Rondeau Ric

A starling and a red-bellied woodpecker both claimed rights to the peanut feeder. Normally the red-belly wins this type of dispute due to its long, sharp bill. The starling is no slouch when it comes to a sharp bill and it won this round. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Feb 26, 2020.

We don't get a lot of males in the yard but today we had three. One first year and two older males. You can see the mark/wound left by the shedding of the antler. Taken through the Wonderful Wildlife Window. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Feb 21, 2020

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 15, 2018. Hopefully coming to a tree near you "soon". Setophaga pensylvanica The oldest recorded Chestnut-sided Warbler was at least 6 years, 11 months old when it was found in Rhode Island in 1980. It had been banded in the same state in 1973. source - Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Scarlet tanager, May 17, 2019, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Piranga olivacea The response of the Scarlet Tanager to habitat fragmentation varies from place to place. Results from the Cornell Lab’s Project Tanager indicate that in the heart of the species’ range in the Northeast, it can be found in small forest patches. In the Midwest, similar sized forest patches tend to have no tanagers.

Gray catbird, June 17, 2019, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Dumetella carolinensis The Gray Catbird’s long song may last for up to 10 minutes.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Feb 13, 2020. Looked out and saw this frozen Carolina wren in the peanut feeder. No other birds around so it is likely there was a hawk in the neighbourhood. Thryothorus ludovicianus A pair bond may form between a male and a female at any time of the year, and the pair will stay together for life. Members of a pair stay together on their territory year-round, and forage and move around the territory together. Happy Valentines.

Virginia opossum, Rondeau Provincial Park, February 11, 2020, cleaning up under a niger seed feeder. Opossum kill nearly 95% of ticks that cross their path. It is estimated that a single opossum is capable of eating an estimated 5,000 ticks every season. Didelphis virginiana The Virginia opossum, commonly known as the North American opossum, is the only marsupial found north of Mexico. In the United States, the animal is typically referred to simply as a possum. It is a solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat. It is a successful opportunist.

We had a hoarfrost the other morning and the trees and grasses were coated with frost. I haven't seen deer with frost on them before. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Feb 1, 2020.