Our skunk motto: live and let live

This is our resident skunk. She lives under our garden shed.   We have not given her a name, even though after all these years, she seems like part of the family.   Each year she raises a half-dozen or so babies which she will bestow upon the neighbourhood when she feels the time is right.   When that time is right, she will assemble her almost fully-grown brood and they will undulate, like a large, floating, black and white patchwork quilt, across the backyard and into the neighbour's yard and then on to some nether world; we know not where.

Somehow they will become separated.   She will manage to elude them all and return to her home-sweet-home which she will have all to herself again.  Amazingly, her offspring never seem to remember the way back.   They seem unable to retrace their steps by following her scented trail.   She has been doing this for years.   We admire her pluckiness but keep her exploits to ourselves (until now, I suppose).

Our paths seldom cross.   She is nocturnal.   We are diurnal.   When we do get too close for her comfort, there is a great stamping of feet, polka-like pivoting, flinging of her tail up over her back, and a beady stare and snort.   All of which serves to remind us that we do not enjoy absolute sole ownership of this little plot of garden.   How dare we!

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

BarrytheBirder Photo

The fall garden

   A garden must have a name

   A hard stone is still a seat

   One rose shall be the last to bloom

   All fish must swim

   Stones will be collected

   Snails must return to the earth

   The seasons are a circle

   Green is the colour of life

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Black-throated Blue Warbler

  BarrytheBirder Photos

I wandered about the Humber River valley, north of Nashville (in Toronto's northwest outskirts) today, to look for migrating warblers.   Once again it was a beautiful day and the migrants seemed to be doing just that: migrating.   If they came to ground, I missed them.   It wasn't until I got home that I discovered this Black-throated Blue Warbler in the backyard.   Quite striking and distinctive is this little bird.  

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

                                   

Trumpeter Swan re-introduction is successful hereabouts

Photo by BarrytheBirder

MMMMTRUMPETER SWANMMMM

Cygnus buccinator

Pictured here are an adult and three younger Trumpeter Swans which are currently thriving at a private woodland pond near Newmarket.   There are three other adults at the same site.   Together, they make for a game of swans; game being the collective noun applied to swans.   The three younger swans still have faint traces of dinginess in their colouration (barely visible in this photo) but will be snowy white, like the adult at left, in short order.   Trumpeter Swans (along with the Tundra Swan) were hunted to extirpation, in Ontario, during the late 1800s.   Recovery began after protective legislation was passed in 1916.   The swans returned early on to the more remote regions of Ontario, such as Hudson Bay, but it is only now, almost 100 years later, that these huge, beautiful creatures are once again breeding locally.   Even then, it is only happening with the hands-on encouragement and protection of local land-owners and the determination of wildlife agencies.   Most noted, in this regard, is the distinguished Harry Lumsden, of Aurora, who, more than anyone, has been the Trumpeter's foster parent in Ontario.   Please comment if you wish.
BtheB

Low in the water...

                                                                                                                            Photo by BarrytheBirder

This Great Blue Heron seems to be riding a little low in the water, doesn't it?   Is it standing in deep water or sitting in shallow water?   Is it just cooling off or perhaps trying to mantle for fish?!?   It became uncomfortable with me nearby and answered one question by standing up in what was shallow water and flew off.   In this picture, with its low profile and long beak, it looks to me to be a  'Blue Loon'.   Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Early Fall at Eaton Hall

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Art is where you find it...

                                                                                               BarrytheBirder Photo

I sat under my backyard patio umbrella yesterday morning and waited for the hordes of late-migrating warblers to greet me as they visited my backyard on their southward journey.   I saw one, and it flitted off so quickly I was unable to identify it.   As I looked up I noticed the bright red, sunlit umbrella above me.   There were a number of White Ash leaves that had fallen onto the umbrella and were making very pleasing silhouettes.   I took a picture.   Then I just stared for minute or so.   It was most pleasant.  

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Crop circles in King township corn field

Originally this blog report was to be nothing more than a comment on the huge number of fields planted with corn this year, in King Township.   I've heard that corn prices have been good for some time and that would explain the increased acreage planted.   I stopped to get a picture of a corn field just north of King City, on the west side of Keele Street.   I noticed a flattened spot, and then another, in the field quite near to the road.   While not perfect circles, they were still circles.   There were cobs of corn lying about, some intact, some partially stripped of kernals and others totally stripped.   Deer?   Raccoons?   There were no tracks, as we've had little rain lately and the ground is very hard.   Nothing supernatural here...and no human interference, methinks.   Just some critters, attending a banquet, who started at a particular spot and worked their way outwards, creating unintentional circles.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Warblers eluding me

                                                                                                                       Photo by BarrytheBirder

The weather has been so nice that I'm not having much luck spotting southward-migrating warblers.   They just seem to keep flying past me.   It seems however that there is always a Great Blue Heron to catch my eye.   Or maybe because I'm just a a couple months from my 70th birthday, I'm getting lazy and I'm defaulting to the big birds.   I saw several Great Blues today plus a Black-crowned Night Heron.   On my heron travels, I passed through Tottenham and spied South Simcoe's Steam Engine No. 136 (see below) getting ready to transport a bunch of eager riders on an outing.   I love to watch steam trains as much as I love to watch Great Blue Herons, so my afternoon jaunt was quite pleasant.   Maybe the warblers will cooperate tomorrow, especially after a wet, cold front passes through.

Photo by Barrythe Birder

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Wind Turbines near Luther Marsh

 Photo by BarrytheBirder

During my visit to Luther Marsh yesterday ( see previous blog entry) I happened to look over the open water, to the north, and saw, beyond the marsh's northeast shore and above the treeline, the tops of what seemed like hundreds of wind turbines, in the distance.   I later stopped near the main gate and asked a uniformed gentleman at the maintenace headquarters if the the wind turbines installation was ever opposed on the grounds that its vast array of towers would negatively affect birds at Luther Marsh.   He told me that while the wind turbines had created a huge controversy in the past few years, he had not heard that Luther Marsh birds were ever part of the turbine discussion.  There are actually 133 wind turbines just west of Shelburne, Ontario, and about 12 kms. north of Luther Marsh.   It made me wonder if there is bird-strike monitoring going on here at the Canadian Hydro Developers sites in Melancthon and Amaranth Townships, similar to the data recently released for the Wolfe Island wind turbines near Kingston, Ontario.     
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB

Great Egrets at Luther Marsh

DO NOT SHOOT AT

ANY WHITE BIRDS

                                                                               ... sign at Luther Marsh

Photo by BarrytheBirder

MMGreat EgretMM

Ardea alba

I finally got up to Luther Marsh today to see some of the 'WHITE BIRDS' referred to above.   Luther Marsh is 25 km northwest of Orangeville, Ontario, and its wildlife management area comprises 5,600 ha. (almost 14,000 acres).   Today, at Zone R ( a restricted, no-entry area) I counted 52 'white birds'.  They were a great distance from me and I tried to err on the low side, which means the number was likely higher than 52.   They were all Great Egrets, I presume, although some of the birds seemed much smaller than the Great Egrets.   There may have been one or two Snowy Egrets in the mix or maybe even a Cattle Egret.   The egrets do not restrict themselves to Zone R, of course, and they may be spotted occasionally throughout Luther Marsh.   The two above were close to the single-lane, gravel track around the north side of Luther.   I find Luther Marsh somewhat frustrating in this day and age because of the increasingly restrictive access and rules.   I understand fully however the extreme importance of protecting this breeding ground.   What I don't understand is the continuance of hunting at Luther Marsh.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB   

September sundown at Seneca

Even the sewage lagoon at Seneca College can show some late-summer, late-in-the-day beauty.....

...and fungi in the dusky woods.

Please comment if you wish.
BtheB







 

Hibiscus & Hummingbirds

The end of summer is nigh and the Hibiscus has finally bloomed.   Only the tiny, fat hummingbirds of fall can compete for attention with these saucer-sized, one-day wonders.   It is but a single plant but one that commands the eye across the  garden's breadth.   The Hibiscus and the hummingbirds will last but a week or so now, as September's shorter evenings slide toward October.  Here in this garden, the short blooming season of the Hibiscus seems capricious and vagarious but Nature of course has  a skilful plan.   I am left to appreciate, as fully as possible, the short performance of these precious blooms.

 Photos by BarrytheBirder

    Please comment if you wish.

    BtheB

Well-fed Sandpiper?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

This Spotted Sandpiper, which I photographed today, appears to have enjoyed a well-fed summer.   He or she looks just a little plumper than those in my field guides.   Which is good, of course, given that its winter migration may take it as far as northern Argentina.   This is the sandpiper that bobs its tail up and down with every step that it takes.   My Royal Ontario Museum Field Guide describes its flight thusly: "Shallow, rapid, fluttering wingbeats.   Deep stroke flight characteristic of most shorebirds rarely see.   Sails low over water on stiff wings."   Considering it may fly to Argentina this fall, one can't help but wonder about the efficiency of its tense flying style.   Because it is mid-September or perhaps because this is a first-year bird, there are no spots on its breast or belly, which give it its alliterative name.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB   

September Sunset

                                                                                                                          Photo by BarrytheBirder

Marylake Shrine and Augustinian Monastery

King City, Ontario, Canada

    Marylake is the only body of water in King Township upon which I have heard and seen the Common Loon.   Marylake needs little embellishment but if anything can do it, the quavering call of the Common Loon transcends any view, more so at twilight.   Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

"coah, cooo, cooo, coo"

Photo by BarrytheBirder

mmMOURNING  DOVESmm

Zenaida macroura

I've been stuck around home for a few days with some domestic projects and have had to settle for watching birds that visit the backyard.   But the weather's been so nice that few southward migrating warblers are dropping in to say hi and get their photos taken.   Today, I think  a couple of our regular Mourning Doves took pity on me and decided to pose prettily for me so that I wouldn't be shut-out one more time.   I think they are both females but am open to other opinions.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB 

Walking tour of our village's old homes

This is yours truly flanked by my lady friends Cathy Wellesley (left) and Carol Field (right) during this summer's Historical Houses Walking Tour of King City.   We had so much fun doing this that we decided to mount another similar effort and have twice the fun.   Mark Sunday, October 2nd on your calendar if you're from around these parts, and meet us at All Saints Anglican Church, on Keele Street, in the middle of the village.   There will be eight costumed lovers of local history leading easy walks around the centre of the old village of Springhill (King City), starting with a short presentation in the chapel of All Saints.   We will finish with a special tour and refreshments at the King City Cemetery.   The Dead House at the cemetery will be transformed into a special mini-museum for the occasion (not as grim as it might sound).   The free tour lasts from 2 p.m. - 4.45 p.m. 

     
Pictured above is the 'Wedding Cake House', just one of many houses on the tour.   Please comment if you wish, or better still, come on the tour and I'll personally tell you some of the interesting stories about these old homes.
BtheB

Another tricky ID...or not!

This is a blog posting that I went online with almost three weeks ago.   The only problem was I did not post it to BarrytheBirder, but to another, totally unrelated blogsite which I have begun to write.   I have now retreived it and offer it up for what it's worth, three weeks late.   Two blogs ago I went on about tricky bird identifications, especially when it involved female warblers in the fall.   I shot the picture above during an early-August trip to Prince Edward Island.   For some reason this identification totally eluded me.   I finally emailed it to my 'go-to-guy' Gerry Binsfeld who said he was pretty sure I had captured a female Common Yellowthroat in my viewfinder.   You're kidding me!   You mean this common-looking bird, with the yellow throat, is a Common Yellowthroat?   Duh...sometimes you just can't see the birds for the feathers.   Its ornithological name, by the way, is Geothlypis trichas, and trick us it did.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB                                                                                                  Photo by BarrytheBirder

A new old barn

Now here is a welcome sight for sore eyes, like mine, that have seen one too many old Ontario barns wither away and collapse into themselves, or get hit by lightning and are reduced to ashes, or just get bulldozed to make way for some new, steel or vinyl, open-ended Quonset hut or a low-slung, sinister-looking, critter factory.   This recently restored barn is to be found in the hamlet of Kettleby, on the southeast corner of Keele Street and the 19th Sideroad.   What a gem of a restoration!   Don't get me wrong.   There are expensive new racehorse barns throughout King Township that rival the best in the world, but they don't speak to the charm of the barns of yesteryear.   Whenever I drive by this beauty, my memory opens up my childhood on my grandfather's farm, at Churchill, Ontario.   Even in the 1950s, his farm had no electricity or motorized equipment.   Horses were the beasts of burden.   Even then, his barn was ancient and I loved everything about it.   Anyway, it's cool to see that someone can move forward by looking back.   Well done folks.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB  

Fall warblers can confound

 

Look at the picture above, on the left.   Recognize the bird?   Is it a fall warbler?   Or is it a female Goldfinch?   A different angle, in the picture on the right, shows that she is indeed a Goldfinch - not a warbler.   For nine months of each year I have no problem recognizing female Goldfinches.   But for three months each fall I often confuse them with what I fervently hope are southward migrating warblers.   More often than not I lower my binoculars with disappointment.   It gets a bit frustrating.   At least until I do spot a warbler, then all is well.   Today I was rewarded with a female American Redstart (one of 36 warbler species that will pass through).   That's her below.   I know, I know, she doesn't look like much like a Goldfinch.   In the bottom photo she is giving me a good once-over.   What creature might she be confusing me with?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

MMMFemale American RedstartMMM

Setophaga ruticilla

Please comment if you wish.                                                                           All photos by BarrytheBirder

     BtheB