Great Horned Owl

These pictures were taken April 29th, 2007 behind one of our neighbours' house. Great Horned Owls inhabit most of North and South America. Their average body length is 22" with a wing span of 40 - 60". They mate in January or February and usually lay 2 - 4 eggs. This nest only had one young one. They don't build their own nest but instead utilize other bird nests made by large birds such as Crows or Ravens. Last year, this was a Raven's nest. When the young get larger but are unable to fly, they'll venture out onto branches, therefore, I may have a further photo opportunity.

Bufflehead Ducks

These pictures were taken on April 14th, 2007 in a bay on Lake Huron not far from our home. The first picture is the male and the second, the female. It's mating season and you can see there is a second male present and he was trying to attract the female by taking short flights of 20 or 30 feet and then landing, but not going far away. It didn't work. Mrs Bufflehead had eyes for only one male and she was about to let him have his way with her. It was quite a wrestling match and note how the male grabs a tuft of feathers on the back of the head to hold on. When it was all over, the female was rather elated and just had to flap her wings for joy. Isn't nature interesting?