Canada Geese on Glenville Pond

Photo by BarrytheBirder

 Over 100 Canada Geese provided an eerily silent counterpoint to the the frosted forest surrounding Glenville Pond on the the south side of Highway 9, near Newmarket, this week. 

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BtheB

Struggling coyote

                                                                                                                                                                                   Photo by BarrytheBirder

 This coyote was finding the going tough as it traversed a broad span of the Holland Marsh, near Hwy. 400, on Tuesday afternoon.   The soil was ultra soggy from recent rain and melting snow.   The coyote's back legs kept collapsing as if it was sick or injured but it kept moving across the now vacant vegetable fields.   It looked to be a good size, with a healthy coat, both important factors in facing the next three months of winter. 

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BtheB

Fresh snow overnight

Photos by BarrytheBirder

I met a few people on the King City Trails early Tuesday morning and each one used the same word to describe the effect of the overnight snowfall: "Beautiful".   In the third photo from the top, it is readily evident that a bunny, a squirrel, and I  were the first to use this particular bridge over the East Humber River that morning.

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BtheB

Cormorants at sunrise ~ Kathmandu

                                                                                   Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

I've always thought of cormorants as birds of the sea or river estuaries, or large lakes.   Meanwhile, I've associated Kathmandu with the world's tallest mountains.   So to come across a photo of cormorants at Kathmandu had me a little puzzled.   They have every right to be there, it turns out, and it has more to do with Kathmandu's geography than cormorant inclination or preference.   Nepal, of which Kathmandu is the capital City, is only 150 kilometres from 8,000-metre mountains in the north to near sea level in the south.   Climates range from arctic conditions to sub-tropical jungles, and lowland-Nepal is characterized by well-watered floodplains, swamps, mangroves, ox-bow lakes and rivers, perfect for fish-eating cormorants.   The Indian Cormorant   (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis) is one of 42 cormorant species, worldwide.   15 of the cormorant species are commonly called 'shags', instead of cormorant.  

   



















Pictured, left, is an Indian Cormorant (photo by J.M.Garg, 2006), while on the right is the Nepalese national bird, the Danphe or Danfe, a pheasant-type bird also called the Monel or Lophophorus.   Yes, well, no one ever said Cormorants were pretty.

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BtheB

Headwaters of the East Humber River

Photos by BarrytheBirder

A gnarled and ancient willow tree marks the spot on the south side of Lake St. George, near Oak Ridges, where the East Humber River begins its journey from northern Richmond Hill, through southern King Township, and on to the cities of Vaughan and Toronto, and into Lake Ontario.   The East Humber River rises on the south side of the Oak Ridges Moraine and joins the main Humber River, which rises near the Niagara Escarpment, north of Toronto.   The Humber River was designated a Canadian Heritage River in 1999.

The first bridge that crosses the East Humber River is just steps from the Lake St. George headwaters.

An ancient utilities bunker near the shore of Lake St. George.

Ponderosa Pine at the TRCA's Lake St. George conservation field centre.

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BtheB

Sunset Beach ~ Lake Wilcox

BarrytheBirder Photos

Mallard and ? cross 

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BtheB

Waiting for winter at Cold Creek

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BtheB

Any day is a warbler day

                                                                                                                                                                                     Photo by Brad Ouelette

MCape May WarblerM

Dendroica Tigrina

This photo of a male Cape May Warbler, in breeding plumage, may seem out-of-season but here's why it is here. I have just become a subscriber to BirdWatching Magazine, although I have not received my first copy yet.   But I have gone online at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com and the first thing that hit my eye was this brilliant photo by Brad Ouelette of a Cape May Warbler, which he took last May at Point Pelee National Park.   Considering this is the first day of December and the first snow of the fall to stay on the ground arrived yesterday, I just had to share this.   If this is typical of the kind of photography I can expect to see with my new subscription, I have spent my money well.
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BtheB    

Last day of November

                                                                                                                                                                                 Photos by BarrytheBirder

The last day of November has brought snow that appears to be staying on the ground...and on the bird feeders.   This of course provokes a certain amount of nervous overcrowding and bickering about to whom the birdseed really belongs.   In the top photo, Goldfinches, Purple Finches and Juncos load up.   Out of the frame, but nearby, the more timid Chickadees, Tree Sparrows, House Finches and Cardinals wait their turn.   Of course, all these winter warriors will flee at the approach of the boisterous Blue Jays.   Then of course there are the squirrels - the bane of my existence.

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BtheB 

4 subspecies of Fox Sparrow

                                                                                                                                                                         Photo by BarrytheBirder

MFOX SPARROWM

Passerella iliaca

The Fox Sparrow (above) was an unexpected but pleasant surprise in the backyard this afternoon.   I was sitting waiting to photograph House Finches and Purple Finches when this visitor joined the finches, the juncos, the sparrows and the chickadees.   I did not know, until now, that there are now 4 subspecies of Fox Sparrows.   The Sooty, Slate-coloured, and Thick-billed subspecies all live on the west coast of Canada and the U.S.A.   The Red Fox Sparrow (pictured above) can be found in Alaska and right across northern Canada.  Fox Sparrows are always great to have around.   They're big, brightly coloured and have a brilliant and musical song in the spring.   This was a bonus, probably because of  the record-breaking, mild, November weather we've had in southern Ontario.
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BtheB  

Annual migration around 1/2 million birds

                                                                                                                                                                         Photo by Marvin DeJong/AP

WSandhill CraneW

Grus canadensis

The terrific composition in this exemplary photograph of Sandhill Cranes, by Marvin DeJong, may be deliberate execution or pure luck.   In either case, it is a picture with which the photographer must be extremely satisfied.   It was shot at a refuge near Socorro, New Mexico, where migrating birds are expected in record numbers this winter because of drought in neighbouring Texas.   Wikipedia says: "The common name of this bird references habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills in the American Midwest.  This is the most important stopover area for the Lesser Sandhill Crane...with up to 450,000 of these birds migrating through annually".   Below is a photo I took, three months ago, of two Sandhill Cranes near Luther Marsh, in Southern Ontario.   Many Sandhills migrate through  Ontario but in nowhere near the numbers as in the U.S. midwest.

                                                                                                                                                                                 Photo by BarrytheBirder

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BtheB

Mildest November ever?

                                                                                                                     Female Junco photo by BarrytheBirder

For the past week or so I've been commenting to people that I will be 70 years old in a couple of weeks and I don't ever remember a November as mild as this one in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.   Most people politely nod or make a very brief comment about how it may be so.   One or two oldtimers seem to remember a November that might have been milder, and a few others eye me apprehensively for what might be coming next.   Well, today I read what Dave Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, and the man acknowledged, far and wide, as the foremost weather expert in Canada, had to say about the possibility.   "In my business, we break records by a fraction of a degree", he said.   "But we've literally smashed it by one full degree (Celsius)".   With just a few days left in the month, plus a warm forecast until the 29th, a new record seems a certainty.   One of the people I accosted with this amazing news wondered whether it was good or bad.   I for one think it is good...and hope that December will set a record also!   Meanwhile, the Dark-eyed Juncos arrived 3 weeks ago and are gorging themselves.   Instinct prevails.

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BtheB 

GBBC 2011 photo winners

                                                                                                Photo by Lesley Mattuchio

The Great Backyard Bird Count 2011 Photo Contest winners have been announced and the overall winner is Lesley Mattuchio, of Massachesetts, for her American Tree Sparrow photograph (above).   The contest is a joint effort of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada.   There are  31 photographs of overall and category winners, plus runners-up and they can all be seen on the GBBC website.   Four of the winning photos this year were taken by Canadians.   Below is the winning photo in the 'Behaviour' category: Red-shouldered Hawk with snake, by Howard Izenwasser of Florida.

                                                                                           Photo by Howard Izenwasser

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BtheB

Snow Buntings in Greenland

                                                                                                                                             Jon Vidar Photo

After writing about Snow Buntings two blogs ago, I went to bed that night with my copy of Ken Kaufman's Lives of North American Birds.   Ken Kaufman notes that these buntings are sometimes called "Snowflakes", for their winter-time, swirling, low-level flying.   He goes on to say: "In summer they retire to barren northern tundra, with some breeding on the northernmost islands of Canada and the mountains of Greenland".   Greenland?   Mountains?   I had always assumed Greenland was a gigantic slab of ice, year-around.   Out of bed... back to the computer... hit Google... go to Wikipedia.   Including the Snow Bunting, Greenland has recorded 240 species of birds!  170 of these are rare or accidental.   I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by 39 species of ducks and geese, or 32 species of sandpipers, but 24 new world warblers?!?   Here's a sampling of some of the other shockers for me: Pacific Loon, Little Blue Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, Purple Gallinule, Bohemian Waxwing, Marsh Wren,Yellow-headed Blackbird, and Mourning Dove.   These birds should know better.   Well, maybe not the Mourning Dove.   
As for mountains in Greenland, there are  90 over 1/2 mile high, of which five are over 10,000 ft.   Judging by the photo above, by Jon Vidar, Greenland is indeed green, in spots and at certain times, but the ice cap and small glaciers still cover 85% of Greenland.
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BtheB

Fall's first freezing rain

                                                                                                                                                                                  Photo by BarrytheBirder
A forlorn Junco ponders the thin layer of ice on his breakfast this morning.

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BtheB

First Snow Buntings arrive

                                                                                                                                                                                 Photos by BarrytheBirder

WSNOW BUNTINGW

Plectrophenax nivalis

We've had no snow on the ground yet, but I saw Snow Buntings this morning in the village of Nobleton.   There was a flock of about 30 and they swooped about me for almost five minutes while I patiently waited for them to land, so that I could get a photo.   They did not land however and disappeared across a field, so I did not get a picture.   Ah, but what about the photos above?   I took the photos above, last winter, with a more cooperative flock of buntings.   According to the Royal Ontario Museum Field Guide to the Birds of Ontario, the Snow Bunting is an uncommon to abundant migrant and visitor from October to May.   It breeds on rocky tundra... something I have never done.

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BtheB  

In a bit of a slump

Photo by Joanne McKinnon 

Today I saw a Pileated Woodpecker, a Red-tailed Hawk, and an American Kestrel.   The photo of the Pileated Woodpecker above was not taken by me.   It was taken by Joanne McKinnon, the wife of my old friend Glenn McKinnon, up in Bracebridge.   I'm not sure if the continuing mild weather has something to do with my few recent birding sightings but it's only five weeks until Christmas and we still haven't had any snow that's stayed on the ground.   I'm almost wishing for snow in hopes that it will bring some fresh winter visitors.   I'm always on the lookout for Snowy Owls, particularly up in the wide-open Holland Marsh, but none yet.   Checking the internet, no one else seems to have spotted a Snowy yet, either, in York Region.   I'm also ready to see a Great Grey Owl again...it's been a few years.  

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BtheB  

Murmuration of Starlings gives me goosebumps

If you haven't see this bit of video yet, you are in for a real treat.   The lowly starling literally lifts itself, and several thousand others of its kind, into a lofty, spectacular celebration of flight.   It leaves two young women delighted and amusingly breathless.   Go into the blue box below and click on the blue link, under Murmuration.  You will be linked to a large-size format where you can view 'Murmuration'.   Thanks to my friend and neighbour, Ed Millar, for passing this one along.    

You can watch it here:
http://vimeo.com/31158841

Murmuration http://vimeo.com/31158841 About this video: "A chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures greatest and most fleeting phenomena."

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BtheB

Muskrats

BarrytheBirder Photos

I shot the top photo today at a pond near my home in King City.   I was especially pleased to see that the picture clearly showed how perfectly the Muskrat's fur sheds water.   I took the second picture of a typical muskrat den last week, several miles west of the village.   The bottom photo I shot a couple of years ago and it shows a wintertime muskrat den with an open springtime foraging hole...a hole which is closed up at the end of each day.   Muskrats have been extensively studied and reported upon but I always wondered how they managed to chew and eat the underwater stems and roots of cattails and bulrushes without drowning.   Well now I know.   After some searching I came across the following on the Hinterland Who's Who website.   First of all, the Muskrat is capable of staying submerged for up to 15 minutes by reducing its heart rate and relaxing its muscles, thereby reducing oxygen usage.   It also stores oxygen in its muscles and is less sensitive to carbon dioxide levels in its blood than non-diving mammals.   Secondly, its front teeth are especially modified for underwater chewing.   Non-aquatic mammals, like you and me, would have great difficulty trying to chew on a large object under water, because the water would fill our mouth, throat and nasal passages.   The Muskrat has overcome this problem through the evolution of its cutting teeth, that protrude ahead of its cheeks and of lips that can close behind the teeth.   This permits the muskrat to chew on stems and roots under water with its mouth closed.   Nature is so adaptable.

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BtheB

Great Barn at Marylake

I was birdwatching on the Oak Ridges Moraine Trail, at Marylake Shrine and Monastery yesterday, and decided to take a picture of the Great Barn from an angle I had not taken previously.   The photograph may be of interest to my fellow King Township residents who have never seen this southward hilltop view.   The barn does not seem so large from this perspective, but stand close to it or slip inside, onto the upper barn floor, and look up (see photo below).   It is an amazing structure and certainly a worthy, if unintentional, monument to its original owner, Sir Henry Pellatt.   Sadly, this one-of-a-kind, historical, Canadian structure is in a state of disrepair that is quickly approaching the point of no return.                  

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BtheB