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 :)

Point Pelee...again :)

I headed to Point Pelee on the morning of October 1st.  It was a bright, beautiful fall day.  I don`t work Monday`s and I figured the housework could wait :) I had read Dwayne's blog over the weekend and he had found Virginia Rail and Sora at the Marsh Boardwalk, so I thought I would give it try...I haven't seen either of these birds before.  I didn't see them, but I did see the following birds, all of which are life birds!!

Eastern Phoebe

Swamp Sparrow

Rusty Blackbird

 The next three pictures are of the same species, but from different angles.  After a lot of time analysing these photos and thumbing through numerous field guides, I have identified this bird as a Nashville Warbler...please correct me if I am wrong...

Nashville Warbler or Common Yellow-throat?

Nashville Warbler or Common Yellow-throat?

Nashville Warbler or Common Yellow-throat?

Another pic showing yellow under tail.

The next life bird was the only one not found on the Marsh Boardwalk...it was found on the Woodland Nature trail...

Winter Wren

To say this was a great birding day for me is a total understatement!  I was all by myself and enjoyed the quiet time spent in God's creation.  I saw a bunch of other birds too....I will list them for you (and include pics when I was able to capture them):

Great Blue Heron

Red-winged Blackbird
Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Double-crested Cormorant
Blue Jay
Brown Creeper

Turkey Vultures...there are 17 in this picture.  There were about 50 moving over in total!

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-tailed Hawk

Downy Woodpecker

Dark-eyed Junco (there were a bunch on the Woodland Nature Trail entrance...I was surprised to see them so early)

Killdeer

Red-breasted Nuthatch

White-throated Sparrow

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Well, at least those are the ones I remember seeing...there may have been more.  I wrote down what I remembered as soon as I got home.  Such a great day and very happy I decided to skip the housework!

Heather`s Paradise and Ojibway

I was invited to birdwatch in my friend Heather`s paradise of a backyard.  They are fortunate to have a lot that backs onto a forested area and are blessed with many species of birds and other animals.  We heard a lot of birds, but very few showed themselves to us (and we were talking, so we probably missed a bunch).  Aside from the few pictures below we also saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler flitting about in the trees.  Two life birds for me were a Tufted Titmouse and a Carolina Wren :)

Female Baltimore Oriole

Best we could tell, this is a Carolina Wren...by markings and song. Life bird!

Tufted Titmouse!  Life bird!!

 After leaving Heather`s, I decided to stop by Ojibway.  I don`t have  alot of luck there...Dwayne always has beautiful shots of a large variety of birds there...   Anyway, I still enjoyed my time there and had to chuckle at the Red-bellied Woodpecker who insisted on drinking from the hummingbird feeder.

A turtle sunning itself.  Ì don`t know the variety...need more field guides :)

A couple of Canada Goose chicks...so adorable :)

This one makes me laugh...it`s like the ones on the logs are trying to show the one in the water what to do :)

Two of about 6 White-throated Sparrows along the path.  These two had a blast splashing around.

A butterfly who posed for me....need another field guide :)

Red-bellied Woodpecker a.k.a The Contortionist.

Hanging upside down to get at the hummingbird feeder....

Twisting to get his bill in the hole.

All in all, it was a wonderful day :)

White Throated Sparrow

White Throated Sparrow, May 9, 2011

Forgive my blurry photo, but I couldn't believe it!  Another new species in my backyard :)  I was watching my new found sparrow friends and found this guy in the mix.  Clearly a White-Throated Sparrow....I was thrilled!  It was almost as if God was showing me the difference in these two birds.  This makes 25!