Rondeau Ric

Rondeau Provincial Park, April 28, 2021. Red phase screech, until now I've only seen grey. Snuggled up tight to the trunk of an eastern white pine. Megascops asio Nestling screech-owls fight fiercely among themselves for food, and sometimes even kill their smallest sibling. This behavior, known as siblicide, is not uncommon among birds such as hawks, owls, and herons, and is often a result of poor breeding conditions in a given year. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 28, 2021. A rare bird for our area, seen along with 2 blue-winged warblers and a few other species. A good afternoon. Setophaga discolor Female Prairie Warblers commonly eat the eggshells after their young hatch, consuming the shells in 15 to 90 seconds.

Pink Super moon, April 25, 2021. The weather was nice and clear on the Sunday but the full moon wasn't until Monday. What to do? Take it Sunday in case Monday was cloudy, which it was. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 19, 2021. A moment before an energetic bath at the stream. Sitta canadensis Red-breasted Nuthatches migrate southward earlier than many irruptive species. They may begin in early July and may reach their southernmost point by September or October.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 19, 2021. A blast of spring colour at the pond. Haemorhous purpureus Into their rich warbling songs, Purple Finches sometimes add in the sounds of other species, including Barn Swallows, American Goldfinches, Eastern Towhees, and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

 Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 21, 2021. Spotted  an adult crossing the road with four chicks. I had never seen chicks before. Raced home, grabbed my camera and ran off about 300 images. Scolopax minor Young woodcocks leave the nest a few hours after hatching, but for their first week they depend on their mother for food. They start to probe in dirt at three or four days after hatching. Chicks grow very rapidly on a diet of earthworms and insects. By the time they are four weeks old, it is difficult to distinguish the chicks from adults. 

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 19, 2021. A pair of cowbirds in the little stream portion of the water feature in the yard. That is the whole length of the stream. It doesn't need to be large to bring in the birds. Ninety-nine species at the water and counting. Molothrus ater Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 19, 2021. We here and see them in the yard this time of year but, it is unusual to have in the the little stream. Sphyrapicus varius The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory. Although a few individuals remain throughout much of the winter in the southern part of the breeding range, most head farther south, going as far south as Panama. Females tend to migrate farther south than do males. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 18, 2021. A regular visitor to the yard, loves peanuts. Melanerpes carolinus A Red-bellied Woodpecker can stick out its tongue nearly 2 inches past the end of its beak. The tip is barbed and the bird’s spit is sticky, making it easier to snatch prey from deep crevices. Males have longer, wider-tipped tongues than females, possibly allowing a breeding pair to forage in slightly different places on their territory and maximize their use of available food. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 6, 2020. I've been hearing them but not seeing them so here is an image from last year at this time. Thryothorus ludovicianus One captive male Carolina Wren sang nearly 3,000 times in a single day.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 14, 2021. Out looking for birds when a fellow birder to me about this rock pigeon. Not a white-winged dove but still a nice bird. Columba livia Pigeons can find their way home, even if released from a distant location blindfolded. They can navigate by sensing the earth’s magnetic fields, and perhaps also by using sound and smell. They can also use cues based on the position of the sun. One domestic homing pigeon, a “retired” U.S. Army Signal Corps bird named Levi, lived to be 31 years old. Feral Rock Pigeons have shorter life expectancies, averaging only 2.4 years. However, a Kansas bird was 6 years, 2 weeks old when it was recaptured and rereleased. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Mallard, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 14, 2021. While out on my daily bike ride I came across this mallard duck walking down the forest path. I got off the bike and walked several hundred meters with him as I took his photo. Eventually he got tired of waddling along and he flew away. A nice interlude. Anas platyrhynchos The Mallard is the ancestor of nearly all domestic duck breeds (everything except the Muscovy Duck). Domestic ducks can be common in city ponds and can be confusing to identify—they may lack the white neck ring, show white on the chest, be all dark, or show oddly shaped crests on the head. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 11, 2021. Unfortunately I usually see these dead on the road. I saw this one as I was bike riding and moved it off the road. Storeria dekayi

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 9, 2021. A much maligned bird when it raids the bird feeder but still a string bird. Agelaius phoeniceus Red-winged Blackbirds roost in flocks in all months of the year. In summer small numbers roost in the wetlands where the birds breed. Winter flocks can be congregations of several million birds, including other blackbird species and starlings. Each morning the roosts spread out, traveling as far as 50 miles to feed, then re-forming at night. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 11, 2021. First warbler of the year in the yard. Came back to the yard a number of times feeding on the ground and the suet feeder. Setophaga pinus The Pine Warbler is the only warbler that eats large quantities of seeds, primarily those of pines. This seed-eating ability means Pine Warblers sometimes visit bird feeders, unlike almost all other warblers. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada,April 9, 2021. Thrashers showed up in good numbers and several have been around the yard and stopping for a sip of water. 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. The oldest Brown Thrasher on record was at least 12 years, 10 months old, and was found in North Carolina. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 9, 2021. Several showed up in the yard today, grabbed a drink at the pond after drilling down in the dirt. 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 -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker makes two kinds of holes in trees to harvest sap. Round holes extend deep in the tree and are not enlarged. The sapsucker inserts its bill into the hole to probe for sap. Rectangular holes are shallower, and must be maintained continually for the sap to flow. The sapsucker licks the sap from these holes, and eats the cambium of the tree too. New holes usually are made in a line with old holes, or in a new line above the old. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 8, 2021.

Rondeau Provincial Park, March 21, 2021. A pond visitor, they have been scarce for a week or so. 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. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, March 31, 2021. He has been a regular visitor for the past few days. Spizella pusilla Field Sparrows often breed more than once a season. They build a new nest each time, building them higher and higher off the ground as the season progresses. Early spring nests are often on the ground, where they’re less visible. As leaves and groundcover grow the birds build their nests in bushes and trees, where they’re safer from snakes and other predators. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Chatham, Ontario,Mar 30, 2021. Bubo virginianus When clenched, a Great Horned Owl’s strong talons require a force of 28 pounds to open. The owls use this deadly grip to sever the spine of large prey. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, March 31, 2021. Nice to see, haven't been many around. 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 -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, April 1, 2021. More often heard than seen, this one was working the trees next to the yard. Certhia americana In Arizona, Brown Creeper nests often have two openings, one which serves as an entrance and the other as an exit. Entrances face downward and exits upward. Brown Creepers burn an estimated 4–10 calories (technically, kilocalories) per day, a tiny fraction of a human’s daily intake of about 2,000 kilocalories. By eating a single spider, a creeper gains enough energy to climb nearly 200 feet vertically. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds

 

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, May 9, 2020. Now you know why it is called a black-throated green. Setophaga virens A delicate, lemon-faced canopy dweller, Black-throated Green Warblers are standouts in a family that does not lack for spectacle. It’s a common breeder from northern boreal forests to hardwoods of the southeastern U.S., and even cypress swamps. Many bird watchers know its distinctive and persistent song, sometimes transcribed as trees trees I love trees, that’s easy to remember. Black-throated Green Warblers are the easternmost representative of a quartet of closely related warblers including Townsend’s, Hermit, and Golden-cheeked. Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds