Wet Turkey Vulture

Photo by BarrytheBirder

TURKEY VULTURE

Cathartes aura

Monday's rains were soaking this Turkey Vulture in a field nears Marsville, west of Orangeville.   Turkey Vultures are the size of eagles and it is hard for a bird of this size to get in out of the rain anywhere.   On the other hand, Turkey Vultures are usually only on the ground for one reason - to eat.   Staying dry is important, but staying full is a priority also.

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BtheB 

Cormorant at Seneca's Lake Jonda

Photo by BarrytheBirder

MDouble-crested CormorantM

Phalacrocorax auritus

I spotted what I believe is the first cormorant of the season on Lake Jonda, at Seneca College, on Friday morning.   As far as I could tell it was the only one on the lake.   It was cold, windy morning, around the freezing mark, and there was a bit of snow blowing about.   I thought of how cormorants sit and spread their wings as they dry their feathers (which are not waterproof) after they have been diving for fish.   The Wikipedia photo at left shows a Coromorant at Humber Bay in Toronto drying out.   A cormorant could very well freeze in the position on a day like this!   The word "cormorant" is derived through French from the Latin corvus marinus, meaning "sea crow".

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                                                      BtheB

The great pretender

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Killdeer

Charadrius vociferus

I photographed this Killdeer near King City on Wednesday.   It was the first Killdeer I had seen this spring.   Normally, many Killdeer arrive on the breeding grounds early, in mid-March.   They peak in April.   Either I haven't been paying enough attention or perhaps I have been looking in the wrong places, but April 25th was a late sighting.   The second part of its scientific name (vociferus - Latin for loudly) is certainly appropriate.   It gives a loud, clear kill-DEEE, which it repeats endlessly, it seems.   I have called this bird 'the great pretender' in the heading at the top of this blog.   That is because of its brilliant strategy of feigning injury when threatened by would-be predators.   When its nest is approached, it hobbles away with wings dragging as if badly injured.   Predators are thus lured away from eggs or hatchlings and, at some distance, the Killdeer miraculously recovers and flies off.   The Killdeer is classified as a shorebird but for an 'mainlander' like me I'm used to seeing them in farm fields, meadows, golf courses, etc. - any short-grass open ground.  It ranges from coast-to-coast in North America and from Alaska and the Yukon as far south as coastal Peru.
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BtheB

Goose encounters

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Tuesday of this week, weatherwise, was miserable.   There was rain, snow, and sleet.   Female Canada Geese already on their nests were obliged to stay put and dutifully deflect all that cold moisture from their eggs.   This brave lady not only had to endure the late winter elements but her nest is only a metre or two from the edge of busy road near the village of King City.   We question her judgement but wish her well.   Meanwhile, further along on my journey, the domestic goose below felt it had as much entitlement to the road as I did and took its time giving way, which gave me time to get its picture.

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BtheB

475 million Mourning Doves

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Mourning Dove

Zenaida macroura

I repeatedly amaze myself by assuming I know a lot about birds and then discover constantly that the opposite is true.   Here is information about the Mourning Dove that I have just discovered.   It's species name comes in part from the name of the wife of the man ( Charles Bonaparte) who named the bird in 1838.   Her name was Princess Zenaide.   The second part of the name is macroura, Greek for 'long-tailed'.   While I always regarded the Mourning Dove as a songbird, many people regard it as gamebird.    It is the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds and is the leading gamebird in the U.S.A., with at least 20 million being shot each year and in some years ranging from 40 to 70 million shot - approximately 10 to 15% of their total population of 475 million birds!   I think in Canada Mourning Doves are legally hunted in one of our western provinces and in Quebec.   I don't think I know anyone who has ever shot a Mourning Dove.   Apparently their meat tastes like liver.   They are one of my favourite birds and can (and do) take refuge in my backyard every day. May it ever be thus.

Wikipedia Photo/Andrew Atzert

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BtheB        

Hummingbird arrival?

Photos by BarrytheBirder

                              2010 - May 10

                              2011 - May 10

                              2012 -     ?    

The countdown is on in my backyard in King City, north of Toronto, for the arrival of the first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds of the season.   The remarkably warm weather during much of March pushed the migration north earlier than usual, but more recent cool weather has kept the 'hummers' stalled in northern U.S. states like Vermont, Pennsylvannia, Ohio and Illinois.   Because of that early warm weather, I feel like I have been waiting forever for the return of the hummingbirds.   Oh well, three more weeks is a short enough time for such a splendid reward.

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BtheB

Pine Siskin ~ uncommon feeder visitor

Photos by BarrytheBirder

MPine SiskinM

Carduelis pinus

There were four Pine Siskins in among the many goldfinches at the feeders this week.   At first I thought they were female goldfinches with a distinct lack of yellow colour.   They even sounded like goldfinches.   Then I thought they were female House Finches, but they had a wee bit of yellow on the wings and rump.   Then I noticed the thin, sharp bills.   Siskins!   Pine Siskins have shown up rarely at my feeders over the years but they are certainly welcome, any time.   They are highly variable in their ramblings however.   Another welcome visitor on Saturday, which I don't see in my backyard that often, was a Song Sparrow (photo below).   Below that is a fluffy American Tree Sparrow.   They have been around the feeders all winter and are delightful little birds.

  

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BtheB

Ospreys at Seneca College

Photo by Carmen Schlamb

This terrific photo of an Osprey was taken at Seneca College's King Campus by Seneca's Environmental Coordinator, Carmen Schlamb.   The photo was featured on Nature Canada's website as its Photo of the Month back in March 2008.   Below is a photo I took last year at the same spot, and I think it's interested to compare the nest in the two photos.   The nest above is barely a nest at all, while the one below is well-established.   Seneca has tried to get the Osprey to nest in man-made nesting boxes built for just that purpose and which are located on the shores of Lake Jonda, in the middle of the college's 700-acre property.   The Osprey have always insisted however on occupying the parking lot light standard you see above.   I checked the nest on Wednesday of the week and the Osprey don't seem to have returned yet.   It's only at matter of days, I'm sure, because Osprey have been reported already in April, at other spots in southern Ontario.

Photo by BarrytheBirder

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BtheB

On the Oak Ridges Trail...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

 Hairy Woodpecker

Picoides villosus

On Tuesday, I strolled along the Oak Ridges Trail (or Green Lane as we used to call it) between King's 6th and 7th Concessions.   There were no wildflowers yet and the only birds I spotted were the female Hairy Woodpecker pictured above and a pair of Northern Flickers.   Hairy Woodpeckers are usually shier than Downy Woodpeckers but this lady let me get close enough for a picture.   She even accompanied me for a hundred metres or so along the trail.   Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers are our only woodpeckers with white backs.   It makes them readily identifiable. Downy Woodpeckers are our smallest woodpeckers (15-18cm) and the Hairy is a little larger (19-24cm).   Red-headed Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Three-toed Woodpeckers, Black-bellied Woodpeckers and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are all slightly larger than the Hairy, while the Northern Flicker is quite a bit larger at (28-32cm).   Rounding out the list is the very large Pileated Woodpecker at (42-49cm).   All nine of the woodpeckers species mentioned here breed in Ontario.

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BtheB

Trumpeter Swans in King City

Photos by BarrytheBirder

MTrumpeter SwanM

Cygnus buccinator

Build a 4-story condominium apartment building beside a wetland and the swans will come.   So it seems just south-west of King City's main intersection and east of the Catholic Public School.   A pair of Trumpeter Swans has joined the Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks in the marshy pond and seem quite content despite the intense construction activity just a hundred metres away.   These swans have a distinct orange tinge on the heads, necks, and bellies (below the waterline) which would seem to come from their feeding activity in waters that have a high iron content.   Unlike most Trumpeter Swans that pass through this area, these wonderful birds do not have identifying tags attached to their wings.   The re-introduction process of Trumpeter Swans, in this part of the country, has seen many, many birds tagged with identification info, over the last few years..   The birds pictured here then appear to be truly wild.

Visiting Trumpeter Swans are within a stone's throw of this 

very large condominium apartment building being constructed near the middle of the village of King City.

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BtheB

Tree Swallows prevail at Box 22

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I mentioned two weeks ago that I would be watching Box 22 at Cold Creek Conservation Area to see if the Eastern Bluebirds would prevail at occupying this nesting box.   Bluebirds have enjoyed an unlikely record of success with this box over the years.   While Tree Swallows usually chase bluebirds away from the best nesting box sites, Box 22 has inexplicably been an exception.   But this year, it is the swallows that seem to have prevailed (see photo above).   The Tree Swallows now seem entrenched at Cold Creek.   Whereas I saw 6 bluebirds at Cold Creek  two weeks ago, yesterday I saw none.   The ones I had seen previously have probably retreated into the surrounding woods and brush to occupy less desirable nesting sites.   Such is nature's way.   While failing to see bluebirds, I did spot three Northern Flickers in the short-grass fields and there were thousands of Red Admiral butterflies (see below) everywhere at Cold Creek.   

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BtheB 

In their 7th week here...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Brown-headed Cowbird

Molothrus ater

Winter departed so early and spring arrived so quickly that the usually transient cowbirds have stayed at our backyard feeders way beyond their normal time.   They are now into their 7th week of "Occupy King City" and are eating us out of house and home.   They seem so settled here that they are oblivious, when feeding, to all other birds, including the grackles and Blue Jays.   There are as  many as 25 birds at one time.   God forbid they stay around too long and start to breed and lay eggs here.   They could fill every bird nest in the neighbourhood and we would be deluged with cowbirds in no time.   Although the 2012 winter/spring change of season has been like no other in recent memory, I'm sure things will unfold as they should and the cowbirds will adjust; delaying  nesting to a more appropriate time and place.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB

Waterfowl nesting time at Cold Creek

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Friday afternoon was warm and sunny and inviting all around.   A saunter around Cold Creek Conservation Area looking for spring birds seemed in order.   But I was rather disappointed as the sum total of my searching turned up nothing other than chickadees and Canada Geese.   I did spot some new signs near the ponds however.   They are an attempt by the Cold Creek Stewardship Committee, the Township of King and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority  to ensure as little harassment of nesting waterfowl as possible.   Public use of Cold Creek is increasing all the time and waterfowl nesting success has not been good in recent years.   Any effort to ease the situation is to be applauded.   The best way to get close, without getting close, is to invest in a pair binoculars.   If you don't have a pair of binoculars, there is probably nothing better you can do to enhance your viewing of nature than to buy a set.   I wasn't about to be shut-out at Cold Creek today, on the photo front, so I photographed the Bloodroot you see below.   It was everywhere and a joy to behold in the bright April sunlight.  

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BtheB

Newest addition to life-list

Photo by Dominic Sherony

MMCuban AmazonMM

Amazona leucocephala

After quite some time I have increased my bird life-list from 421 to 422 species.   The new bird is the Cuban Amazon, a.k.a. Cuban Parrot, Rose-throated Parrot, or Grand Cayman Amazon.   I saw the bird at Grand Cayman Island on a Caribbean vacation in 1995!   I did not identify it back then.   I was not as keen a birder then, as I am today.   Now, 17 years later, on Easter Monday, I accidently discovered that Grand Cayman Island only has three parrot-type birds.   Two are small, budgie-type, birds: the Monk Parakeet and the Budgerigar.   The third is a medium-sized parrot, about 33 cm or 13" long.   My wife and I saw many of these pretty birds high in the trees above us as we walked up and down the beaches of Grand Cayman's beautiful western shore.   Now, 17 years later, by a ridiculously simple and quick process of elimination, I have a new lifer on my list.   I can only hope it does not take another 17 years to get my next lifer.
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BtheB  

Never builds its own nest...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Brown-headed Cowbird

Molothrus ater

Brown-headed Cowbirds have been at our feeders, in southern Ontario, for a month now and the females have joined the early males.   In due course, the female cowbirds will begin to lay eggs, but not in their own nests.   They will parasitize a wide variety of other birds' nests, both bigger, but usually smaller, and the nests can belong to as many as 220 host species.   About 140 different species are known to actually carry through on the raising of cowbird chicks.   To maximize her chances of having her young reach maturity, a female cowbird will lay as many as 36 eggs in the breeding season.   Cowbirds have adapted well in the last few centuries as they have gone from trailing buffalo herds across the prairies to showing up regularly at backyard birdfeeders.   Judging by the picture below, taken in my backyard, they are fairly agreeable at sharing their food as they find it.

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BtheB        

Weather predictions tricky this spring

Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP / Getty Images

Japanese White-eye (Mejiro)

Zosterops japonicus

This photograph of a Japanese White-eye enjoyed widespread publication around the world last week, but I suspect is was chosen by newspaper photo editors for the cherry blossoms as much as for the bird.   This White-eye certainly seems taken by the blossoms in a Tokyo park on April 1.   The cherry blossoms bloomed in Tokyo on March 31, five days later than usual, according to Japanese authorities.

The Darth Vader of birds?

Photos by Barrythebirder

For some reason, Grackles (above) always make me think of Darth Vader...malevolent, aggressive, commanding and darkly disguised.   Then there are the Cowbirds (below) which strike me as Grackle-Wannabees.   They have the colouring but not the overbearing personality.   Both of these birds have been at the feeders for all of March and now into April.   They have been joined regularly by Red-winged Blackbirds and European Starlings.   There is a rather ominous presence when all these mainly black birds are in a horde.

Meanwhile, the American Goldfinches are ambivalent towards all those black birds because they frequent the Niger Seed silo feeders, well-apart from the mixed-seed tray feeders.   The males seem to be a week or two ahead of schedule in switching from their drab winter plumage to their bright summer plumage.   I think it would be interesting to know if an early spring can not only provoke an early migration, but also a premature colour change.   If you happen know to the answer, perhaps you would like to leave a comment.

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BarrytheBirder

Hummers headed north 4 weeks early

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have recently been reported being almost four weeks earlier than their traditional timetable for northern migration.  March's all-time, record-setting high temperatures had Hummingbirds showing up in a broad front across the north-east United States.

Now they seem to have stalled and their appearance in southern Canada will likely be at a more normal interval.   There have been some sightings however around both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.   While waiting for your first sighting, consider this suggestion from Hummingbird Journey North.   Try hovering like a hummingbird: "Put your hands out to the side, palms down, and create a 'figure 8.'   Here's how: Bring your hand forward and then up as you turn your palms up.   Make sure your thumbs lead the way.   As your hands go back, down and around, you'll come back to where you started.   Imagine doing this 50 to 80 times a second as you take a long drink!"
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BtheB

Eagle doing the breast-stroke?

My friend Dave Flucker, of Baysville, Ontario, sent the attached video of a Bald Eagle trying to retrieve a dead nutria from a pond in in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.   This is one determined bird.   

http://www.youtube.com/embed/87xNpOYOlQ4?rel=0

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BtheB

More from Mpho in Mafeking

Here are two more photos from Mpho Phiri's recent trip to Kgalagadi Park in north-west South Africa.   Above is Mpho's great shot of a Social Weaver, one of the few (or maybe only) birds that live in a group nesting structure such as the one that Mpho photographed below.   Mpho's blog says that as many as 500 Sociable Weavers can inhabit one of the huge nesting structures, especially those that take over entire huge tree-tops.   Even when trees topple over and fall to ground under the great weight, the birds continue to occupy the nests.   Nature is marvellous in its adaptive qualities.  

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BtheB

Thick-knee photos by Mpho Phiri

My birding friend, Mpho Phiri, from South Africa recently visited the Kgaligadi region of north-west South Africa, about 500 kms west of his home base of Mafeking.   One of the birds he got some excellently-captured photos of was the Spotted Thick-knee.   The Afrikaans people call this bird the Dikkop.   The Batswana people call them Tswang-Tswang (keep away), while the Basutho people cal them Kgoho-ya-dira (enemy).   All of these peoples think of these nocturnal birds in terms of the 'enemy' or 'bad omen'.   Being nocturnal, Thick-knees are heard at night and Mpho Phiri states in his blog that everything associated with the night in Africa is a bad omen.

The big heads and thick knees of the Spotted Thick-knee are main characteristics of a bird that is otherwise a very striking and attractive-looking bird.   These great photos by Mpho certainly capture the Thick-knee's distinctive markings and colour highlights.   To view Mpho's blog, google Mafeking Birding Blog.

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BtheB

Bluebirds vs. swallows at Cold Creek

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Monday I watched as the annual battle unfolded at Cold Creek Conservation Area between the Eastern Bluebirds and the Tree Swallows.   The battle is over who gets to occupy the 50 or so birdboxes scattered about the property.   Normally, after the skirmishes are over, the bluebirds are lucky if they have occupied 10% of the boxes (5 out of 50).   The Bluebird's main advantage in the battle is that it arrives on this breeding ground much earlier than the swallows and possession is 9/10s of the law.   But the swallow's main advantage is its aggressive harassment of other birds competing for the same birdbox.   A few bluebirds succeed but others give up the fight for a box and fade into the brush to find a natural cavity such as a dead tree or an old fencepost.   Birdbox 22, pictured above and below, has always been a bit of an anomaly at Cold Creek in that the bluebirds always do well competing for this particular home.   In fact, they seem to occupy it more often than not.   It will be a few more weeks before we know who the winner for this special box will be in 2012.   The bluebirds (above) and the swallows (below) took several alternating turns, throughout the morning, inspecting box 22 inside and out.    

Meanwhile, over at the old Cairns barn (below), a female Canada Goose seemed to be enjoying a sweeping view of Cold Creek from the roof's peak.   Or maybe she was amusing herself by imitating a weathervane.   Her male mate, on the ground, called repeatedly for her to    join him but she was in no hurry and took her own sweet time before flying down to him.

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BtheB

BC birds by Hans Klaris

Photos by Hans Klaris

I have recently included several bird photos in my blogs by British Columbia photographer Dave Kemp (www.pictureperfect.nu/gallery).   I was introduced to Dave's work by Don Flucker, an old acquaintance from King City, Ontario, who now lives in the Fraser River delta on the west coast.   Last week, I was introduced to a friend of Dave Kemp, named Hans Klaris, who has also shared some bird photos which he took out west.   I have never seen, heard or met these gentleman but here we are digitally sharing a passion for birds and their images.   Hans Klaris's up-close and personal head-shot above of a Sandhill Crane is remarkably intimate.   You can even seen the mud on its beak from its last feeding foray.   Hans informs me that getting very close to these birds, in the wild, is not difficult but can still be unexpectedly hazardous.   Below is a shot of an elegantly-plumed Great Blue Heron which Hans photographed in Beacon Hill Park, in Victoria, B.C.   Hans reports that this bird will do just about anything for some of your fish and chips!
  

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 BtheB

Meadowlark makes early appearance

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Along the 16th Sideroad ~ near Holly Park

This Eastern Meadowlark is unlikely to find many insects given the weather of the last couple of days, but there's always seeds and berries, although that supply has probably been well-picked-over given the the mild winter we had and the scavenging birds that did not migrate south.   Others birds spotted on this outing included a Phoebe and a Horned Lark. 

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB