Ojibway Park

I woke up this morning at 5am and couldn`t get back to sleep, so I did the housework that HAD to be done and headed to Ojibway.  I had never walked through the Tallgrass Prairie or the Woodlot on the south side of Matchette, so I went there first.  I almost didn`t walk through the Tallgrass Prairie area because of warning signs for Massassauga Rattlesnakes.  I really don`t like snakes!  A man walking his dogs assured me he has never seen them before.  I decided to walk through the wood instead.  Didn`t see much...Bluejays, Chickadees, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers.  On the way back, I walked through the prairie and thankfully didn`t see any snakes, but I also didn`t see any birds.

I walked back across the street to walk the pond and savannah loop.  I managed to flush a Great Blue Heron before I even knew he was there.  Walking along this trail, I saw more Red-bellied Woodpeckers and some Dark-eyed Juncos (Slate-coloured).

Red-bellied Woodpecker

You can see a bit of the red belly this bird is named for.

Walking through the woods, past the pond, I heard a rustle in the distance and was shocked to see a deer with a large rack!  I fumbled to grab my camera and got this horrible shot before it darted out of sight.

Looks a bit ghost-like, in the centre of the shot.

Once I looped back around, I could see the feeders at the back of the visitor centre and managed to capture a horrible shot of an Eastern Bluebird...in my defence, it was fairly far away and I obeyed the regeneration signs.

The one on the rights is a Bluebird...not sure about the one on the left.

I then went to the feeders by the shed....if I had started there, it would have saved me a lot of time!    There were a lot of birds at the feeders...here are a few pictures of some of what was there...

American Tree Sparrow

Black-capped Chickadee...love this shot!  Not even cropped :)

Fox Sparrow...life bird!!

White-throated Sparrow

Pine Siskin...life bird!!

Snobby Tufted Titmouse

Since it was still early, I decided to walk the Pin Oak Trail...another first for me.  Well, I got lost!  It took me what felt like an eternity to get back to the parking lot!  Just a few minutes shy of the parking lot, I spotted this bird....

Hairy????

I am really hoping this is a Hairy....it was much larger than the Downy Woodpeckers I had seen earlier and the bill looks about the length of its head....please let me know what you think.  Here is another shot at a different angle of the same bird.

What do you think?

Well, aside from these birds, I also saw Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, White-breasted Nuthatch,  and lots of American Goldfinches.  It was a nice morning with a slow start.

Oh...on another note, I have decided to take Nashville Warbler off my life list...I keep going back and looking at those pictures (and others I captured but haven't posted).  This bird has been haunting me!  Those little dark patches on the cheek (visible in one of the shots) just calls the whole ID into question.  My goal in keeping this blog is not a competition or to mislead everyone, so I am taking it off my list.  Maybe now it won't haunt me :s

I almost forgot!  I went to the Blenheim Lagoons last Thursday and got a few shots of birds I have seen before, but better pictures than I had captured before.  Here are a few...

Female Ruddy Duck

Pair of Bufflehead

Northern Shovellers

Sparrow of some sort...but I liked the shot.  I was surprised to see it turned out clear :)

Blenheim Lagoons

I went to the Blenheim Lagoons yesterday (April 19) for the first time.  These are some shots of some of the birds there.  If the Canada Geese hadn't announced my arrive so loudly and continuously, I may have been able to get some better shots, but, because they decided to cause such a raucous, all the ducks either swam to the far side of the lagoon or took off.  With the ducks being so far away, I couldn't get my camera to auto-focus on the birds I wanted, so I had to switch to manual focus....I learned something though....I am really bad at manual focus!

Male and Female Bonaparte`s Gulls

 Everytime I have seen Buffleheads, they run away.  Here is the first time I saw them...running away.

Female Bufflehead

Another female Bufflehead

And another...

 I was really surprised to see the next few photos turned out as well as they did....not only was the lens on manual, but I was panning as well.  Blurry, yes, but better than expected :)  Life bird too!

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

 There were several Northern Shovelers in the water too...this is the best shot I got of one.  Another life bird!

Northern Shoveler in the middle

 This next bird I am not sure of its identity.  To me, it looks closest to a Meadowlark, but the position of the bird makes it tough to be certain....any ideas??


Blonde moment...female Red-winged Blackbird..thanks Karen :)

 And these ducks...there were quite a few of them in the water too, but I can't tell what they are.  I got several shots, but none any clearer than this....any ideas??

Possible Ring-necked Ducks...thanks Karen :)

I really enjoyed visiting the Lagoons....I was there all by myself for about 1.25 hours, just sitting on the edge of the lagoon (in a rare goose poop free area), watching the swallows perform their acrobatics and watching all the ducks and geese.  Very peaceful place...aside from the Canada Geese that is :)

Life Ducks!

Today was an exciting day all the way around...at least for a bird nerd :)  First off, I got my early birthday/Christmas present today!  My husband bought me a 70-300mm lens for my camera!  The rest of the afternoon was busy at my Dad's...Mike (my husband) fixed his truck and helped my Dad with some of the heavier yard work items.  When we left there, we had about half an hour to scout for birds.  On the way home, I spotted a rather large bird sitting on a power wire on Hwy 22, so I zoomed in on him through the window of the truck and was excited to see it was an American Kestrel.  We then stopped by Lakeview Marina to see if any ducks were in the water, but there weren't any...just lots of people fishing.  I said to my husband that I had seen some ducks that were new to me at Goose Bay, so we headed there.  Well, we didn't that far.  I saw some ducks as we passed St. Rose Park, we we pulled over to check it out.  I was thrilled!!!  There were lots of Buffleheads (life bird!!) and at least a couple of Hooded Mergansers (life bird!!!).  Below are a few pictures from my new lens!

American Kestrel on Hwy 22



Hooded Merganser, St. Rose Park

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, St. Rose Park

Bufflehead, St. Rose Park

A bunch of Buffleheads, St. Rose Park

Scared Buffleheads...a little blurry, but I love that they are running on the water :)