Blue Jay...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Today I bent the truth to be kind, 

and I have no regret,

for I am far surer of what is kind 

than I am of what is true.

- Robert Brault 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Harrier

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Don't let those who take advantage  

of your generosity 

stop you from being generous.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Eastern Bluebird

                                                                                                                    Photo by BarrytheBirder

Carry a heart that never hates,

a smile that never fades,

and a touch that never hurts.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder 

Red-winged Blackbird

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Compassion is language the deaf can hear

and the blind can see.

- Mark Twain

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

American Kestrel (female)

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Kindness is in our power, 

when fondness is not.  

- Henry James

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Green-winged Teal...

Photo by Dave Kemp

Green-winged Teal

(Anas crecca)

This photo is by Vancouver Island naturalist and photographer Dave Kemp, whose bird photos I have featured in this space on numerous occasions.  The photo shows a resting Green winged Teal (female) with an open eye on photographer Dave.   Great lighting and colour capture, Dave.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder  

Wild Turkey visit...

Photos by Lynn Bird

Lynn and Ted Bird welcome Wild Turkey

My longtime friends Lynn and Ted Bird, just west of Schomberg, played hosts to a Wild Turkey recently on their backyard deck.   Apparently, this bird knew that Thanksgiving Day was past, and wanted to visit and make acquaintances with two new Birds.   Making new friends is always enjoyable.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Warblers heading south...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Black-throated Green Warbler (female )

Black-throated Blue Warbler ( male )

It's time for warblers to head south on their winter migrations and two warbler species that share the same parts of Canada and the U.S. in the summertime, also share the same parts of Mexico, the Caribbean, and the southern tip of Florida in the winter.   They are the Black-throated Green Warbler and the Black-throated Blue Warbler.   While only a few spend the winter in southern Florida, most migrate to the West Indies, plus Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.   A very few even make it to the Mississippi River and Texas.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swans still at Aurora Arboretum Pond...

Photos by Barry Wallace

 Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Wingspan of a Bald Eagle...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Bald Eagle wingspan ~ 6ft. 7in.

Bald Eagles are seen mostly on seacoasts or near rivers and lakes.   They feed mainly on fish in the breeding season, but will also eat carrion, injured waterfowl, and roadkill.   Florida-raised birds wander north as far as southern Canada.   The Bald Eagle is the largest North American raptor, after the California Condor.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Harrier

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Don't let those who take advantage

of your generosity

stop you from being generous.

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

B.C. birds by West Coast birder and naturalist Dave Kemp...

Horned Grebe

Above and below

Pair of Long-tailed Ducks

Common Loon - Winter Plumage

Sleeping Sea Lions - Above and below

Black

Scoter

Please comment

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Vancouver Island Mute Swan ~ by Dave Kemp

 Photo by Dave Kemp

Mute Swan

Silent - but its beauty speaks volumes

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

North of Lake Wilcox...

 

Photos by Barry Wallace

Snively Pond ~ Oak Ridges

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Photo by Barry Wallace

You can't live a perfect day

without doing something for someone

who will never be able to repay you.

- John Wooden

 Please comment if you wish.

 BarrytheBirder

White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows migrating...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

White-throated Sparrow - above

White-crowned Sparrow - below

These two different, but common sparrows are migrating currently from most of Canada to most of the United States.   Yet many of them will stop near Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to spend the winter.   The overall total (although slightly different) range of the two species stretches from Alaska in the north, to Mexico in the south.   Both of these common sparrows are known as winter visitors and migrants.   Much of the feeding of White-crowns is done on the ground but, like White-throats, they will respond to a squeaking sound, by an observer by popping up to the top of a bush.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Wee winter warrior

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Green Heron

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

When I was young, I admired clever people.

Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

- Abraham Heshel

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

A tricky catch...

Photo by Dave Kemp

Common Merganser with a beak-full

Naturalist and photographer Dave Kemp of Vancouver Island has photographed a female Common Merganser trying to kill its prey: a Bullhead.   The Bullhead is a species of catfish with barbels around its mouth and unless the fish its dead, and its barbels are collapsed, birds like the merganser, are often prevented from swallowing it...not exactly an easy meal.

Please comment if you wish. 

BarrytheBirder

 

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)...

Male

Photos by Barry Wallace

Dark-eyed Juncos returning . . .

Dark-eyed Juncos spend summers in forest openings in the northern parts of North America and in forested mountains in the West.   In winter they move south into most of the USA, but also into Southern Ontario where they are a common feeder birder in winter, starting in October.   Total North American numbers for Juncos are estimated to be 630 million and they are a favourite of birdwatchers from coast-to-coast.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

  

Female

Please

comment

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I always prefer to believe the best of everybody.

It saves so much trouble.

                                                     - Rudyard Kipling

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Birds on the east side of James Bay in Quebec...

Pictured above and below is my niece April Dawn in Wemindji, Quebec, on the east side of James Bay.    April is especially enamored of the local wildlife in the place where she was born.   Above and below, she is seen with a Canada Jay, which get very close when offered nuts.   Squirrels (further down) are equally eager when food is offered.

Above and below, a Northern Saw-whet Owl arrives to visit April Dawn.

Below are some striking photos of April's homeland on James Bay.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

American Eagle

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Love your enemies.

It will confuse them greatly.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

A fairy went a-marketing...

 

A fairy went a-marketing -

She bought a coloured bird;

It sang the sweetest, shrillest song

That ever she had heard.

She sat beside its painted cage

And listened half the day,

And then she opened wide the door

And let it fly away.

                                         -- Rose Fyleman

Please comment if you wish.

Barry the Birder

East coast of Vancouver Island at Singing Sands...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Blue-winged Northern Scoters

Double-crested Cormorant

Pacific Loons

Pigeon Guillemot

Grebe

Seal

Rusted Spike

Learning lessons at the beach

Light as a feather

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder