British Columbia Birds by Dave Kemp...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Violet Green Swallow

(Tachycineta thalassina)

Kingfisher with a meal

Bank Swallow

(Riparia riparia)

Vancouver

Island

flowers

by

Dave Kemp

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if you wish.

Barry the Birder

In the Ravenshoe Road canals...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron

(Ardea herodias)

The Great Blue Heron

  comes upon a

large turtle and an 

eyeball-to-eyeball

  encounter takes place,

but nothing more.

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if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

They're baaaaack.....

Ospreys return to West Park on Ravenshoe Road, west of Leslie Street, to occupy last year's nest atop tall baseball light tower.

West Park baseball diamond light towers on the Ravenshoe

Road in Georgina, will once again be a favourite spot for birders this summer who want to get a good view of Ospreys nesting and raising young birds.   Three large adults have recently been seen inhabiting nearby.

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BarrytheBirder

Trumpeters appear to have selected last year's nest-site...

The pair of nesting Trumpeter Swans on the Aurora Arboretum pond appear to have settled on last year's nesting site, rather than the newly constructed, floating site at the opposite end of the pond.   Last year's site is attached to the pond shoreline, but is much better disguised than on the new open raft.   We shall see what we shall see. 

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BarrytheBirder

Yesterday it was Red-winged Blackbird males...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

...today it's a Red-winged Blackbird fledgling 

at the Aurora Arboretum 

It's never

too late

to start

grooming...

...finally dad brings food

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BarrytheBirder

Red-winged Blackbirds at Aurora Arboretum...

Photos by Barry Wallace

Photos by Barry Wallace

Red-winged Blackbird

(Agelaius phoeniceus)

This bird breeds from Alaska to Newfoundland, south to Florida, the Gulf Coast and central Mexico.   After raising two or three broods per  breeding season, these birds gather with other blackbirds in flocks sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands, even millions, and have come to be regarded as a health hazard.

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BarrytheBirder

May 15 Lovebirds Birdathon raises $12,770...

Black & White Warbler 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

63 bird species ~ 116 donors

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BarrytheBirder

Trumpeters may change nesting site in Aurora Arboretum...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Swans changing their minds?

10 days ago I showed these two Trumpeter Swans checking out a new nesting raft made for them on the Arboretum Pond in Aurora, behind the town offices.   But now the same two swans are checking out the site of last year's nesting, which is not free-floating, but has the attraction of already being surrounded by tall plantings attached to the shoreline.

 

Meanwhile, a Mallard Duck (above) has moved in on the new nesting site, which was recently moved further out into the pond.   

Below is a photo from last year showing a parent, with well-grown youngsters

at the old nesting site.

More in the weeks to come...

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BarrytheBirder

 

Ravenshoe Road ~ north of Queensville

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

GREAT BLUE HERON

(Ardea herodias)

Largest Heron in the western hemisphere and third largest heron in the world.

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BarrytheBirder

North end of Aurora...

 

Photo by Barry Wallace

Traffic-stopping Geese are to be found everywhere

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BarrytheBirder

B.C. butterflies instead of B.C. birds...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Beautiful B.C. butterflies on Vancouver Island 

by Dave Kemp 

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Photos by Dave Kemp

Ospreys fascinate me...

                                                                                                                 Photos by BarrytheBirder

Ospreys have returned to southern Ontario and I am looking forward to adding to my photo collection of this wonderful feathered fishing machine.   Featured here are three or four of my Osprey photos from other years in York Region, as a taste of what is to come this summer.

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comment

if you wish.

Barry

the

Birder

Ospreys return to Ravenshoe Sideroad...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Female has returned to one of the Ravenshoe Rd. nests

A pair of Osprey has returned to a nesting site, atop a marsh sprinkler system on the Ravenshoe Road, west of Leslie Street, north of Queensville.  The female is seen above and the male is seen (below) perched nearby keeping a lookout.

Above, one of the two Osprey caught a fish in the nearby Holland River, where in enters into the south of Lake Simcoe.   It returned to the Ravenshoe Flats to consume its catch atop one the huge nearby irrigation structures.

Ideal weather conditions in May enabled this vine to climb the pole and move along the wire, before the month was over.

One never knows what may show up on the Ravenshoe flats (above and below).

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BarrytheBirder

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Identifying a male Red-winged Blackbird is not difficult because of the red patches on its shoulders.   But the female has no such obvious identifying mark (see photo above).   In fact, apart from its larger size, she looks more like a sparrow.  Moreover, the female's is often not seen at all, as she disappears into marsh growth for nesting purposes.

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BarrytheBirder

The distinctive Red-shafted Northern Flicker...

Photos by Dave Kemp

NORTHERN Red-shafted FLICKER

(Colaptes auratus)

British Columbia nature photographer, Dave Kemp, has passed along some excellent photos from the eastern side of Vancouver Island, of a  Northern Red-shafted Flicker.   This big woodpecker is noticeably different from the Eastern/Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker.   The two types from each side of North America meet in southwestern Canada and the western Great Plains, where they interbreed regularly, producing many intermediates. 

Grooming...a never-ending job for birds (above and below)

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BarrytheBirder