Rondeau Ric

Out on the pontoon looking for soras today. Found 8 or 9, hard to keep track. This one posed so nicely that I took about 125 shots. This is just one at random and it may or may not be the best of the bunch. We'll see. Porzana carolina Soras might not look like they can fly long distances with their stubby wings and chubby bodies, but they fly hundreds of miles each spring and fall to wetlands in Central and South America. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sora/

Still lots of cicadas around doing their summer song at Rondeau Provincial Park. "Cicada" comes from the Latin, meaning "tree cricket." While cicadas are often colloquially referred to as a kind of locust, they are not part of the locust family. There are annual cicadas, which appear every year, and periodical cicadas which appear in 13- and 17-year life cycles. Periodical cicadas are only found in eastern North America.

Goldfinches have been massing in our yard at Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. They are cleaning out our niger feeder at least once a day. August 23, 2018 Spinus tristis

A pair of snowy egrets just outside of Rondeau Provincial Park. They were a long way off but came just close enough to grab a photo. There were great egrets, blue winged teal, a shoveler, osprey, bald eagle, redknot, greater yellow legs and several other species of shorebirds that were too fa away to identify. Egretta thula Adult Snowy Egrets have greenish-yellow feet for most of the year, but at the height of the breeding season their feet take on a much richer, orange-yellow hue. The bare skin on their face also changes color, from yellow to reddish.

White tailed deer fawn at Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada in early June 2018. I hadn't noticed the clown face eyes before. Odocoileus virginianus

We had a squnk visit the yard.

Green heron, Harrow, Ontario, Canada, August 19, 2018 We went looking for the purple gallinule that was being seen near Harrow, Ontario. It was seen before we got there and after we left. Across the road was this nice green heron. I'm not good enough with photoshop to turn it into a gallinule. Butorides virescens The Green Heron is one of the world’s few tool-using bird species. It often creates fishing lures with bread crusts, insects, and feathers, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green_Heron/

Computer issues so I'm using an older photo for today. It came in right above the little pond but didn't come down for a bath. Vireo olivaceus On May 27, 1952, Louise de Kiriline Lawrence counted the number of songs sung by a single Red-eyed Vireo seeking a mate on his territory 180 miles north of Toronto. He sang 22,197 songs in the 14 hours from just before dawn to evening, singing for 10 of those hours. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-eyed_Vireo/

We have at least 10 ruby-throated hummingbirds in the yard. They dart, dive and generally harass each other. Once in a while we will get 5 or 6 on a feeder at one time. Yesterday, during heavy rain, they cooperated a little bit. I couldn't get more than three at a time in a photo.

We had a mink in our tiny pond yesterday. Anne called me and I grabbed the camera and watched the pond. At first I didn't see anything and thought it had left. Suddenly a head popped up and it was covered in duck weed. It was probably looking for frogs. Neovison vison The American mink is a small, semi-aquatic carnivore which can dive to depths of 5 to 6 metres and swim underwater for up 35 metres.

South Point Trail at Rondeau Provincial Park was flooded for most of the spring. Found these mating American toads. They were underwater and the long strings are the eggs.

Fiield trip today to Burlington, Ontario, Canada, to look for the long tailed jaeger that has been seen the past few days. It took a while but we did see the bird several times. This was a life bird for both Anne and myself. Whooohooo. Also met up with other birders we haven't ween for a while. At one point we had 5 Ric(k)s on the beach standing together. Stercorarius longicaudus A swift-flying seabird, extremely graceful and agile in flight. When swimming, it floats buoyantly, and it takes flight from the water easily. Of the three jaeger species, the Long-tail is the smallest and the one that migrates farthest offshore; south of the Arctic, it seldom comes within sight of land. source - www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/long-tailed-jaeger

A northern flicker had a raucous bath in the little stream of our water feature this afternoon. He was there for about 10 minutes. Colaptes auratus Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/

Magnolia warbler, Rondeau Provincial Park, May 10, 2018 Going through a few thousand photos from the spring migration and came across this image. Setophaga magnolia Though it has very specific habitat preferences in the breeding season, the Magnolia Warbler occupies a very broad range of habitats in winter: from sea level to 5,000 feet in cacao plantations, orchards, forests, and thickets. source -  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Magnolia_Warbler/

Two area farms are growing sunflowers this year. The massed colour is amazing. Planting 3 to 4 pounds of seeds can result in yields of 1300 to 2,000 pounds per acre. Average oil content is 40 to 42%. Oil yield extracted from the sunflower seed ranges from 35 to 80 gallons per acre. source - various.

One of the many harbours we came across in our travels. South of West Arm Bay and just west of Cuckold Cove, and a good distance from Naked Man Island. It's worth a trip to Newfoundland if only for the names.

While out on the boat we spotted this dowitcher, it allowed us fairly close. The speed of the head while it was feeding, it looks like a sewing machine needle, makes it difficult to get clean photos. Limnodromus griseus The nest and eggs of this species eluded discovery until 1906, and even that information was overlooked for a long while because they were attributed to the Long-billed Dowitcher. The nesting grounds of the eastern race were not discovered until the late 1950s. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Short-billed_Dowitcher

Eastern Towhee, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, July 31, 2018 Another pond visitor that we hear much more frequently than we see them. Recently they have been calling at 5.30 a.m., before I've had my COFFEE!!! Pipilo erythrophthalmus Eastern Towhees tend to be pretty solitary, and they use a number of threat displays to tell other towhees they’re not welcome. You may see contentious males lift, spread, or droop one or both wings, fan their tails, or flick their tails to show off the white spots at the corners. Studies have shown that male towhees tend to defend territories many times larger than needed simply to provide food. source - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Towhee/