Daily competition between seals and eagles...

Photos by Dave Kemp

The competition for salmon between eagles and seals, at the K'mocks Estuary on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, never seems to end.  For my friend Dave Kemp, naturalist and photographer, it makes for many great photos.   Pictured above and below are bird and seal protaganists, competing at the water's edge.

More than one seal has joined the action for this fish.

One seal is successful in the capture.

The Bald Eagle was foiled on this occasion.

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BarrytheBirder

Tight take-off formation...

 

Photo by Dave Kemp

Canada Geese on the K'omoks Estuary

Comox ~ Vancouver Island ~ British Columbia

Thanks for this photo from my west coast friend and naturalist, Dave Kemp.

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BarrytheBirder 

 

Sunday morning on Richmond Hill Millpond...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Headless

Great

Blue

Heron 

perching 

on

one

leg

Millpond spillway

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BarrytheBirder 

Oh, the ignominy of mange!

 

                                                                                             Photo by BarrytheBirder

It's a good thing this cardinal

doesn't have to look in a mirror

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BarrytheBirder

Meet Jamie...my ever-alert sentinal cat

                                                                                                                  Photo by BarrytheBirder

Keeping the starlings and grackles

away from the bird feeders!

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BarrytheBirder

Kingscross Estates ~ King City

Photo by BarrytheBirder

GREAT BLUE HERON

DECOY

It's not nice to fool Barry the Birder.   From Manitou Drive in King City, looking up a long driveway, I spotted what I thought (just for a moment mind you) was a Great blue Heron.   It turned out to be a life-sized, folk-art version of a Great Blue with a rustic charm that I thought would be okay in this rustic blog space.

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BarrytheBirder

Long-billed Dowitchers on Vancouver Island...

                                                                                                                       Photos by Dave Kemp

Pictured here are Long-billed Dowitchers on Vancouver Island, photographed by Dave Kemp.   Dowitchers are a good example of how tricky it can be identifying different species.  The male Long-billed Dowitcher's beak is the same length as the male and female Short-billed Dowitchers, but shorter than the female Long-billed Dowitchers.   How important can this be?   I think they should be enjoyed for how they look.

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BarrytheBirder

Dave Kemp captures diving kingfisher image...

                                                                                                           Photos by Dave Kemp

The Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) is the only kingfisher to be found in most of North America.  My B.C. friend, Dave Kemp photographed this fast-flying, diving kingfisher on Vancouver Island.   The Belted Kingfisher has a very loud, dry rattling call, which helps birders to catch sight of it as it hurtles past.

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BarrytheBirder

What is aviculture?

Photo by Martin Pots (marty bugs)

Aviculture is the raising and care of birds and especially wild birds in captivity.   For almost 200 years, the Gouldian Finch ( male adult pictured above ) has been the species of choice for aviculturists.   Might that have been because the typical Gouldian Finch displays seven distinct colours in its plumage?  Interbreeding over the decades has produced dozens of different coloured plumages.   Since their discovery in mainly south-east Asia over two centuries ago, hundreds of thousands of colourful birds have been exported around the world.  Records show that Gouldian Finch, with its rainbow of colours always accounted for 50% of those exported birds.  While the colours of birds kept by aviculturists is undeniably compelling, I prefer to watch my birds in the wild.   To me, caged wild-birds is a contradiction of terms.

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BarrytheBirder

Another visit to the Ravenshoe Sideroad...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

I paid another visit to the Ravenshoe Sideroad, north of Queensville, on Sunday morning and shot these two pictures of an adult and three sub-adult Ospreys.  There were five birds in this family group.   If I had the time, I could have watched them all morning.

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BarrytheBirder

"Very rare' white puffin spotted in northern Scotland...

The bird was recently spotted on remote Handa Island in Northern Scotland.   The bird has just a few black feathers and a large orange bill, and the distinctive feathered creature is thought to be a result of a genetic condition called leucism.  Leucism is a rare condition of reduced pigmentation, a condition that can affect reptiles and mammals.

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BarrytheBirder

Sunday on the Richmond Hill Millpond...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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comment

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

'Great Blues' in the Holland Marsh...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The north and south canals and the Holland River in the Holland Marsh are reliable spots to see Great Blue Herons.  I took these photos of what I assumed were a mated pair this past Friday.   What marvellous creatures!

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comment

if you wish.

Barry 

the 

Birder

 

Well I thought I'd seen everything, until...

Photos by Ken MacDonald 

Hungry Black Bear perches in a 

 5-storey high Great Blue Heron nest!

                                      

These photos are to be found on the Facebook page of the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists.  A Black Bear climbed up a tree in Severn Township, north of Orillia, to a Great Blue Heron nest where it apparently ate the young herons it found there.   

Observers said it not appear to climb any of the other tall dead trees, but did spend the night in the nest where it was photographed.   My friend Ed Miller sent me these photos.  Many thanks, Ed.

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BarrytheBirder   

My first Hummingbird Moth...finally!

Photos by Barry Wallace

Pictured here is the very first Hummingbird Moth I have ever seen and photographed.   It was checking out wild flower blooms at the Dufferin Marsh in Schomberg.   It was not bothered by my closeness at all and concentrated on the blooms it was scouring non-stop.

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if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Mallard missing half a wing...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Above is a photo of a male Mallard Duck I took quite some time ago.   I happened to spot it earlier today while checking my photo files and noticed its right wing didn't look right.  That's because it only has half a wing on its right side.   Half its wing is missing and several broken feather shafts are sticking out.   Compare with the photo below to see the obvious difference between the two birds.   In retrospect, I have to say I do not recall the partially wingless duck behaving as though something was amiss.   This mallard is obviously a survivior, a hardy one!

Wikipedia Photo

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BarrytheBirder

Northern House-Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

Photos by Barry Wallace

Northern House Wren

The Northern House Wren is a most welcome visitor to my backyard in the summer.   Its splendid song, is a cascade of burbling whistled notes and I just wish it was a year-around resident in my part of southern Ontario.   It is the plainest-looking of North American wrens yet endearing when it industriously sets about creating a home in a nest box (see bottom photo).   It amazingly can be found from central Canada south to Tierra del Fuego.   If you're just over 4" long, it sometimes helps to be pugnacious and this little birds has a tendency to take on all comers, around its nest.

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comment

if you wish.

Barry 

the 

Birder

Male or female...they're both beautiful raptors...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Northern Harrier

Both male and female Northern Harriers are perfect examples of dynamic raptor shape and elegance.  And their colouring is a perfect degree of subtlety.

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BarrytheBirder