Rondeau Ric

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. September 2010. Monarch butterflies roosting overnight during migration. The monarch is the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration as birds do. Unlike other butterflies that can overwinter as larvae, pupae, or even as adults in some species. Lots more grey days forecast over the next two weeks.

 This is Mickey, one of two new kitten/cats we adopted at the beginning of the summer. A.K.A. McFloppy, McFurry and Mic Mic. Occasional GET OUT OF THERE/THAT!! He used to fit in my hand. A  rather mellow, laid back dude.

Two cats in a chair. Our new kitten/cats sharing a little heat on a cold winters day. Mickey out front, Nellie in the back. Dec 17, 2024.

I can see the bottom of my bowl in one place. Why are you starving me? Meet Nellie, a.k.a. The Queen of Chaos, Kingdom of Havoc. She can go from a sweet lap cat to maniac in a split second. FYI she is strictly an indoor kitten/cat  

Fox Sparrow. We usually see a few fox sparrows this time of year. Unfortunately, shortly after this photo was taken, a Cooper's hawk flew in and killed and flew off with the fox sparrow. Rondeau Provincial Park, December 8, 2024, Ontario, Canada. Passerella iliaca. Named for the rich red hues that many Fox Sparrows wear, this species is nevertheless one of our most variable birds, with four main groups that can range from foxy red to gray to dark brown.

It is the season of slip, slide, and fall. Of dead car batteries and doors that are frozen shut. Of slippery, ice covered roads. Of summer tired cars trying to navigate snow covered roads. Of zero visibility due to white outs. Of emergency road closures due to multiple vehicle accidents. Of sickness, influence, and colds. Of frostbit and runny noses and potential hypothermia.  Of snow shovelling induced myocardial infarction (heart attacks.) Of frostbit and runny noses. Of Seasonal  Affective Disorder which can last 4-5 months.  Of  cold, bitter, dark days. Of people who think -40 degrees is great weather for out door activities. Those that are happy to hibernate for four months, I say hello, for you are kindred souls.

I think I know why we have no birds in the yard today. Sharp-shinned hawk sitting in the bush behind our water feature. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, December 4, 2024 Accipiter striatus Female Sharp-shinned Hawks are about a third bigger and heavier than males. This is a typical pattern for many hawks and owls, but otherwise rare in the bird world.

Downy woodpecker at the stream today. We have the heater in to keep the water open. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, December 3, 2024. Dryobates pubescens Woodpeckers don’t sing songs, but they drum loudly against pieces of wood or metal to achieve the same effect.

Sparkling fresh from her bath. October 8, 2024, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Pipilo erythrophthalmus Eastern Towhees are birds of the undergrowth, where their rummaging makes far more noise than you would expect for their size. Their chewink calls let you know how common they are, but many of your sightings end up mere glimpses through tangles of little stems.

Nellie, one of our new kitten/cats is fascinated by the birds coming to the window feeder. She spent hours sitting and watching and then jumps up multiple times trying to catch hate birds. Strictly an indoor cat. November 22, 2024.

 Not rare but hard to photograph as it sits in the bushes then dives down, splashes in the water and is gone again. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, October 1, 2024. Vireo solitarius Blue-headed forages for insects and their larvae in trees, moving deliberately along branches, where it can be challenging to spot. Males sing a slow, cheerful carol, often the first indication of the species’ presence in a forest.

 Not a woodpecker species we see at the water very often. We have had various ones bath but not drink. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, November 15, 2024 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.

Very slow at the stream the last few days. This is a regular species in the yard in the late fall. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. November 6, 2024.

Don't care if it is Daylight Savings or Standard Time. My bladder tells me it's time to get up. I eat when I'm hungry and go to bed when I'm sleepy.

 A Nashville warbler and a black capped chickadee in close proximity in our water feature. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, October 12, 2024. Poecile atricapillus Black-capped Chickadee. Nashville Warbler Leiothlypis ruficapilla

 While the creeper isn't rare in our area, they can be hard to find as they blend in very well. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, October 22, 2024. Certhia americana 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.

 Starlings can be very pretty, one at a time. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, October 21, 2024. The problem comes when hundreds descend into your yard and take over all the feeders, carpet the lawn and monopolize the water feature. 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.

  White throated sparrow, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, October 14, 2024. Just snatched a flying insect and had a bite to eat. Zonotrichia albicollis

This is a feral cat that has started coming to our yard.  With the feeders and water it is an attractive place for birds, and predators. I would like to trap it and take it to the humane society. We will see what happens. I think its eyes are sad. October 10, 2024, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario , Canada. 

Surrounded by 5 yellow-rumped warblers, one is out of the frame. The pond continues to be busy with multiple species of birds bathing at the same time. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, October 1, 2024. Setophaga virens Black-throated Green Warblers are not typically a backyard bird and don’t come to feeders, but yards with large mature trees may host them in migration.

Short video of one of many birds coming in to our water feature for a bath. Yellow romped warbler, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, September 30, 2024.

 Migrating birds were piling up in the yard with 11 species of warblers and a total of 35 species for the day. There were 5 Nashville warblers in our little water feature, managed to get this image of four of them. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Sept 29, 2024. Leiothlypis ruficapilla Nashville Warblers have been known to use porcupine quills as nest material.

 Looks displeased with the water, perhaps the temperature is wrong or it's just in a bad mood. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Sept 26, 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.

When one of the kittens sits in your lap the other will get jealous and plop right on top of the other. Neither seems to care and they just stay there. Nellie and Mickey, Sept 24, 2024.

 The spring and fall plumage is entirely different on this bird. I am red/green spectrum impaired ( fancy for colour blind) and I thought people were messing with me when I started birding and they were telling me both are male tanager. May 10, 2014, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, canada. September 21, 2024, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Piranga olivacea In fall, males trade red feathers for yellow-green and the birds take off for northern South America. Male Scarlet Tanagers are among the most blindingly gorgeous birds in an eastern forest in summer, with blood-red bodies set off by jet-black wings and tail

  This handsome little bird is a house wren, it is having an enthusiastic bath on our spall water feature. Rondeau Provincial Park. Ontario, Canada, September 20, 2024. Troglodytes aedon A House Wren weighs about as much as two quarters, but it’s a fierce competitor for nest holes. Wrens will harass and peck at much larger birds, sometimes dragging eggs and young out of a nest site they want – even occasionally killing adult birds. In some areas they are the main source of nest failure for bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Prothonotary Warblers, and chickadees.

  At friend Davids stream, September 16, 2024, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. A beautiful little migrant. Setophaga americana.. Before this species received the name Northern Parula (a diminutive form of  parus , meaning little titmouse), Mark Catesby, an English naturalist, called it a "finch creeper" and John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson called it a "blue yellow-backed warbler."

Great blue heron, seen from the pontoon boat, missed the catchopf this rather large fish. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, September  10, 2024. Ardea herodias Great Blue Herons in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada have benefited from the recovery of beaver populations, which have created a patchwork of swamps and meadows well-suited to foraging and nesting.

  Warblers are slowly moving through the yard, most stop for a quick bath. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, September 3, 2024. Cardellina canadensis Canada Warblers fly more than 3,000 miles from their wintering grounds in South America to their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada.

Our rescue cat, also brought home her brother. Nellie is always exploring and watching out the window for birds and chipmunks Her brother Mick clumsys his way through the house following her.He's the tough, fairly dense one, and provides the muscle. Nellie is wearing the equivalent of a hospital gown, and, yes like a humans one it is open at the back. Hers has to stay on for 10 days after her spaying. It is 1889 and Nellie Bly, a young female journalist, champions causes for the downtrodden. Feisty, she is ahead of her time as an investigative journalist. She is somewhat restless as well and soon decides make a name for herself by traveling around the world inside of 80 days. This in an effort to make real Jules Verne  Around the World in Eighty Days . Bly uses every mode of transportation then <1889> available to her. She took 72 days to make the journey

They may attract fish by dipping their bill into water and vibrating it rapidly, creating a disturbance in the water that mimics motions made by prey fish, which this one was doing. Once they have caught prey, they shake their head rapidly, much like dog, until the prey is stunned or killed. Black crowned night heron, Rondeau Bay  Area, August 27, 2024, Ontario, Canada. Nycticorax nycticorax

 A pretty good day at the pond, had 4 warbler species plus all the usual ones. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, August 22, 2024. Setophaga pensylvanica The Chestnut-sided Warbler sings two basic songs: one is accented at the end (the  pleased-to- meetcha  song), and the other is not. Males sing the accented songs primarily to attract a female; once nesting is well underway they switch over to the unaccented songs, which are used mostly in territory defense and aggressive encounters with other males. 

  The warblers are starting to pass through on the fall migration. Plumage on most is duller than the spring migration where they are showing off to attract  a mate. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario. Canada, August 20, 2024. Setophaga tigrina.  The tongue of the Cape May Warbler is unique among warblers. It is curled and semitubular, used to collect nectar.

Seen August 15, 2024 at the water feature, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. A rather enthusiastic bather. 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.

 Seen from the pontoon boat August 14, 2024, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.. Ardea herodias.  Great Blue Herons can hunt day and night thanks to a high percentage of rod-type photoreceptors in their eyes that improve their night vision.

I don't usually have the kingbird come down to the water but this one did. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada,August 10, 2024. Tyrannus tyrannus The scientific name  Tyrannus  means “tyrant, despot, or king,” referring to the aggression kingbirds exhibit with each other and with other species. When defending their nests they will attack much larger predators like hawks, crows, and squirrels. They have been known to knock unsuspecting Blue Jays out of trees.

It's time for those confusing fall warblers. This is a Blackburnian warbler seen in our yard at Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, August 8, 2024. Setophaga fusca.  No other North American warbler has an orange throat.

Enthusiastic. Having or showing intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval. Black and white warbler enjoying its morning bath. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. August 4, 2024. Mniotilta varia. The Black-and-white Warbler is the only member of the genus Mniotilta. The genus name means “moss-plucking,” a reference to its habit of probing bark and moss for insects.

When we're tired we sleeps. Two tired kittens after a tiring visit with the grandkids. Both kittens climbed into the carry pouch of my walker and promptly and a well deserved nap.

  Bath time, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario , Canada, July 19. 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.

  One of the two new residents at our place. Came with the name- Mickey Mouse. Will change that eventual, based on behaviour.

 Not much variety in bird species this time of year. First of year sighting is "Oh!, a yellow warbler." Two months later it is Oh, just another yellow. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, July 5, 2024. Setophaga petechia.  The nests of the Yellow Warbler are frequently parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird. The warbler often builds a new nest directly on top of the parasitized one, sometimes resulting in nests with up to six tiers.

 This year we are having regular visits by at least one male orchard oriole. Occasionally we see a female, which makes us think they are nesting somewhere close by. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, July 8, 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.

Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, July 7, 2024. A regular visitor this time of year. Archilochus colubris   The Ruby-throated Hummingbird beats its wings about 53 times a second. source- allaboutbirds.org

  We have been heating the gnatcatcher for a while and today I managed to get an image as it bounced around the hedge. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada , July 4, 2024. Polioptila caerulea.  The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher's grayish coloring and long tail, as well as the way it mixes snippets of other birds' repertoires into its own high, nasal songs, have earned it the nickname "Little Mockingbird." source- all about birds.org

 Lots of activity at the wren house these days. I think they are on their second nesting. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, July 1, 2024. Troglodytes aedon.  House Wrens nest inside tree holes and nest boxes. As the season progresses their nests can become infested with mites and other parasites that feed on the wren nestlings. Perhaps to fight this problem, wrens often add spider egg sacs into the materials they build their nests from. In lab studies, once the spiders hatched, they helped the wrens by devouring the nest parasites. source - allaboutbirds.org

  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.