Rondeau Ric

 We have a pair of redheads chasing each other through the yard, hawking insects and diving into the tall grass to Cath something I couldn't identify.  Fun to watch. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 30, 2024. Melanerpes erythrocephalus.  The gorgeous Red-headed Woodpecker is so boldly patterned it’s been called a “flying checkerboard,” with an entirely crimson head, a snow-white body, and half white, half inky black wings. These birds don’t act quite like most other woodpeckers: they’re adept at catching insects in the air, and they eat lots of acorns and beech nuts, often hiding away extra food in tree crevices for later. This magnificent species has declined severely in the past half-century because of habitat loss and changes to its food supply. source- allaboutbirds-org

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 29, 2024. Grosbeaks and Baltimore orioles came back in large numbers this weekend. Nice to have flashes of colour around the yard. Pheucticus ludovicianus This bird’s sweet, robin-like song has inspired many a bird watcher to pay tribute to it. A couple of early twentieth-century naturalists said it is “so entrancingly beautiful that words cannot describe it,” and “it has been compared with the finest efforts of the robin and… the Scarlet Tanager, but it is far superior to either.” Present-day bird watchers have variously suggested it sings like a robin that has had opera training, is drunk, refined, in a hurry, or unusually happy. source - allaboutbirds-org

American robin, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Enjoying our little water feature . Turdus migratorius. Robin roosts can be huge, sometimes including a quarter-million birds during winter. In summer, females sleep at their nests and males gather at roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting. source=allaboutbirds-org

 Stay out of dark alleys, you don't want to mess with this guy. April 18, 2024, Brown headed cowbird, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Molothrus ater Brown-headed Cowbird lay eggs in the nests of more than 220 species of birds. Recent genetic analyses have shown that most individual females specialize on one particular host species.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 10, 2018. Still no warblers coming through so here is one from the archives. ,  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.

Oh, somewhere over the rainbow Blue birds fly And the dream that you dare to Oh, why, oh, why can't I?  

 Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 21, 2024. A non rescript little bird that shows up about the same time as the tree sparrows disappear for the summer. Spizella passerina.  The nest of the Chipping Sparrow is of such flimsy construction that light can be seen through it. It probably provides little insulation for the eggs and young.

White throated sparrow, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 20, 2024. First time this year I could get a decent photo in this charming sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis White-throated Sparrows typically nest on or near the ground. Occasional nests are built up to 15 feet off the ground in conifers. Usually, these nests are second attempts after a pair has had a ground nest robbed by a predator. source - allanoutbirds.0rg

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 10, 2017. One of my favourite warblers, very striking when you see one in person Setophaga citrina. The white spots on a Hooded Warbler's tail help them capture more insects, possibly by startling the insects into taking flight. An experimental study conducted in Pennsylvania found that birds with temporarily darkened tail feathers were less successful at capturing insects than those with white spots on their tails. source - allaboutbirds-org.

 Nashville warbler, Rondeau Provincial Park, September 10, 2020. Spring migration should be starting soon. Leiothlypis ruficapilla.  Nashville Warbl e rs have been known to use porcupine quills as nest material.

 It poured sunshine all day so I sat out to see what would come in. Nothing special but I like the feisty little guys. Rondeau Provincial Park,Ontario, Canada, April 13, 2024. Dryobates pubesce ns.  Woodpeckers don’t sing songs, but they drum loudly against pieces of wood or metal to achieve the same effect. People sometimes think this drumming is part of the birds’ feeding habits, but it isn’t. In fact, feeding birds make surprisingly little noise even when they’re digging vigorously into wood. source- allaboutbirds-org.

 Not a fancy bird, but the chipping sparrows show up in the early spring about the same time as the tree sparrows leave. Rondeau Provinciaal Park, Ontario, Canada, April 9, 2024. Spizella passerina.  The early naturalists had a gift for description you just don’t see anymore. In 1929, Edward Forbush called the Chipping Sparrow “the little brown-capped pensioner of the dooryard and lawn, that comes about farmhouse doors to glean crumbs shaken from the tablecloth by thrifty housewives." source -allaboutbirds-org

That's going to be a one star rating. May 25, 2009, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Procyon lotor The raccoon, also spelled racoon and sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from the other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm, and a body weight of 5 to 26 kg.