Birds Canada greeting...

                                                                                                        Photo by Maureen Hills-Urbat

Clark's Nutcracker

(Nucifraga columbiana)

This photo illustrated the 2022 holiday message from Patrick Nadeau,

President & CEO of Birds Canada

The Clark's Nutcracker is a large attractive bird (30-33 cm.) with a light gray body and large white patches in its black wings and tail.   It is very distinctive in the mountains of southwest Canada, western U.S.A. and northern Mexico.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Snow Bunting...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

SNOW BUNTING

(Plectrophenax nivalis)

Breeds in northern Canada and Alaska and winters south to Ontario and the Carolinas.   Feeds on ground in open country and flocks with other buntings, Horned Larks and Longspurs in winter.   Calls include a sweet tew or tew-eee; a short trill; and a raspy wreent.   Black-and-white wings are conspicuous in flight in both sexes year-round.

Photo: Birds Canada

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Comox, British Columbia...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Trumpeter Swans

Potato Fields ~Knight Road

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Art of the carver...

                                                                                                                     Photo by BarrytheBirder

     Western Grebe ~ by Liza Chin

     1987                                                                               Northern Loon - Ron Sadler

                                                                                              1983

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Pine Siskin ( Carduelis pinus)

Photos by Barry Wallace

The Pine Siskin is one of the northern finches whose winter visits to southern Ontario occur mainly in years when the seed crop has failed in the boreal forest.  Their principal foods are the seeds of hemlocks, alders, birches, and cedars.   They are also fond of salt, and can be found along highways salted to melt snow.   

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Dave Kemp in the Galapagos...

 

Photos by Dave Kemp

Magnificent Frigatebird

(Fregata magnificens)

The male Magnificent Frigatebird has a brilliant red throat pouch in the breeding season and inflates it to a huge size during courtship.   Females have white breasts while the young have white heads and underparts.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Hawk Owl - Schomberg, Ontario

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Hawk Owl

gets

lots

of

attention

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Vancouver Island...

Photo by Dave Kemp

sSNOW GEESEs

Chen caerulescens

Breeds on high Arctic tundra - seen in winter in grasslands,

grainfields and coastal wetlands

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Close Hawk encounter...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

A Cooper's Hawk flies in a harassing manner just above a much larger Red-tailed Hawk; a common occurrence when a larger bird gets too close to the nesting sight of a smaller bird.

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BarrytheBirder

Downey Woodpecker

Photos by BarrytheBirder

This is the smallest, tamest and most abundant of the eastern North American woodpeckers.   It shows up often at suet racks in suburban yards and is frequently seen in parks and roadside trees and shrubbery.   It is a familiar bird along with nuthatches, creepers, juncos and chickadees that gather during fall migration.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

The Killdeer

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Killdeer

(Charadrius vociferus)

The call of the Killdeer is instantly recognizable: it is loud, piercing, kill-dee or dee-dee-dee!   It nests on open ground, often gravel, and its other notable characteristic is it will feign a broken wing to lead intruders away from its nest.

Please 

comment

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Vancouver Island Rufous Hummingbird...

Photo by Dave Kemp

 Rufous Hummingbird

Dave Kemp has passed along this snowy photo of a Rufous Hummingbird on Vancouver Island.   I'm sure this pretty 'hummer' will be heading down the western coast of the U.S.A. to spend the summer in warmer climes.

Thanks for this photo Dave.

BarrytheBirder

How many Hummingbird Species?

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

                                                                                                        Photo by BarrytheBirder

There are 5 regularly seen species of hummingbirds in Canada:

   RUBY-THROATED Hummingbird 

ANNA'S Hummingbird

 RUFOUS Hummingbird

CALLIOPE Hummingbird

 BLACK-CHINNED Hummingbird

                                          + 5 more rarely seen species

There are 15 regularly seen species of hummingbirds seen in the U.S.A. plus 5 more rarely seen.

Total hummingbirds seen in all of the Americas 

is 365 species.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Difference between Trumpeter and Mute Swans...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swan

Mute Swan

I was having breakfast on Monday of this week, with a number of fellow residents at Delmanor Retirement Residence in Aurora and happened to mention that I'd seen eight Trumpeter Swans the day before, in the Holland Marsh in King Township.  One of the ladies at the table asked how to tell the difference between Trumpeter Swans and Mute Swans.   I replied that both swans were all white and very big (60" long), but the Trumpeter Swan had a completely black bill while the Mute Swan had an orange bill with a black knob at the base (see photos above).   Also, the Trumpeter Swan's call is a single or double 'honk', while the Mute Swan, like its name, is silent.  The differences between the two are most evident in the males of each species, which also makes females and juveniles more readily identifiable when accompanied by males.

Please comment if you wish.

Barry the birder 

Galapagos Islands

Photos by Dave Kemp

Kicker Rock ~ Galapagos

Wildlife naturalist and birder Dave Kemp of Vancouver Island has passed along these photos from the Galapagos Islands.   Shown below is a Blue-footed Booby and a newly hatched chick. 

Please

 comment

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Dufferin Street, King City...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Goose & Gull

   

 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder
 

Dave Kemp photos from Vancouver Island...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Northern Flicker

(Colaptes auratus cafer)

Red-shafted

The Red-shafted Northern Flicker is native to most of North America, (especially in the west) parts of Central America, Cuba and the Cayman Islands and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate.

Bald Eagle

(Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

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.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Harrier

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud

- Maya Angelou

Please comment if you wish.

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.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Eastern Kingbird

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Real generosity is doing something nice

for someone who will never find out.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder