Rondeau Ric

  A yellow warbler, juvenile, with its blotchy feathers. June 28, 2024, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Waiting its turn in our small water feature. Setophaga petechia The oldest-known Yellow Warbler was a female and was at least 11 years old when she was recaught and rereleased during banding operations in New York.

This rabbit was in the yard yesterday and I noticed something on its nose.  Turns out to be a deer tick, nasty things to tangle with. if it would let me, I would remove it. I move slow and it runs fast, so that isn't going to work.   Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada,June 27, 2024. Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus).

More often heard than seen in our area. It seems the more difficult the bird is to photograph the more likely there will a branch, leaves, cattail fronds etc. to be in the way somwhere in the photo. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 19, 2024 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.

 Didn't see the tail so I can't tell if it's a short or long tailed. A rare visitor to the yard, Rondeau Provincial Par, June 12, 2024, Ontario, Canada. Edited in photoshop. The weasels nose was almost touching the bottom edge of the image. Also there  was an ugly man made piece of  debris. Through  the magic of Photoshops  generative fill the edge was extended and the debris was removed. To me it was an amazing change.

  To me it looks like it over did the eye make up. We haven't seen this before, normally all black. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada , June 17, 2024. Quiscalus quiscula.. Common Grackles are resourceful foragers. They sometimes follow plows to catch invertebrates and mice, wade into water to catch small fish, pick leeches off the legs of turtles, steal worms from American Robins, raid nests, and kill and eat adult birds. source allaboutbirds.org

  We see a lot more Baltimore orioles as compared to the orchard. Gorgeous little bird. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 10, 2024. Icterus spurius  Orchard Orioles migrate north late in the spring and head southward early, with some returning to their wintering grounds as early as mid-July. Because of the short breeding season, researchers have trouble distinguishing between breeding orioles and migrating ones in any given location. source- allaboutbirds.org

 Good looking bird except when dozens come into the feeders and empty them. Rondeau Provincial Park, June, 10, 2024. Quiscalus quiscula Those raggedy figures out in cornfields may be called scare- crows , but grackles are the #1 threat to corn. They eat ripening corn as well as corn sprouts, and their habit of foraging in big flocks means they have a multimillion dollar impact. Some people have tried to reduce their effects by spraying a foul-tasting chemical on corn sprouts or by culling grackles at their roosts.

  Adult downy woodpecker feeding a recently fledged chick. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario , Canada, June 8, 2024. Dryobates pubescens.  The oldest known Downy Woodpecker was a male and at least 11 years, 11 months old when he was recaptured and rereleased in 1996 during banding operations in California. He had been banded in the same state in 1985.

 With a deadwood borer moth caterpillar it had captured to feed junior who was nowhere to be seen. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 7, 2024.

 This house wren was having an energetic dust bath in the next door lot. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 5, 2024. Troglodytes aedon When a bird preensit’s distributing oil secreted by a gland throughout its plumage. This oil keeps the feathers pliable, weather-proof, and ready for flight. But this oil can build up, making their feathers greasy and matted. When they take a dust bath, particles bind to the excess oil. After flapping around in the dust, they’ll fly up to a perch to complete the routine, fluffing out their feathers to shake off the excess. The bird now sports fluffier, more flight-worthy feathers.