Indigo Bunting

These pictures were taken on May 24th 2006 in our back yard. In contrast, the female is mainly brown with occassionally a hint of blue on the tips of their feathers. They're quite remarkable navigators. They migrate at night using the stars to navigate. Experiments have been done where they've captured them and then released them in an area totally foreign to them. They still navigated back to the exact location they normally migrate to. Amazing!!! Humans are supposed to be the smart ones and some of us have trouble getting home after spending a night at the bar.

Green Heron

This picture was taken in our back yard on May 15th, 2006. Also known as Little Green Herons, they are the smallest of our Heron family except for the Least Bittern. They are solitary in nature but may be seen in pairs particularly during mating season. They have a concealed nest in shrubs or low tree branches. We actually have a pair of them visiting our pond on a regular basis. We're hoping they will nest here and that we'll get a chance to see their young. Stay tuned!

Veery

This picture was taken on May 15th 2006 in our back yard. This is a bird that is heard but seldom seen. I guess I got lucky as he perched on a nice birch tree branch in plane sight for about 10 minutes. His usual habitat is the deep dark dense part of the forest eating a mixture of insects and fruit. He has good eyesight in the dark and migrates all the way to South America. He does this at night, keeping in touch with others of his species by calling. He's in the Thrush family but has fewer spots on his breast than most Thrushes.

White Crowned Sparrow

This picture was taken in our back yard on May 15th, 2006. Apparently he is easy to tame and therefore he has been used extensively in scientific experiments, especially related to bird migration.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

I took these pictures in our back yard on May 13th 2006. The two upper pictures are the male while the lower picture is the female. I'm surprised that we don't have homosexual males. This is one of my favourite birds. The males song is similar to that of a Robin, only more melodious. When courting, he will sing in flight while flying after the female. He sometimes picks the nest site and takes his turn at incubating the eggs and even sings while sitting on the nest.

Common Grackle

Booga booga booga!!! Did I scare ya, eh, did I scare ya. I'm soooo big!!! I took this picture on 16th March in our back yard. I was sitting in my bird blind getting bored waiting for something interesting to show up when this guy decided to put on a display. He wasn't doing it for me, I think it was for his female friend.

Barn Swallow

This picture was taken at Point Pelee, Ontario on May 7th, 2006. These little guys are good friends of humans as they eat nothing but insects which of course includes mosquitoes. They are excellent flyers and can easily change direction at full speed. There nests are made of mud and straw and they usually like to build their nests about 5 inches below the ceiling in a building. Placing shelves at that height in a building where they have access may attract them. They are communal in nature and like to nest in colonies. If a predator such as a cat comes near, the entire colony will attack the cat in an effort to drive it away.

Screech Owl

This picture was taken on May 6th 2006 at Point Pelee Ontario. They are one of our smaller owls, only measuring about 8 - 9 inches long. They don't migrate. What appears to be ears aren't really ears at all. They are just tufts of feathers that look like ears.

Water Fall

This picture was taken at Springmount, just west of Owen Sound on May 1st 2006. Most of my pictures are of birds, but I do enjoy anything that is beautiful. I thought that this fit that criteria.

Chipping Sparrow

This picture was taken this afternoon, May 2nd 2006. I was sitting out on our patio and this little guy was just dying to have me take his picture as you can tell by his pose. Normally they don't pose with their head so high. Sparrows are some of the hardest birds to tell apart and the Chipping Sparrow makes it even more difficult as they can change the feathers on their head and throat up to six times per year. The rest of the body feathers are only replaced once or twice per year.

Blue Jay

This picture was taken May 2nd 2006 in our back yard. You can tell it's spring by the seed pods hanging from the birch tree and the leaves just starting to come out. Blue Jays are a very noisy bird and they can imitate others. One bird that they've been known to imitate is the Red Tailed Hawk. Do they do this to warn others of the presence of a Red Tailed Hawk or just to frighten other birds away from their food, or are they just being the jester saying, ha ha I fooled you? Who knows. I guess only the Blue Jays know for sure.

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