Pied-billed Grebes pass through

Photo by BarrytheBirder 

A pair of Pied-billed Grebes were the only migrants I spotted today.   They had stopped-over at Seneca College, near King City, and were busy diving for fish in Lake Jonda.   Of the four grebes which can be spotted in Ontario, The Pied-billed is the most likely to breed here but even then it is uncommon.   It has a short laterally compressed bluish-white bill which has a black ring during summer.   Other grebes have thinner, longer bills.   The name grebe is actually a french word and was borrowed into english in the mid-1700s.

BtheB

No more elk at Marylake

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Today I looked for birds along part of the Oak Ridges Trail at Marylake Augustinian Monastry, just south of the Sacred Heart catholic settlement in King Township.   I picked up the trail where it heads east from Jane Street (see photo below).   The trail follows the old fence line (see photo above) that marks the northern boundary of what was once the country estate of Sir Henry Pellatt, the builder and owner of Toronto's famed castle, Casa Loma.   Back in the 1920s and 1930s, Sir Henry's country estate boasted a hunting lodge from which he and friends hunted deer and elk.   The deer and elk were contained by an impressive  fence that enclosed several hundred acres of the estate.   Beaters would drive the animals past the hunters situated at the lodge, on the shore of the 40-acre Lake Marie.   In the photo above, the remains of the old fencing can be seen alongside the modern-day Oak Ridges Trail.   The cement posts rise 10' above the ground and support Page wire fencing, topped by six strands of barbed wire!

Photo by BarrytheBirder

A stout concrete pillar (see photo above) anchors part of the tall, one-time, deer fence along the Oak Ridges Trail.   The 10'-high fence is approximately 85 years old and although it no longer keeps deer and elk herds contained, many of its posts have a 21st-century use as trail markers for hikers.   You will no longer see an elk along this trail but White-tailed Deer are frequently spotted.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB 

The Junco's job

Photo by BarrytheBirder

   The Junco has returned

and we have reached an agreement.

I will keep the feeders full

and he and thirty or so friends
will cajole me through the cold months.

Already the winter is shorter.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

How good can they be?

                                                                                                                                                               Photo by BarrytheBirder

I just spent a couple of days in the country, near Ottawa, and I spotted this sign on the side of the highway between Perth and Smith's Falls.   I think I know a bit about birds, but I know a lot less about eggs.   I was really curious to know what could be better than an organic egg, but  not curious enough to inquire at the farm.   Oh well, it's a provocative and attention-getting name and I'm sure it has helped to to attract an appreciative, local clientele.   Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

14 peanuts ~ 1 Blue Jay

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Photo by BarrytheBirder

mmBLUE JAYmm

Cyanocitta cristata

I watched this Blue Jay, above, stuff 14 peanuts into his craw, in one sitting, at a feeder in the backyard this morning.   And this was just one of many trips it made to the feeders.   It never made a trip that didn't result in at least three peanuts and usually twice that.   It made me wonder what the record might be for most peanuts in a Blue Jay's craw, crop and/or gullet, at one time.   I spent a bit of time trying to track this down but was unsuccessful.   Anyone out there have any idea?   By the way, it's latin name (Cyanocitta cristata) translates into blue, chattering bird.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB  

Critters protecting critters

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Fences are the first line of protection for livestock on King Township farms but animals are showing up, more and more, as sentinels and protectors.   I have taken pictures previously of donkeys, burros, ponies, dogs, geese and llamas all fulfilling the roles of guardians.   The Great White Pyrenees dog (top) and the tuxedo-clad burro (above) were both doing their jobs, in the rain today, on nearby King/Vaughan Townline farms.  
Please comment if you wish.  

BtheB

Big birds everywhere

Big birds seemed to be the order of the day as I wandered about in the rain this afternoon.   Turkey vultures, Wild Turkeys and Canada Geese seemed to be everywhere.   Pictured here is a wet and sombre gathering of  20 Turkey Vultures overlooking the stream and valley beside the one-time Hamlet of Holy Park, in south-west King Township.   Not far away, I came across a flock of 14 Wild Turkeys which flew off in a great clatter of wings.   Normally, wild turkeys would rather run off but I had come upon them much too quietly and quickly.   And then there is the Canada Goose.   It seems every farm field hereabouts that has recently been harvested is now a buffet for our ubiquitous goose.   Whereas one is used to seeing a few dozen Canada Geese at a time, suddenly even the smallest field has hundreds of them and the big farms have thousands of them gleaning in the stubble.   Pictured below are Canada Geese in a recently-cut corn field, near the King Township hamlet of Strange.

Please comment if you wish.                                                                                        Photos by BarrytheBirder

BtheB

A BIG mistake!

What was I thinking?!?   Living with the fact, for just a little over a week, that I wasn't going to be writing this blog anymore made me quite miserable.   Who knew?!?  If you were one of the people who left a comment during the past 11 days and happen to stumble back upon this blog, please accept my sincere thanks for your kind words regarding what was supposed to be the end of  the BARRY the BIRDER's blogsite.   I hope to pick up where I left off, with one slight change.   I have always tried to present the joy, beauty and love in nature, knowing that the harsher sides of our natural world are readily available elsewhere.   I admit to often seeing nature through rose-coloured glasses.   From this point forward however, I'd like to occasionally comment, in a forceful tone, through words and pictures, on how our natural world is used and abused.   having said that, let me jump in with both feet  by sharing the following story.   At the same time as I was foolishly pulling the plug on BARRY the BIRDER, a reader, unaware of my imminent departure, took the time to send me a personal email in which she took great exception to something I didn't say, rather than to something I did say .   It was the blog about Luther Marsh, back in mid-September..   I had written about Luther Marsh through those unfortunate rose-coloured glasses.   I did make a comment about how unfortunate it was that hunting is part of the Luther Marsh reality.   I did not go into detail, however.   Someone seeing the overwhelming presence of the hunting reality at Luther Marsh, with their own eyes (which the reader had done), can be forgiven for seeing nothing but a killing field.   Luther Marsh is a wildlife protection area - until it is time to slaughter the wildlife.   Then it is a killing field.   The hunting state-of-mind is omnipresent and oppressive at Luther Marsh.   It is why I stopped going there many years ago to view birds.   The Luther Marsh Killing Fields are part of our reality, but I will be more forthcoming in the future about the reality of places I write about and their possible effect on those who have  not been comprehensively alerted to the grisly truth.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB

-30-

In the newspaper world, where I spent almost my entire working life,  -30- is what a reporter types at the end of a story, to indicate to the editor, that the story is finished.   Although I wrote a story or two over a 40-year career in the newspaper publishing business, I was never a reporter.   But this newspaper story sign-off seems appropriate as I end my BarrytheBirder blogsite.   I'd been mulling this over for a while and today suddenly presented itself as the right time.   Rather abrupt, but right, I felt.   I have written 564 blogs over the past 2 1/2 years and have had just over 20,000 hits and 368 comments.   I enjoyed it immensely and will be very lucky to enjoy half as much, whatever I tackle next.   Best wishes, dear reader.
BtheB      

The promise of fall is nigh

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Fall colours have arrived slowly this year but a first frost, last night, might change that.   This King Township horse farm (above)  seems to need little more than that which already exists to convey the transformational aura of autumn.   I shall, however, take this picture again in a week or so and we shall see what transpires now that the nip in the air is for real.   Will it be ablaze or will it be brown?

BtheB 

Pesky crows a drudgery for hawks?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I watched today as a pair of crows harassed a Rough-legged Hawk as it was heading southward, over King Township.   The hawk did make several evasive manoeuvres but otherwise seemed to take it in stride.   The encounter was short-lived and all the parties moved on.   However, I was left wondering how many times this happens to the hawk as it migrates from Canada's Arctic to the southern United States.   And in the far north, the protestors would be Ravens, a bird that is the same size, or even slightly bigger, than the Rough-legged Hawk.   The migrant raptors are probably harassed off-and-on all the way south.   And I thought all they had to do was just keep flying.   Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

The bird with the bright orange bib

                                                                                                                           Photo by Mpho Phiri

Cape Longclaw

Macronyx capensis

The photo above was taken by Mpho Phiri of Mafikeng, in northern South Africa.   Mpho is the current president of the Mafikeng Bird Club and he also is one the followers of my blog.   This photo of a Cape Longclaw is featured in his latest blog.   There is something that I really like about this bird and it's that remarkable throat colouring.   There are other species of Longclaws around and about, but I think I could identify this striking passerine anywhere...in South Africa that is.   There are six other Longclaw species in Africa and they all have fairly distinguishing appearances.   Many bear a passing resemblance to North American meadowlarks.   Google Mpho at Mafeking Birding Blog. 
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB