Dave Kemp photos from Vancouver Island...

Dave Kemp photos

Male & Female Hooded Mergansers

(above and below)

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Big Birds over Vancouver Island by Dave Kemp...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Bald Eagle ~ morning stretch

Wondrous wingspan

Canada Geese over Comox Glacier

Strathcona Provincial Park

(6,430 ft. / 1,960 metres)

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Goldfinch and Redpoll

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Dining out with friends 

is always tastier

when the conversation is better than the food.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Varied Thrush

Photo by BarrytheBirder

When the power of love

overcomes the love of power

the world will know peace.

                                                                             - Jimi Hendrix

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Baltimore Oriole

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Love thy neighbour,

and if it requires that you bend the truth, 

the truth will understand.

 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

White-breasted Nuthatch

Photo by BarrytheBirder

In a world full of people who couldn't care less,

be someone who cares more.

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BarrytheBirder

Northern Harrier

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud

- Maya Angelou

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BarrytheBirder

Mourning Dove

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

We have two ears and one mouth

so that we can listen

twice as much as we can speak.

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BarrytheBirder

Eastern Kingbird

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Real generosity is doing something nice

for someone who will never find out.

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BarrytheBirder

Killdeer

Photo by BarrytheBirder

By swallowing words unsaid,

no one has ever harmed his stomach.

                                                                  - Winston Churchill

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BarrytheBirder

 

Dark-eyed Junco

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

You can't do a kindness too soon

for you never know how soon it will be too late.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Please comment if you wish.

  BarrytheBirder

Ring-billed Gull

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Be tender with the young,

compassionate with the aged 

and tolerant of the weak,

 because someday in your life 

you will be all of these.

- George Washington Carver

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Barry Wallace

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

If we should deal out justice only in this world,

who would escape?

No. it's better to be generous, 

for it gains us gratitude.

                                                                            - Mark Twain

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Green Heron

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

When I was young, I admired clever people.

Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

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BarrytheBirder

Grackle

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

The most important trip you may take in life

is meeting people halfway.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

American Goldfinch

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Don't wait for people to be friendly.

Show them how.

- Henry James

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Goldfinch & Redpoll

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Dining out with friends is always tastier

when the conversation is better than the food.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Canada Goose

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Grown-ups know that little things matter

and that relationships are based on respect.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

 

House Finch

Photo by Barry Wallace

There is one word that may serve

as a rule for all one's life: reciprocity

                                                          - Confucius

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Mallard Duck

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Never miss an opportunity to make others happy,

even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it.

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BarrytheBirder

American Crow

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Don't be yourself.

Be someone nicer.

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BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I always prefer to believe the best of everybody.

It saves so much trouble.

                                                 - Rudyard Kipling

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Cowbird

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.

It may be the only sunshine

she or he sees all day.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Double-crested Cormorant

 

Photo by Barry Wallace

It's nice to be important

but it's more important to be nice.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Common Yellowthroat

Photo by BarrytheBirder

A good character is the best tombstone.

Those who loved you will remember.

Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Rufous Hummingbird by Dave Kemp

 

Photos by Dave Kemp

Thank you to Dave Kemp from Vancouver Island for these Rufous Hummingbird photos.   Birder Kenn Kaufman in his 2000 book Birds of North America says the Rufous 'hummer' is the most widespread hummer, reaching south from Alaska in summer, passing down through British Columbia and wintering in southern Mexico.   Of all the western hummers, this is the one that strays most often to the east, where numbers live along the Gulf Coast every winter.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Rufous Hummingbird by Dave Kemp

 

Rufous Hummingbird

Photos by Dave Kemp

Thank you to Dave Kemp from Vancouver Island for these Rufous Hummingbird photos.   Birder Ken Kaufman in his 2000 book Birds of North America says the Rufous is the most widespread western hummer, reaching southeast Alaska in summer, passing down through British Columbia, and wintering in southern Mexico.   Of all the western hummers, this is the one that strays most often to the east; small numbers live along the Gulf Coast every winter.

Please comment if you wish. 

BarrytheBirder  

Black-capped Chickadee

Photo by Barry Wallace

Never look down on anyone

unless you are helping them up.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Cardinal

 

Photo by Barry Wallace

Treat everyone with politeness,

even those who are rude to you, 

not because they are nice 

but because you are.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Blue Jay...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Today I bent the truth to be kind, 

and I have no regret,

for I am far surer of what is kind 

than I am of what is true.

- Robert Brault 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Harrier

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Don't let those who take advantage  

of your generosity 

stop you from being generous.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Eastern Bluebird

                                                                                                                    Photo by BarrytheBirder

Carry a heart that never hates,

a smile that never fades,

and a touch that never hurts.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder 

Red-winged Blackbird

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Compassion is language the deaf can hear

and the blind can see.

- Mark Twain

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

American Kestrel (female)

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Kindness is in our power, 

when fondness is not.  

- Henry James

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Green-winged Teal...

Photo by Dave Kemp

Green-winged Teal

(Anas crecca)

This photo is by Vancouver Island naturalist and photographer Dave Kemp, whose bird photos I have featured in this space on numerous occasions.  The photo shows a resting Green winged Teal (female) with an open eye on photographer Dave.   Great lighting and colour capture, Dave.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder  

Wild Turkey visit...

Photos by Lynn Bird

Lynn and Ted Bird welcome Wild Turkey

My longtime friends Lynn and Ted Bird, just west of Schomberg, played hosts to a Wild Turkey recently on their backyard deck.   Apparently, this bird knew that Thanksgiving Day was past, and wanted to visit and make acquaintances with two new Birds.   Making new friends is always enjoyable.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Warblers heading south...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Black-throated Green Warbler (female )

Black-throated Blue Warbler ( male )

It's time for warblers to head south on their winter migrations and two warbler species that share the same parts of Canada and the U.S. in the summertime, also share the same parts of Mexico, the Caribbean, and the southern tip of Florida in the winter.   They are the Black-throated Green Warbler and the Black-throated Blue Warbler.   While only a few spend the winter in southern Florida, most migrate to the West Indies, plus Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.   A very few even make it to the Mississippi River and Texas.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swans still at Aurora Arboretum Pond...

Photos by Barry Wallace

 Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Wingspan of a Bald Eagle...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Bald Eagle wingspan ~ 6ft. 7in.

Bald Eagles are seen mostly on seacoasts or near rivers and lakes.   They feed mainly on fish in the breeding season, but will also eat carrion, injured waterfowl, and roadkill.   Florida-raised birds wander north as far as southern Canada.   The Bald Eagle is the largest North American raptor, after the California Condor.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Harrier

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Don't let those who take advantage

of your generosity

stop you from being generous.

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace