Greenjay

These pictures were taken on 16th November, 2007 at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park.

Greater Yellowlegs

These pictures were taken on 12th November, 2007 at Matagorda Texas. They're a wading shorebird but usually nest in mosquitoe infested marshes and therefore are not very well studied.

Willet, winter plummage

These pictures were taken on 12th November, 2007 at Matagorda, Texas.

Forster's Tern

This picture was taken on 10th November, 2007 at Matagorda, Texas. They breed on floating nests in marshy areas and sometimes, spawing carp will dislodge the eggs from the nest.

Caspian Tern, winter plummage

These pictures were taken on 10th November, 2007 at Matagorda, Texas. The top of their head turns black during breeding season.

Black Skimmer

This picture was taken on 10th November, 2007 at Matagorda, Texas. Notice that his lower mandible is considerably longer than the upper mandible. This is so they can skim the water with their lower mandible in the water where they catch small fish and crustations.

Semipalmated Plover

This picture was taken on 8th November, 2007 at Matagorda, Texas. These little guys spend the summer in Northern Canada and Alaska and winters in Southern US coastal States. They can swim if necessary but prefer to wade.

Killdeer

This picture was taken on 8th November, 2007 at Matagorda Texas. Killdeer like to make their nests on gravel and quite often that gravel is someone's driveway. Their eggs actually look very similar to the gravel, therefore the nest is well camoflauged

White Breasted Nuthatch

These pictures were taken on 25th & 26th October 2007 in our back yard. These little guys run up and down trees, many times upside down. They don't migrate and therefore you can see them all year round. They are a little more timid than the Red Breasted Nuthatch which will eat out of your hand, but you can still get quite close to them. The male has a black patch on the top of his head whereas the females head patch is lighter in colour.

Evening Grosbeak

These photos were taken on 25th & 26th October 2007 in our back yard. Evening Grosbeaks are spread over most of the North American continent, but here in Port Elgin, Ontario, we don't see them too often and when we do, it's either spring or fall. It's been 5 or 6 years since I've seen any, but when they do come, it's usually in a large flock of 100 to 200 birds and only stay for a few days. This year, when they first came, there was only about 20 or 30 but they stayed for about a week, and as the week went on the flock got larger until there was probably 200 and then all at once, they were gone.

Red breasted Nuthatch

These pictures were taken in October 2007 in our back yard. They have a tendency to hang out with Chickadee's and are very friendly. I had one land on the sleeve of my shirt while I was putting out more bird seed. They like Chicadee's can be trained to eat out of your hand. During nesting season, they can be very aggressive and will chase off other birds of similar size.

Redhead Duck

This picture was taken on 22 March 2006 near Mission Texas. They are a diving duck and eat aquatic plants and small fish.

Dark eyed Junco - Slate coloured

These pictures were taken in October, 2007 in our back yard. They do migrate but not too far. They winter in all of the lower 48 States plus southern parts of Canada. Males are darker coloured than females.

Black capped Chicadee

These pictures were taken in October, 2007 in our back yard. They are a very friendly bird and can be trained to eat out of your hand. Twice, while taking these pictures, I had one land on my camera. Too bad I couldn't have gotten a shot of that.

American Avocet

These pictures were taken on 2nd March at Port Aransas, Texas. The Avocet is mainly a wader but can swim well. They eat aquatic insects by moving their head from side to side with their long beak in the water. Although they are coloured black and white most of the year, the male gets some brown during breeding season.

Anhinga

These pictures were taken on 9th March 2007 at Wakulla Springs, Florida Panhandle. The Anhinga is also known as the Snake bird because with it's neck outstretched it looks like a snake going through the water. They spear fish with their beak, then surface and try to dislodge the fish from their beak by tossing it in the air and then catch it. They sometimes miss.

Green Heron

This picture was taken in our back yard on 26th August, 2007. I was out on the Island in our pond feeding the fish and turtles when I spotted this guy, so went back and got my camera. I was lucky enough to get good shots of him catching his favourite food: frogs. This frog was a bit big for him and he had trouble swallowing him. He had to keep dunking him back in the water to make him a little more slippery. In one of the photo's it looks like the frog is trying to keep his front legs out as far as possible. If they were a little longer, maybe he could have grabbed the Heron by the neck. Herons are the only bird that quite often will use bait such as insects to catch their main prey, fish and frogs. They'll catch an insect and then drop it in the water waiting for a fish or frog to investigate.

Common Loon

This picture was taken on the 18th July, 2007 on a lake near Huntsville, Ontario. It's a wilderness bird and it's rare that more than one pair will be on a lake, unless it is a large lake. They can't walk on land very well and therefore build there nest close to the waters edge. They are unable to take off from land because their legs are too far back on their body. Migrating Loons will occassionally mistake a wet roadway for water and then become stranded because they are unable to take off. Even in water, they need a fairly long stretch of water to become airborne.

American Wookcock

This picture was taken in our front yard on 26 August, 2007. American Woodcock's are classified as a shore bird but spend most of their time in the woods where their camoflage is so perfect they are seldom seen. We've had a pair of them around all summer and they had a successful nesting because I've seen as many as 3 all at the same time. Although they normally spend all their time is the woods, these guys really like our lawn and flower gardens where they can find their favourite food; worms. We're lucky in that we see at least one of them almost every day.

Great Horned Owl

This picture was taken on 29th April 2007 behind Mike and Maureen Berry's property, a neighbour of ours. Owls in general are silent in flight and the Great Horned Owl is a master at this as their prey is never aware that they are approaching. As well, there favourite meal is a mouse which they can hear when it steps on a leaf 50 feet away. They also have telescopic vision which is 10 times more powerful than mans vision. This may seem strange, but they are such good hunters and so silent in flight that the American Stealth Bomber was designed after Owls in general and the Great Horned Owl in particular. If you look at the Stealth Bomber and the Great Horned Owl in flight, particularly from the front, they look almost identical. Man has a lot to learn and if we watch nature more closely, we'll probably learn a lot more.