Rondeau Ric

Rondeau Provincial Park, Feb 3, 2023. Dryobates pubescens The Downy Woodpecker eats foods that larger woodpeckers cannot reach, such as insects living on or in the stems of weeds. You may see them hammering at goldenrod galls to extract the fly larvae inside.

Forget the ground hog, he lives in a hole. What does he know about the weather? THE SQUIRREL has spoken - spring will be here when it gets here! Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Feb 2, 2023

Rondeau Provincial Park, Sept 1, 2013. One from the archives. I had the opportunity to watch a nest of soft shells hatch out in an incubator. It was just pushing its way out. Apalone spinifera The Spiny softshell is a medium-large freshwater turtle that is easily recognized by its shell, which is round, rather flat, leathery and can reach up to 54 centimetres, 22 inches, long. It is also distinguished by its snorkel-like snout. Unlike any other Ontario turtles, this species has a soft shell.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Jan 31, 2023. Canon R7. One of the regular species in the yard this time of year. Junco hyemalis Feeding Behavior Forages mostly while hopping and running on the ground. Sometimes scratches with its feet in leaf-litter or snow. Will come to bird feeders, but tends to forage on the ground under the feeding tray.

A tree rat with a furry tail and a good publicist, but he's still a peanut thief. Rondeau Provincial Park, Jan 28, 2023. Sciurus carolinensis Eastern grey squirrels Sciurus carolinensis commonly occur in two colour phases, grey and black, which leads people to think—mistakenly—that there are two different species. Black is often the dominant colour in Ontario and Quebec, toward the northern limits of the species’ range. Farther south the black phase is less common and is not found at all in the southern United States. This may indicate that the gene responsible for black coloration has some cold-weather adaptation associated with it.

Black-capped chickadee above the pond. January 28, 2023, Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Poecile atricapillus Even when temperatures are far below zero, chickadees virtually always sleep in their own individual cavities. In rotten wood, they can excavate nesting and roosting holes entirely on their own.

Was at friend David's trying out his 100-500mm RF lens when a neighbour said a pileated was in a tree down the road. Off we went and we had a close encounter with the woodpecker. If you look closely you can see an ant in its bill. By the way, it is a great lens and I'm probably going to order one. Just outside Rondeau Provincial Park Jan 28, 2023. Dryocopus pileatus The Pileated Woodpecker digs characteristically rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half.