Ixoreus naevius (seldom encountered thrush in the east)

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Varied Thrush

It wasn't until after I had taken these photos that I realized what a wonderful visual contrast there was between this special looking bird and the snow. 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Snow Geese in British Columbia...

 

Photos by Dave Kemp

These photos were sent to me by my birding friend Dave Kemp from Vancouver Island.   Many thanks Dave for the evocative shots.

Snow Goose (blue phase)

Snow Goose (juvenile dark morph)

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Young Trumpeter Swans...

 

Cygnus buccinator

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Insatiable young starlings...

Feed me!

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Please comment if you wish. 

BarrytheBirder

Blue Jay portfolio...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

How many Wild Turkeys are running around out there?

Photos by Barry Wallace

  The best guess is approximately 7 MILLION

By the late 1930s, there were only about 30,000 Wild Turkeys in the United States and virtually none in Canada.   Heavy hunting was the main culprit.   But a concentrated effort to reverse the dwindling number has been incredibly successful in the past 80 years.   The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is by far, the most numerous of today's six turkey species, at approximately 5.3 million birds and they exist throughout the eastern half of the United States and many places in Canada. 

Please

 comment 

if you wish.

Barry the Birder

Little Blue Heron...

Photo by Dario Sanches/Wikipedia

Little Blue Heron

(Egretta caerulea)

Here's a bird I've only ever seen once, that I can remember.   I saw it in November of 1992 on a trip to Florida.   It is easily found along the Caribbean coast and in the south-east United States, where I've been many times, but only saw a 'Little Blue' the one time.   It is one of my 'lifers' nevertheless.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder       

 

Dave Kemp's good day at Comox on Vancouver Island...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Bonaparte's Gull

An attractive bird entering its first winter

Common Loon

Juvenile Red-necked Grebe

Long-billed Murrelet

Juvenile Rhinoceros Auklet

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

On Snively Pond in Oak Ridges...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

 Male MALLARD (in fall eclipse)

At first, I thought this male Mallard duck had an odd shade of green (like pale pond scum) on the top of its head, but then decided that in fact, it was a male, in its late-summer/early-fall  eclipse with its iridescent green head fading away and making it resemble a female.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder   

Photos from B.C.'s Comox Valley...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Pomarine Jaeger

Stercorarius pomarinus

Pictured above is a Pomarine Jaeger off the eastern shores off Vancouver Island, in the Comox Valley area, about 50 kilometres north of Nanaimo.  The Pomarine Jaeger is the largest of the Jaeger species in this part of the world and is known to roam as far as Australia and New Zealand.  Photographer/naturalist Dave Kemp also took the Hump-backed Whale photos (below) in the same area.

  

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Goldfinch's fall plumage change...

Adult 

Male

breeding

(Mar. - Oct.)

The male Goldfinch (at left)

is at the end of its summer plumage.   It is about begin

its winter plumage.   While many small birds change their plumage once a year, the Goldfinch does it twice a year: in the fall and in the spring.

 Adult 

 Male

non-breeding

(Oct. - Mar.)

The male Goldfinch (at left)

is seen in its winter plumage.

By March it will start to take on its

brilliant yellow spring/summer plumage, which will last until October, when it will once again opt for it duller fall/winter plumage

to take it through to the spring of the next year. 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

 

Backyard visitor...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

COOPER'S HAWK

Accipter cooperii

Here's a regular at our our backyard bird feeders who generously posed for this full frontal portrait before heading off to a neighbouring backyard to try its luck.   My guess is that this raptor is successful on the every one or 

two times if swoops down on the Mourning Doves or the smaller birds. 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Photos from Vancouver Island...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Sandhill Cranes heading south in B.C.

These flocks of southward migrating Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) were photographed by my west coast friend and naturalist Dave Kemp, on Vancouver Island.   There were almost 70 birds in total in these photos.   They will have come from as far north as the Aleutian Islands and arctic Canada after summering on grasslands.   Now they are headed south to marshes and agricultural fields in southern Canada, the mid-west United States, and as far south as the Caribbean north shore.

Photo at left courtesy 

of the Reifel Sanctuary 

in Ladner, B.C.

Please comment 

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder