Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Canada Day Weekend

For Canada Day, we decided to camp out at Holiday Beach.  I was happy because I knew I would get to see herons and cranes.  I certainly was not disappointed.  While I didn't do any serious bird watching, I did make sure to check out the marsh each day.  Here are some pictures I managed to get.....

Great Blue Heron :)



In flight.....

Truth be told, I'm a little bit sad that I didn't just watch him (or her) through my binoculars...what a spectacular bird!

I'm not sure what this bird is....there were four of them sitting up in this tree.  When they left the tree, they dove for fish! They didn't fully submerge (that I recall).  Any idea?  Update...I am pretty sure these are Eastern Kingbirds :) 
 

This is a new bird for me!  I am pretty sure it is a Common Moorhen :)

I think this is a Great Egret.  The bill is more orange than yellow and the lores are more black than greenish.

 



Ok...not birds, but still cute :)

 

Love the action shot, even though it is blurry :)

As always, if I have misidentified a bird, please correct me!  

Ojibway

Decided to head out to Ojibway Park today and try our luck.  Instead, we got eaten alive!!  We (my daughter and I) managed to photograph a few new to us species..2 at the feeders, 1 on the trail.  Better luck next time....

Possibly a White Breasted Nuthatch??  Correct me if I'm wrong...Yup, White breated Nuthatch :)




A woodpecker of some variety...



Possibly a Gray Catbird?? Correct me if I'm wrong.

We did get some nice forest shots....

Swan Family

I was driving home from picking up my daughter and saw this swan family in a pond on the way home.  It is near the WFCU centre...just east of it.  I was thankful that I (almost) always have a camera with me :)

Niagara Falls

My daughter had a swim meet in St. Catherine's this past weekend, and while there, we headed to Niagara Falls for the day with some friends.  There were TONNES of gulls in the gorge going after fish, but I didn't get any good pictures of that.  There were also a couple of birds I was unable to identify...one was brownish with a lighter coloured neck that dove under like a loon and another appeared to be pure black.  Both of these I was unable to get pictures of...they were in far less number and at a greater distance that even with cropping, I cannot make out any distinguishing marks.  Oh well.  Here are a few of bird pictures I did get...my friend was teasing me that I took so many pictures of such "rare" birds.

I love the reflection!

Blurry, but I love the "action" shot of running!

Kids and Birding

Everytime I suggest to my kids, "Today would be a great day to go out birding!  Wanna come?", all I hear in return are grumbles about how boring it is and how slow I walk when I am trying to see birds.  They lead me to believe they don't enjoy spotting new birds.  Hah!  Well, when going through the pictures saved on my camera card, I found these pictures, taken by one of my children (not sure who) of this previously unknown bird to our yard :)  Notice how many he or she took!  I still haven't seen one myself, so I cannot include it in my life bird list, but am happy my kids are taking note!

I believe this is a Northern Flicker.  Does anyone know if it is a red or yellow shafted?  I only see the red on the nape...no black "mustache" on its "cheek"...

Red Tailed Hawk?

Soaring above my backyard!  Really don't want these as backyard birds :(

I have seen quite a few Red-Tailed Hawks, mostly while driving along the 401.  We have a wooded area very close to our home and I can often see hawks soaring in the distance above it and the neighbouring park.  This is the first time I have see one (or at least I think it is a Red-Tailed Hawk) soaring over my backyard!  This was taken from the comfort of my patio about a week ago.  I hope I never see feathers scattered over my backyard indicating a visit :(

More First from Mother's Day at Point Pelee

I have been reluctant to post all my "firsts" from Point Pelee because I fear I won't have any new bird pictures to post for a while.  However, here are some more firsts from Point Pelee, May 8, 2011. 

I am not sure what this is...we were walking along the beach to the Tip and saw about 10-12 of these beauties perched in the tree tops.  As we approached, they left.  If you know what it is, could you let me know?

I am pretty sure this is a Red-Breasted Nuthatch.  We watched as he (I think?) searched for food, however, he went up the tree trunk head first instead of coming down head first.  From my very limited knowledge, that is typical activity of a Creeper, but this bird doesn't look like a Creeper to me.

The best I can tell, this is a Yellow Warbler.  This is the second warbler I have ever seen in my entire life and was thrilled to get pictures of both (see my earlier post).  This is very cropped as I saw him out of the corner of my eye and had just enough time to snap a couple pictures before he flew away.  I am using "he" and "him" generically as way to refer to the birds.  I am still learning to identify the birds I see.  If any of my posts wrongly identify a bird, please let me know :)

If you are counting (not including the hawk-like bird), that is 31 birds!