No shorebirds or waterfowl at Lake Wilcox today...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

It was cool and windy today, plus the sky was sunny and then cloudy every few minutes. I was surprised at how few birds there were.   A couple of seagulls and then a pair of Turkey Vultures flew overhead.   I'd never see Turkey Vultures hovering over open water before: not that Lake Wilcox is very big.   Perhaps some creature met its maker on the shoreline, and Turkey Vultures being opportunists, were looking for a snack. The only other creature I photographed was the bronze tortoise (below) on the boardwalk.

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BarrytheBirder

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

 

Photo by Dave Kemp

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk in British Columbia

This first-year juvenile Cooper's Hawk was photographed by my west-coast friend, Dave Kemp.   This juvenile's brown and white striped breast will turn reddish-brown when mature. In southern British Columbia, many adults are non-migratory but juveniles do tend to migrate.

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BarrytheBirder 

A bird you don't see every day...

 

                                                                                                 Photo by BarrytheBirder

PEACOCK (or Common Peafowl)

I was driving east along the 19th Sideroad of King last Friday morning and came across this beautiful Peacock, just west of Lloydtown, standing in front of a house at the side of the road.   I stopped and got a few shots of this very calm, range-free creature which posed quite willingly for me.   The word 'resplendant' is often used to describe peacocks and it certainly fits.   I know I wasn't lost and the peacock didn't seem to be either.

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Barry the Birder

Into October...at McKenzie Marsh in Aurora

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Mallard 

in fall eclipse

Green Heron

ever-observant

Great Egrets

Trumpeter Swans

Juveniles preening ~ below

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BarrytheBirder

Richmond Hill ~ Mill Street Pond

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Mute Swan

Double-crested Cormorant

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BarrytheBirder

Fall migrant passes through...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

 White-crowned Sparrow

(Zonotrichia leucophrys)

These attractive sparrows pass though my backyard every spring and fall at about the same time as the White-Throated Sparrows.   They always stay for a week or two before heading either south, or north, depending on the season.

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BarrytheBirder

Bird in the hand...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

I had lunch in Schomberg last week with two old friends.   Ted Bird (at top) and I go back about 65 years.   Dave Moore (left), I've known almost as long.

Ted is displaying my BarrytheBirder blog on his cell phone, showing at least one bird (person) reads my blog.  Meanwhile, Dave alerted me to a bird, just above my head, on a tree branch reaching over our patio table at the Schomberg Pub & Patio.   I looked up and spotted the bird , which you can see in the photo below.   These guys are still having great fun at my expense, after all these years.

Nevertheless, it was one of the best lunches I've had in ages.

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BarrytheBirder

Mill Pond ~ Mill Street ~ Richmond Hill

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron

Above and below

Double-crested Cormorants

Above and below

Mallard

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BarrytheBirder

McKenzie Marsh - Aurora

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Great Egret 

(above and below)

Great Blue Heron

Wood Duck

Male (above) Female (below)

Sleeping Mallard

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BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swans at McKenzie Marsh in Aurora...

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swans

Adult and Juvenile

Juvenile Trumpeter

Adult (banded) and three juveniles

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BarrytheBirder

Squirrel has a bad day...

 

Photo by Barry Wallace

Squirrel gets run over and then is eaten by a vulture

I photographed this Turkey Vulture on the 7th Concession of King Township, just north of the Happy Valley Nature Reserve last week.   It had been feeding on the carcass of a squirrel that had been run over by a motor vehicle.   I couldn't help but think how sad and ignominious for a furry little creature to get a double-whammy like this.  Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

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BarrytheBirder      

Turkeys on Jane Street property

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

From time to time I feature photos of Wild Turkeys in this space, but on this occasion the turkeys are white domestic turkeys on a small King Township property, near to Centennial Park.   I have read that white domestic turkeys are normally bred white to avoid darker skin colouration associated with non-white feathers.   This, I presume, to appeal to turkey diners who prefer white meat.

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BarrytheBirder

Also known as the 'Newfoundland Woodpecker'

 

BarrytheBirder

HAIRY WOODPECKER

Picoides Pubescens

The Hairy Woodpecker is not as frequent a visitor to my feeders as is the Downy Woodpecker.   They look almost identical in their markings, but the Hairy is about 1/3 larger in size.   The Hairy pictured here is a female.  She has no red patch on the back of her head, as is the case with the Downy female also.  Only the males, of both species, have a red patch on the back of their heads.   The bigger 'Hairies' always make a bold, striking sight when they show up in the backyard.

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BarrytheBirder

Birds at McKenzie Marsh - Aurora

 

Mallard

Great Egrets

Great Blue Heron (left) and Great Egrets

Green Heron

Red-winged Blackbird

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BarrytheBirder

Green Heron (Buterides striatis)

 

Photos by Barry Wallace

...at McKenzie Wetlands, Aurora

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BarrytheBirder