Rondeau Ric

Northern flickers started showing up a few days ago. We ave had them in the yard. This one is from April 24, 2022. Rondeau Provincial Park. 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 - allaboutbirds-org.

I know it looks like a half a moon but I don't make up the rules. Rondeau Provincial Park, March 28, 2023. The First Quarter Moon is a primary Moon phase when half of the Moon's face is lit up. Whether it is the left or right half depends on where you are on Earth. source - timeanddate website.

Pair of horned grebes, just outside Rondeau Provincial Park, March 29, 2023. First time I have seen the male and female together. Usually I just see males. Podiceps auritus As in many grebe species, Horned Grebe frequently ride on their parents' backs, nestled in between their wings. The chicks may even go underwater with their parents during dives.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Feb 6, 2021.

Northern cardinal, Rondeau Provincial Park, March 26, 2023. Waiting for the grackles and red-wings to leave the feeder platform. Cardinalis cardinalis The oldest recorded Northern Cardinal was a female, and was 15 years, 9 months old when she was found in Pennsylvania. source- allaboutbirds-org.

Mourning warbler, August 25, 2022, Rondeau Provincial Park. A fairly rare visitor to our little water feature in the yard. Geothlypis philadelphia Both male and female Mourning Warblers may pretend to have broken wings to distract predators close to their nest.

A sandhill crane sliding on the ice at Long Point, Ont, March 19, 2023. It threw its wings out just like a person throwing their arms out to catch their balance. Antigone canadensis The Sandhill Crane’s call is a loud, rolling, trumpeting sound whose unique tone is a product of anatomy: Sandhill Cranes have long tracheas (windpipes) that coil into the sternum and help the sound develop a lower pitch and harmonics that add richness. source - allaboutbirds-org

Tundra swans Another image from Aylmer Wildlife Management Area, March 19, 2023. Hundreds of tundra swans resting up before the next leg of their journey to the arctic. Cygnus columbianus These big birds travel about 4,000 miles each way during migrations, flying in a V formation as high as 26,000 feet and often reaching air speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.

Great Blue Heron flyby. Went to Aylmer to see the tundra swans, they were 500-600 in the ponds with more in the air. This great blue suddenly flew over the pond and landed at the far edge. Aylmer Wildlife Management Area, March 19, 2023. Ardea herodias Great Blue Herons can hunt day and night thanks to a high percentage of rod-type photoreceptors in their eyes that improve their night vision. source - allaboutbirds-org

Cedar waxwing in the stream, Rondeau Provincial Park, June 8, 2022. Bombycilla cedrorum. Many birds that eat a lot of fruit separate out the seeds and regurgitate them, but the Cedar Waxwing lets them pass right through. Scientists have used this trait to estimate how fast waxwings can digest fruits. source - allaboutbirds-org

Rough-legged hawk, near Melbourne, not, March 13, 2023. Gliding away, didn't have a chance to get a closer shot. Buteo lagopus The name "Rough-legged" Hawk refers to the feathered legs. The Rough-legged Hawk, the Ferruginous Hawk, and the Golden Eagle are the only American raptors to have legs feathered all the way to the toes. source- allaboutbirds-org

House finch, March 15, 2023, Rondeau Provincial Park. Haemorhous mexicanus The red of a male House Finch comes from pigments contained in its food during molt (birds can’t make bright red or yellow colors directly). So the more pigment in the food, the redder the male. This is why people sometimes see orange or yellowish male House Finches. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find, perhaps raising the chances they get a capable mate who can do his part in feeding the nestlings. source - allaboutbirds-org.

Yellow-rumped warbler, May 6, 2020, Rondeau Provincial Park. Setophaga coronata. Yellow-rumped Warblers are perhaps the most versatile foragers of all warblers. They're the warbler you're most likely to see fluttering out from a tree to catch a flying insect, and they're also quick to switch over to eating berries in fall. Other places Yellow-rumped Warblers have been spotted foraging include picking at insects on washed-up seaweed at the beach, skimming insects from the surface of rivers and the ocean, picking them out of spiderwebs, and grabbing them off piles of manure. source -allaboutbirds-org.

Nashville warbler at the stream, Rondeau Provincial Park, Oct 20, 2022. Leiothlypis ruficapilla Nashville Warblers don't breed anywhere near Nashville, Tennessee, although they do migrate through. The species got its name because Nashville was where Alexander Wilson first saw it, in 1811, and went on to name it.

Katydid, Rondeau Provincial Park, July 22, 2021. Snow storm outside, wanted a reminder of summer Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids, especially in North America or bush crickets. They are primarily nocturnal in habit with strident mating calls.

American goldfinch showing his spring colours. Rondeau Provincial Park, March 5, 2023 Spinus tristis. The oldest known American Goldfinch was 10 years 9 months old when it was recaptured and rereleased during a banding operation in Maryland.

American wigeon, Keith McLeans Conservation Area, Chatham-Kent, March 8, 2023. From the side of the road a long distance off. Mareca americana The American Wigeon is also known as "baldpate" because the white stripe resembles a bald man's head. American Wigeons eat a higher proportion of plant matter than any other dabbling duck thanks to their short gooselike bill. The shortness of the bill helps exert more force at the tip so they can pluck vegetation from fields and lawns with ease. source -allaboutbirds-org

Rondeau Provincial Park, March 4, 2023. Limited number of species come to the yard in the winter, chickadees are one of the cuter ones. Poecile atricapillus Chickadee calls are complex and language-like, communicating information on identity and recognition of other flocks as well as predator alarms and contact calls. The more dee notes in a chickadee-dee-dee call, the higher the threat level. source- allaboutbirds-org.

Quito, Ecuador, March 16, 2016. One of the many species of hummingbirds we saw on our trip to Ecuador. Colibri coruscans The sparkling violetear forages for nectar from a wide variety of flowering plants at all levels of the forest from the ground to the canopy. It also captures insects on the wing. It is very aggressive in most habitats, dominating all other hummingbirds while defending flowering trees, but aggression has not been observed in the páramo. source - Anamilia- bio

Pretty bird with it's iridescent plumage but it is a real nuisance at bird feeders. When grackles are in a group, they are referred to as a "plague". Rondeau Provincial Park, March 5, 2023. Quiscalus quiscula Rarely, Common Grackles nest in places other than their usual treetops, including birdhouses, old woodpecker holes, barns, and in still-occupied nests of Osprey and Great Blue Heron. source - allaboutbirds-org.

Heard my first of year American woodcock flying and calling tonight. Rondeau Provincial Park, March 4, 2023. Photo is from 2017. Scolopax minor The American Woodcock probes the soil with its bill to search for earthworms, using its flexible bill tip to capture prey. The bird walks slowly and sometimes rocks its body back and forth, stepping heavily with its front foot. This action may make worms move around in the soil, increasing their detectability.

Rondeau Provincial Park, March 2, 2023 Sitta carolinensis. This is a hardy bird that does not migrate in the winter months. It is a common sight around backyard bird feeding stations, where it has a preference for black-oiled sunflower seeds.

Middle of the afternoon on March 1, 2023 at Rondeau Provincial Park.

Approximately 500 feet away in a tree in front of our cottage. I am really impressed with the new camera and lens. Rondeau Provincial Park, March 1, 2023. Canon R7, 100-500mm lens. Haliaeetus leucocephalus The largest Bald Eagle nest on record, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 2.9 meters (9 feet)in diameter and 6.1 meters tall (18+ feet). Another famous nest—in Vermilion, Ohio—was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.

Not sure what type of clouds they were but it was dramatic. By the time I stopped the car the flight of swans had moved on. Feb 28, 2023, southern Chatham-Kent County.