Trip aboard the Kawartha Voyager...

All photos by Barry Wallace

The Kawartha Voyager

The Kawartha's lake boat with the tilting bow

The Kawartha Voyager has an upward tilting bow that allows it to fit into a number of short canal locks on the Trent River System, which stretches from Ottawa to Big Chute in south Muskoka.   This particular trip stretched from Hastings to Kirkfield and the fall colours did not disappoint.

The Captain and crew

Captain & First Mate

Chilly knitter gets a warm drink...

More photos tomorrow

Please comment 

if you wish.

Barry Wallace

More Wild Turkeys in B.C. by naturalist Dave Kemp...

 

Photos from Merville 

on Vancouver Island,

by Dave Kemp.

Please  

comment

if you

wish.

BarrytheBirder

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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

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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