Trumpeter Swan ~ Aurora Arboretum Pond

Photos by BarrytheBirder

 

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BarrytheBirder

Canada west coast seashore photo captures by Dave Kemp...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Bonaparte Gulls above and below squabble over catch

Murrelet

Rhinoceros Auklet

Grebe wears its catch

Great Blue Heron

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BarrytheBirder

Aurora Arboretum ~ large pond ~ keeping the white white

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swan

The preening never ends

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BarrytheBirder

Richmond Hill Millpond...nearing October's end

Photos by BarrytheBirder

   Settle on the mill pond bank.....

.....but keep a wary eye open

 

Cormorants continue to hang about

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BarrytheBirder

Wild Turkeys on Keele Street in Vaughan...

    Photos by BarrytheBirder

Two weeks 

to Thanksgiving

Time to go into 

hiding?

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BarrytheBirder

A distinctive huge size...

 

Photo by Nathan Rupert/Flickr/CGS

California Condor makes a comeback

The California Condor (Gypmngyps californianus )  length 47" (119 cm) and wingspan 108" (274 cm) was down to just 27 birds in the wild by the mid 1980s.  According to Mathew L. Miller, editor of the Cool Green Society blog, the Condor Recovery Program, in 1987, removed the remaining condors and placed them in a captive breeding program; not a popular scheme with either anti-environmentalists or conservationists.  The first condors were released back into the wild in 1992.  In 2019 the 1,000th chick had hatched in the recovery program.  More than 275 California Condors now live in the wild.  

Photo by Adam Eliott/CGS

Photo by Wendy Miller/Flickr/CGS

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BarrytheBirder

Graceful gliding...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Turkey Vulture

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BarrytheBirder

Cormorant populations grown greatly over past 30 years...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Double-crested

Cormorant

(Phalacrocorax auritis)

at Aurora

Arboretum

This double-crested

Cormorant was sunning

itself and feeding at the larger Aurora Arboretum pond last Tuesday afternoon.   It is a sizeable

bird at 32" (81 cm) in length with a 52" (132 cm) wingspan.

Please comment 

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Vancouver Island Wild Turkeys ... by B.C. photographer Dave Kemp

Photo by Dave Kemp

Wild Turkeys

(Meleagris gallopavo)

Largest game bird in North America.   They are slightly smaller and more slender than the domesticated bird.   Once hunted out of many regions, it has made a significant comeback and has been introduced into places beyond its original range.   They are huge, with naked heads and long wide tails.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder   

Canada Goose wingspan...

 Photo by BarrytheBirder

Maximum wingspan of the Canada Goose

is just over 6 feet (73") or 185 cm.

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Barry the Birder

Orca Whales off Vancouver Island...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Dave Kemp of Vancouver Island has captured Orca Whales off the east coast of Vancouver Island in these black and white photos.  Sightings like this always create a bit of a stir in British Columbia.   Dave is a regular contributor to this space with his excellent bird photos, but can't resist opportunities to capture amazing sea creatures also.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron in Holland Marsh Canal

 

                                                                         Photos by BarrytheBirder

Big Bird ~ Big Wings ~ Big Beak

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BarrytheBirder

Aurora Arboretum - large pond

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron

2 Trumpeter Swans return

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BarrytheBirder

Marbled Murrelet chasing Needlefish...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Marbeled Murrelet

(Brachyramphus marmoratus)

Photographer and naturalist Dave Kemp from Vancouver Island has passed along some interesting pictures of a Marbled Murrelet that has come upon a school of small Needlefish.

Needlefish can grow more than 3 ft. long and are serious predators; so much so, that the Murrelet pictured above could have been attacked itself.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder