Common Merganser

These pictures were taken in Lake Huron, about 1/2 mile north of our place on 26th April 2006. The top picture is a female while the lower picture is an immature, about 1 year old. Mergansers are fish eaters. They have toothy projections in their bill that help them hold onto fish they have caught. They nest mainly in tree cavities but will nest in man made duck houses, hollow logs and sometimes even in holes in the ground. The young only stay in the nest for about one day and then they are in the water. The female doesn't feed them, but instead they eat small aquatic insects for about the first 1 1/2 weeks. Then they gradually switch over to fish like their parents.

Black capped Chickadee

Picture was taken 9th April 2006 in our back yard. I love this little guy. He's not afraid of humans and can be trained to eat out of your hand which requires a bit of patience. He moves very quickly and quite often comes to the feeder while I'm refilling it.

Female Pileated Woodpecker

Picture taken on 8th April 2006 in my back yard. This is a female as it has a black rather than red stripe extending from it's beak and the male's red crown extends down to the top of it's beak. This is North America's largest woodpecker and you may note that Woody Woodpecker cartoons were fashioned after this bird. I wasn't going to publish this picture as I thought I could get a better one but haven't so far. She loves to come and sit on our window sill and look at her reflection in the glass. If I get a better shot in the future, I'll post it. You can always tell if you're in Pileated Woodpecker territory as their trademark is a square or rectangular hole in tree trunks.

Song Sparrow

Picture taken on 8th April in my back yard. This is one of the more common birds. I found this to be an interesting picture where he's perched on the top of a mugho pine. He does have a beautiful song.

White-throated Sparrow

This is a backyard photo taken this afternoon. Some people just don't realize the beauty that they probably have in their own back yard. Some people would refer to this guy as an "LBJ" or "Little Brown Job", but look a little closer; he's beautiful!

Stalking Tricoloured Heron

This picture was taken on 23rd March 2006 at Port Aransas Texas. It was hard to get a picture of him because he was in the stalking mode. You can tell by the curve of his neck. I managed to catch him when he stopped walking very quickly.

Mute Swan

These pictures were taken on 18th April at a neighbours pond about 10 miles east of our place. The top picture is the female or pen swan and the lower picture is the male or cob. They are an old world species that have been introduced to North America, mainly in parks and zoo's but there are some wild colonies on Vancouver Island and the great lakes. The pen was quite placid, but the cob was ready to attack me for invading his space. He didn't give me much time to take his picture as can be seen by the ripples on the water. He was really motoring.

Maple tree blossoms

Everyone knows how beautiful maple leaves are in the fall, but have you ever noticed their blossom in the spring? It's quite small and therefore I think most people don't pay much attention, but it you look closely, it's quite beautiful.

Slate coloured Dark Eyed Junco

Picture was taken on 4th April 2006 in our back yard. He's a pretty common bird around here, but still pretty and worth a picture or two.

Painted Turtle

I took this picture on 9th April 2006 in the pond in our back yard. There has to be at least a dozen or so that make this pond their home.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

I took this picture this afternoon in my back yard. Thanks to Terry Crabe, a birding friend of mine, I learned that Yellow bellied Sapsuckers don't initially have a yellow belly. They acquire it from the tree sap. They drill a neat row of holes in a tree, then come back later to eat the insects that are attracted to the sap. In the process of doing this, they quite often get sap stains on their belly. Therefore, it isn't their natural colour, but an acquired colour from the sap.

White tailed Deer

I took this picture about 1/2 hour ago in our back yard. I was just on my second coffee and I took the picture from the solarium door.He was standing in between the two large ponds and you can see the back pond behind him. In fact the deer are still there as I'm typing this.

Roseate Spoonbill

This picture was taken at Rockport, Texas on 24th March 2006.

Chachalaca

This picture was taken on 17th March 2006 at the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park in Texas. If someone who speaks Spanish calls you a Chachalaca, you're talking too much or too loud.

Altamira Oriole

This picture was taken on 11 March 2006 at the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park in Texas. He's such a beautiful bird that I just can't post too many of him. I have more as well that I may post from time to time.

Altamira-Audubon Oriole cross

This picture was taken 11 March 2006 at the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park. This is a cross between the Altamira and Audubon's Orioles. Look at previous posts to see where his colouring is a blend of the two.

Chipmunk

Taken 4th April 2006 in our back yard. He's a cute little guy and they're easy to tame.

Beaver

Taken 4th April 2006 about 1/2 mile from our house in Lake Huron. They're pesky little fellows. This guy was just enjoying his lunch.

Great Blue Heron strut

This series of pictures was taken at the Macport Marina, just south of Rockport, Texas on 23rd March 2006. I was trying to get a picture of a Roseate Spoonbill when a Great Blue Heron challenged another one to a fight. I didn't manage to get the fight which only lasted a couple seconds, but I did get pictures of the strut of the victor or you might say, victory dance.

Ruddy Turnstone

This picture was taken on 23rd March 2006 at Rockport, Texas.

Sanderling

This picture was taken on 23rd March 2006 at Rockport, Texas.

Avocet

This picture taken on 20th March 2006 at Rockport, Texas.

Marbled Godwit

This picture taken on 20th March 2006 at Rockport, Texas.

Willet

This picture was taken on 20th March 2006 at Rockport Texas.
It's a fairly common shore bird.

Gold Fronted Woodpecker

This picture was taken on 8th March 2006 at the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park, Mission Texas.

Great Egret

This picture was taken on 23rd March 2006 at Rockport Texas. The birds name is Willy and he hangs out at the MacPort Marina at Cove Harbor just waiting for fishermen to come in and clean their catch of the day. He was named after a fisherman who loved him and recently died.

White Ibis

Photo taken on 23rd March 2006 at Rockport Texas.

Great Blue Heron

Photo taken on 21st March 2006 at Rockport, Texas.

Laughing Gulls

Photo taken on 20th March 2006 at Rockport, Texas. Note the black head indicating summer plummage.

Laughing Gull

This picture was taken at Port Aransas Texas on 11th November 2005. He's in winter plumage, therefore no black head.

Orange Crowned Warbler

Photo taken on 7th February 2006 at Edinburg Texas

Tricolor Heron

This picture taken on 10th January 2006 at Edinburg, Texas