Vancouver Island October scenes...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Great Blue Heron

Lapsed Totems

                                                                                   Please comment if you wish.                                                                                                                   BarrytheBirder

East and west Wild Turkeys...

ABOVE - Wild Turkey in Ontario ( photo by Barry theBirder )

ABOVE - Wild Turkey in British Columbia ( photo by Dave Kemp )

Further to my previous blog, of a day or so ago, Wild Turkeys over the course of many years have made a big comeback in Canada.   The photos here are of Wild Turkeys taken by me in Ontario (top photo) and Wild Turkeys taken in British Columbia (second photo) by my naturalist friend Dave Kemp on Vancouver Island.   Although taken thousands of kilometres apart, the birds are of the same species: Meleagris gallopavo.  While the bird has returned to its former numbers in eastern Canada its numbers are still somewhat low, historically, in western Canada.   Wild Turkeys are the largest game bird in North America.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Peregrine Falcon takes down a duck on Vancouver Island...

    Photos by Dave Kemp

Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) inhabit wetlands near cliffs and prey chiefly on ducks, shorebirds and seabirds.  Sometimes found in cities, on bridges and tall buildings.   They are rare and local in the west.   Eastern breeding populations were extirpated in recent decades, largely due to pesticides.  Peregrines have now been reintroduced in some parts of their former range and are now seen year-around.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Aurora Arboretum...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Arboretum bench plaque

Arboretum large pond

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BarrytheBirder

Wild Turkeys in southern Ontario...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Here are a few miscellaneous facts about Wild Turkeys...

1. Wild Turkeys can run at 19 m.p.h.

2. Adult Wild Turkeys can have more than 6,000 feathers.

3. Wild Turkeys do fly and roost in trees during the night.   

4. Wild Turkeys eat hickory nuts, beech nuts, acorns, snails, worms and frogs.

5.The historic range of Wild Turkeys in Canada was probably limited to southern Ontario and Quebec.

     

Please gobble if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Early snow...

                                                                                                                      Photo by BarrytheBirder

Mourning Dove and I cross paths...

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Chilly swim for Trumpeter Swan

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Carrying Place Golf and Country Club

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Barry Wallace

Pond north of Aurora town offices...

Trumpeter Swan

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BarrytheBirder

Ospreys moving on...

 Photos by BarrytheBirder

It's getting harder to spot Osprey around these parts as the autumn equinox approaches.  This first year youngster is quite able to feed itself, as it hangs about the south end of Lake Simcoe at the mouth of the Holland River.   The bottom photo shows what appears to be the remains of a very large fish providing a hardy meal.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Wild Turkeys

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Young Wild Turkey predation

I took this photo a female Wild Turkey a  couple of days ago.   She was wandering along one the roadsides near my home and was being accompanied by a single young turkey.   I know that Wild Turkeys normally lay 10 to 12 eggs over a two-week period.   I have never before seen a female Wild Turkey with just one half-grown chick wandering about.   Were all her other chicks preyed upon?   Curious.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

   

Butterflies in British Columbia - by Dave Kemp

Photos by Dave Kemp

Common Blue Morpho

Malachite Spiroeta stelenes

Neotropical Mosaic Colebura

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Richmond Hill Millpond...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Sleepy Ducks

Huge willows have fallen into the west side of the Richmond Hill Millpond

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Rumble Park Road in Richmond Hill...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Double-crested Cormorant

(Phalacrocorax aurifus)

This fine-looking Double-crested Cormorant has the pond at Rumble Park Road on the east side of Bathurst Street in Richmond Hill all to itself in early September.   This cormorant is common and widespread on inland lakes, ponds and rivers in the interior of Southern Ontario.   Breeding populations here have greatly increased in the past four decades.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Osprey disappearing on Ravenshoe Road?

Photos

 by BarrytheBirder

Where have they gone?

The photo above shows what I believe to be a first-year  Osprey about to take flight above the Ravenshoe Sideroad, west of the Holland River, just before in dumps into the southern end of Lake Simcoe.   I am used to seeing many Ospreys each year in this area, just below Keswick and it is a favourite spot of mine to take Osprey photos.   

Alas, this year there is a substantial reduction in the number of Osprey to be seen in this area.   Nesting disturbance may be the culprit.   The only nest I couldn't get close to is quite a distance north on a trail that is a continuance of Yonge Street which ends at the Ravenshoe Sideroad.   However my 82-year-old legs failed me and could not get close enough to confirm a sighting.   

The picture below shows a trail heading north towards the bottom of Lake Simcoe.   A pole which has been an Osprey nesting site for many years can be seen in the distance.  Whether it was a nesting site this year I cannot say.   I shall return in the spring of next year to try my luck.   If you have a comment, please leave it here.

 Good birding friends.

BarrytheBirder

When do hummingbirds head south?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

"According to Hummingbird Canada, adult male hummingbirds leave Southern Ontario first in late July with the adult females following next.   Immature hummingbirds are the last to leave in September.   It is rare for hummingbirds to linger in Ontario after the beginning of October".   

But with climate change...?

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Cathartes Aura in British Columbia

 

Photo by Dave Kemp

Turkey Vulture

Vancouver Island

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Mourning Doves nest at Delmanor front door...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

A pair of Mourning Doves has welcomed youngsters to their nest above the front door at Delmanor Retirement Residence on Yonge Street in Aurora, much to the delight of residents and visitors.   A parent bird is seen here with one of the young birds peeking over the edge of the nest.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder   

B.C. west coast birds by Dave Kemp

Photos by Dave Kemp

Great Blue Heron

Juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs

Common Loon

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

British Columbia Belted Kingfisher...

Photos by Dave Kemp

'Ceryle alcyon'

The only Kingfisher in most of North America is common and conspicuous 

along rivers and brooks, ponds and lakes, and estuaries.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Harbour Seal Catch from Vancouver Island...

 

Photo by Dave Kemp

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Great Blue Herons - Ravenshoe Sideroad

 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron

(Ardea herodias)

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder