Rondeau Ric

 It isn't unusual to have Baltimore and orchard orioles at the water. It was unusual to get both at the same time and to get them both in focus. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 30, 2025. Baltimore oriole, in foreground -Icterus galbula Orchard oriole in background -Icterus spurius

 A very colourful bird, it even looks good when it is wet. Our yard, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 29, 2925. Pheucticus ludovicianus Rose-breasted Grosbeaks build such flimsy nests that eggs are often visible from below through the nest bottom.

  A recent visitor to the water feature, more often heard than seen. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 25, 2025 Myiarchus crinitus The Great Crested Flycatcher is a bird of the treetops. It spends very little time on the ground, and does not hop or walk. It prefers to fly from place to place on the ground rather than walk.

  We rarely see hummingbirds at the water.  This male was drinking from a small fountain whose only purpose is to make water sound to attract wildlife. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 26, 2025. Archilochus colubris. The extremely short legs of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch. Nevertheless, it scratches its head and neck by raising its foot up and over its wing.

 A few of the species that came to our water yesterday. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 25, 2025. Yellow warbler. Baltimore oriole. Red-winged blackbird. American robin Field sparrow Orchard oriole. Gray catbird

Another visitor to our water during this heat wave. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 24, 2025.  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.

 A recent visitor to the water.  This heat wave is really bring in a lot of birds, as well as various critters. We are the only running water source in the area. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 22, 2025. 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 .

  A friend called me to tell me where this nest was. Far way and high up so we weren't disturbing the birds. Definitely 4 chicks and there may have been a fifth. Heavy crop and processing. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 21, 2025. Polioptila caerulea Pairs use spiderweb and lichens to build small, neat nests, which sit on top of branches and look like tree knots. A Blue-grey Gnatcatcher's nest is a neat, cup-shaped structure about  2-3 inches (5.1 to 7.6 cm) wide.

 A regular visitor to the yard. Yellows and American redstart are the two warblers we see most often this time of year. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 17, 2025 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.

Looks cute but it is an evil feeder raider. a.k.a squirrel It just has a good PR department. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 17, 2025..  Sciurus carolinensis There are more than 200 species of squirrels living all around the world, including kinds of tree, ground, and flying squirrels

  Four and twenty blackbirds. Some of the large flock of young starlings that descend on our little water feature today. I suppose I will have to refill the reservoir again. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 17, 2025. European Starling  Sturnus vulgaris, Starlings are great vocal mimics: individuals can learn the calls of up to 20 different species. Birds whose songs starlings often copy include the Eastern Wood-Pewee, Killdeer, meadowlarks, Northern Bobwhite, Wood Thrush, Red-tailed Hawk, American Robin, Northern Flicker, and many others.

You thought you were having a bad hair day?  American redstart in the water feature in our yard. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 15, 2025. Setophaga ruticilla  The oldest American Redstart was at least 10 years and one month old, when he was recaptured and rereleased during a banding operation in Ontario.

 Designer, architect, builder, Robin Construction does it all. This American Robin was bathing with a mouthful on nest building materials in our little water feature in the yard. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 12, 2025 Turdus migratorius An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years.

  Downy Delivery, absolutely fresh, right to your nest. A 5 star rating is a really feather in his cap. Downy woodpecker, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 11, 2025. Dryobates pubescens 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.

  Gorgeous bird that doesn't show up in our yard very often. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 11, 2025. Passerina cyanea Sometimes nicknamed "blue canaries," these brilliantly colored yet common and widespread birds whistle their bouncy songs through the late spring and summer all over eastern North America.  

  While out on the pontoon boat we came across this black crowned night heron with the long breeding feather. We usually see them in the fall with winter plumage. Not colourful but still a good looking bird. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 7, 2025. Nycticorax nycticorax Young Black-crowned Night Herons leave the nest at the age of 1 month but cannot fly until they are 6 weeks old. They move through the vegetation on foot, joining up in foraging flocks at night.

  Not sure if this was a breeding display for the female that was in the yard or an aggression display to keep other birds out of his bath. Either way it is a beautiful bird. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 4, 2025. Setophaga ruticilla The male American Redstart sometimes has two mates at the same time. While many other polygamous bird species involve two females nesting in the same territory, the redstart holds two separate territories that can be separated by a quarter-mile. The male begins attracting a second female after the first has completed her clutch and is incubating the eggs.

  I've seen chipmunks do some strange things, but this takes the cake. Completely relaxed sprawled out on a branch in the hedge above the water, it ignored the birds coming in for baths. We call this type of pose - doing a Mickey. He is one of our indoor cats and he flops on top of things and just flows over obstacles as if they weren't there. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 4, 2025 Tamias striatus. The chipmunk is mainly active during the day , spending most of its day foraging. It prefers bulbs, seeds , fruits, nuts, green plants, mushrooms, insects, worms, and bird eggs. It commonly transports food in pouches in its cheeks.

f  In a friend's yard at his water feature. Had two birds calling back and forth to each other. Harwich township, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada, June 3, 2025. Megascops asio. Like most raptors, male Eastern Screech-Owls are smaller than females, and are more agile fliers and hunters. The female doesn’t hunt while on the nest; she and the chicks depend on food brought them by the male. Though the male is smaller, his voice is deeper than the female’s.

Having an explosive bath at the water feature in the yard. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, June 1, 2025. I like the way the water  looks like an exploding firework. Dumetella carolinensis The Gray Catbird belongs to the genus  Dumetella , which means “small thicket.” And that’s exactly where you should go look for this little skulker.

  A female indigo came by today. Very subdued plumage compared to the male. Not something we see in the yard very often. Rondeau Provincial Park. Ontario, Canada, June 1, 2025. Photo by Anne. Passerina cyanea Indigo Buntings migrate at night, using the stars for guidance. Researchers demonstrated this process in the late 1960s by studying captive Indigo Buntings in a planetarium and then under the natural night sky. The birds possess an internal clock that enables them to continually adjust their angle of orientation to a star—even as that star moves through the night sky.

 Brown thrasher thrashing the water in. out little water feature, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 19, 2025. Toxostoma rufum. Brown Thrashers are accomplished songsters that may sing more than 1,100 different song types and include imitations of other birds, including Chuck-will’s-widows, Wood Thrushes, and Northern Flickers.