Cormorant mostly ignores status as interloper...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

This double-crested Cormorant is sharing a small neighbourhood pond, with Canada Geese, in our small village of King City, Ontario.   Like most cormorants, it is content to be the only cormorant on the pond because it means exclusive fishing for itself.  The pond is, however, currently being shared with Canada Geese that all seems to be raising goslings right now.   The cormorant tries to be circumspect, but the parent geese are very wary when the cormorant gets too close to the young geese.

Please comment if you wish. 

BarrytheBirder

Lots of new goslings showing up...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Canada Geese goslings are suddenly everywhere, bigger or smaller than others and different colours also.   In the top photo, very young goslings are a distinct yellow colour, while in the picture below, older goslings are bigger and their colouring is closer to that of adult birds.

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BarrytheBirder

One of my favourite birds...

                                                                                  Photo and haiku by BarrytheBirder

                                                     mourning dove

                                                     blurry wings wailing

                                                     flees from me

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BarrytheBirder

Clarence the Sandhill Crane...

My sister-in-law Margaret Asbury emailed me this picture of a Sandhill Crane, named Clarence, getting amazingly close to a friendly admirer, on the edge of golf course in suburban Detroit, in Michigan, USA.   The gentleman in the photo appears to be pointing at a patch of sunflower seeds he has left as an inter-species offering.   Sandhills eats seeds, cultivated grains, berries, tubers, small vertebrates and invertebrates.
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BarrytheBirder

Unwelcome visitor at oriole feeder...

                                                                                                Photo by BarrytheBirder

This Red Squirrel has acquired a taste for oranges and orange juice it seems.   For the first week or so, it was content to just drink the juice by tilting the Baltimore Oriole feeder to the side and making the nectar drip out, which it would suck up endlessly.   I added half an orange to make things a little more awkward, but now the squirrel is feasting on the orange.   It's not there all the time, so the orioles continue to get their share, but they are not indifferent, I'm sure.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

A favourite place in the garden...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

'Robin Redbreast'

...and a clean red breast, at that.

For the record, the robin in the photo above is a North American Robin, while my reference to 'Robin Redbreast' refers to the smaller Robin Redbreast  (or just plain Robin) of Europe...and the two look little alike.

  

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BarrytheBirder

Ohhhhh...Orioles!

                    Male    

A spring favourite

    Female                                                                                                                                 

Photos by Barry Wallace

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BarrytheBirder

All the hummers are here...

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird photo by Barry Wallace

HummingbirdCentral.com reports, as of May 22nd, that four different species of hummingbirds are now reported across southern Canada.   Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are now located in all provinces except Newfoundland-Labrador, Nunavut and Northwest Territories, while Anna's, Rufous and Calliope are being seen in British Columbia.

 Male Anna's Hummingbird photo by Dave Kemp

 Male Rufous Hummingbird photo by Dave Kemp

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Is this really a pigeon?

                                                                                                              Photo: Toronto Zoo

Victoria Crowned Pigeon
(Goura victoria)

Its name commemorates the British monarch Queen Victoria, and although it is native to New Guinea, it can be found in the Toronto International Zoo.  This really is a pigeon and is distinguished by its elegant blue lace-like feather crest (tipped with white and purple), maroon breast and red eyes.  It is one of the largest pigeons in the world, standing as much as 85 cm tall and weighing in at 3.4 kg.  In the wild it is considered "Near Threatened" by the IUCN.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Red-winged Blackbirds understand Yellow Warbler alarms

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Research at the University of Illinois has shown that Yellow Warblers have an alarm call that warns others of their kind, that Browned-headed Cowbirds are nearby and present a threat to warbler nests which may imminently have cowbird eggs laid in them. The warning call is a "seet" sound.  Female warblers immediately occupy their nests until the supposed threat has passed.   It turns out that Red-winged Blackbirds understand the meaning of the "seet" alarm call, and they too return to occupy and protect their own nests.   It is known that Yellow Warblers do better when they nest near Red-winged Blackbird territories, which makes sense because the 'redwings' are extremely aggressive to threatening predators.   Nature has its ways.

 Brown-headed Cowbird

 Red-winged Blackbird

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

First hummingbird I ever photographed...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

First 'hummer' from 2010 

Above is the first Ruby-throated Hummingbird I ever photographed.   It was a new camera and the 'hummer' was the first in my springtime backyard, on May 15, 2010.   It had snowed on Mother's Day in 2010, just as it did this year in 2020.   Accurately predicting the exact day a hummingbird will appear in my backyard is a fool's folly, so I will not do that.   I am prepared however to get a picture of the first 'hummer' and it will appear in this space forthwith.   Have fun spotting yours!

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Robins in the backyard...

Time for a bath.

"Mind if I join you?"

"How's the water?"

"Come on in".

"Oh Oh, someone's coming"!

Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Cardinal and Goldfinch...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

 Colourful Duo 

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BarrytheBirder

WILD BIRD UNLIMITED NATURE SHOP...

BBirdspotter 2019-2020 Photo ContestB

Grand Prize Winner
"Surrounded by Pink"
Eileen Chorba
Beach Lake, Pennsylvania, USA.

Judges' Choice
"Outta here!"
Christine Hansen
Galveston, Texas, USA.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

More spring migrants...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Female Baltimore Oriole

Indigo Bunting

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

Please comment if you wish

BarrytheBirder

Spring's first Baltimore Oriole arrives...

                                                                                                      Photo by BarrytheBirder

A welcome sighting on a Saturday morning

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BarrytheBirder

Plump bird...

                                                                                                  Photo by BarrytheBirder

Wild Turkey 

15th Sideroad - between Keele and Jane

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Female Red-winged Blackbird appears quite unlike the male...

                                                                                                    Photos by BarrytheBirder

Female Red-winged Blackbird

My brother-in-law, Patrick, asked me a day or so ago, about the appearance of the female Red-Winged Blackbird.   He specifically wanted to know if it was quite different than the male of the species.   The quick answer is yes.   Unlike some other blackbird species, such as the Rusty Blackbird or the Brewer's Blackbird or even the Grackle, the male and female Red-winged Blackbirds are quite unalike (see photos above and below).   The photo above of the female was taken in the backyard hedge, just minutes before I sat down to write this blog.   

Male Red-winged Blackbird

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Warblers on the King City Trail (west of Keele)...

 Photos by BarrytheBirder

Palm Warbler

(Setophaga palmarum)

 Black and White Warbler

Mniotilta varia

Blue-headed Vireo

Vireo solitarius

Yellow-rumped Warbler
Dendroica coronata

(unidentified species)

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

No 'Hummers' yet...

                                                                                                  Photo by BarrytheBirder

The first hummingbird of the spring, last year, arrived on May 10.   It's now May 11, 2020, and there is snow on the hummingbird feeders, and no hummingbirds.   All I can say is 'hope springs eternal'.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

First Warbler...at Bond Lake

Photos by BarrytheBirder

PINE WARBLER

(Dendroica pinus)

A walk around nearby Bond Lake in Oak Ridges this past Sunday, produced dozens of Pine Warblers and a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets.   Unfortunately, light, off-and-on, sleety snow seemed to have kept other early migrants, like Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, from getting as far north as the Oak Ridges Moraine, above Toronto.   Warmer weather is in the forecast, thank goodness!

There was a Great Blue Heron (above) and four Double-crested Cormorants (below), as well as ever-present Canada Geese.

Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Cormorant stalked by Red-tailed Hawk...

                                                                                                           Photos by BarrytheBirder

I spotted this Double-crested Cormorant on the small pond, at the south-west corner of King Road and Bathurst Street, in Temperanceville recently.   It dove under the water a couple of times but came up 'empty-beaked' each time.   It took off and was immediately chased by a Red-tailed Hawk (photos below) that had been watching it patiently from a small tree at the edge of the pond.   Once airborne, the Cormorant made a sharp 180 degree turn and sped off, leaving the 'Red-tail' far behind.

Sorry for the poor quality photos, but it all happened in less than a minute and I was hard-pressed to get the pictures I did.   I was also surprised to see a Red-tailed Hawk go after a bird as large as a Cormorant, which is 1/3 larger and heavier than the 'Red-tail'.   Then again the 'Red-tail' had that big hooked beak and those big sharp talons; so nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder