February Goldeneyes
February 28th, 2010
The Rideau continues to support good numbers of Common Goldeneye, and, as with the neighboring Mallards, courtship is in full swing.
The juvenile male, second from the left, is doing a classic goldeneye showoff for the ladies: neck arched back, feet simultaneously kicking at the water.
Note the two oddballs in this picture: The male about 3/5 of the way to the right, with the dollop-shaped (instead of round) cheek patch and the spotted shoulder stripe, is a Barrow's Goldeneye--a rare species in the east, but one which winters in Ottawa each year in very small numbers (1-4). The redheaded duck in the upper left is a Common Merganser.
Eventually the females get interested, at which point they start doing the funky head motions too :-)
The wintering goldeneyes are easy to find, if you ever want to watch these fascinating ducks for yourself. Take a bus or drive to where Rideau Street crosses the river (Cummings Bridge), then walk south--preferably with binoculars! There are also usually some of them at Billings Bridge park.
Memories Of Green
February 27th, 2010
It's that time again...the time when I pull out some summery leftovers (actually they're from October, but you can pretend!) to tide us over until spring comes. These are all from Andrew Haydon Park.
Winter Downy
February 26th, 2010
Spotted this male Downy Woodpecker along the Rideau River on Monday.
After awhile a second male came along, and a territorial dispute ensued. This part was hard to photograph--the skirmishes were fast and furious!
Another sign of spring
February 25th, 2010
I found this adorable Meadow Vole beside the walkway from Hurdman Station to Riverside. I presume it was our mild, thawy weather that coaxed him out of his snow tunnels to forage for food.
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Winter Mallards
February 24th, 2010
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I like female Mallards. They always look so satisfied about life.
Love is in the air
February 23rd, 2010
Chickadees are singing. House Finches are singing. Pigeons are locking bills on my front balcony.
And out on the rivers, mallards are courting like crazy.
It was an overcast morning on the Ottawa River when I found upward of twenty male mallards milling excitedly about a lone female--presumably an as-yet-unattached female--whistling and displaying. The activity seemed to happen in bursts. All would be quiet for ten seconds or so, then a sudden spate of whistling, frenzied swimming and neck-arching. I managed to capture one of the bursts in the picture above, where four of them were sounding off at once. The rather unimpressed-looking female is on the right.
I've watched mallards mate a number of times, and each time, it's the same ritual. First the pair swim alongside each other, heads bobbing up and down. Then he mounts, taking her by the nape. After it's over and the female is shaking herself out, the male lowers his head to the water and swims around her in circles, as if saying "wheeeee I did it I did it I did it!" It's so sweet.
I took these on the Rideau. They came out very dark (backlit), but then again, that seems appropriate somehow!
The Intruder
February 2nd, 2010
Top Of The Morning
January 25th, 2010
Sometimes the time of year, time of day, conditions and location all conspire to give you the most magical lighting. Everything takes on a new glamor. So it was yesterday morning with this White-Breasted Nuthatch.
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Peeking Out
January 24th, 2010
Found this Ruffed Grouse along Old Quarry Trail this morning, and successfully tracked him through deep snow for a picture. This is a fairly common species in Ottawa, though elusive. The Stony Swamp trails are a good place to find them.
Also, they look cute when they walk.
Hibernation fail?
January 15th, 2010
Down to Mud Lake today to scatter sunflower seeds for the chickadees and nuthatches, and see whatever else I could see. Which turned out to be not much.
Except for this: I came to where the path meets Cassels Rd., and found that, thanks to the mild weather of the last few days, there was a tiny patch of open water at the edge of the pond. Amidst the water I saw what looked like banks of pebbles. I don't usually think of Mud lake as a pebbly place so I wondered if someone had put them there for some reason. I trained the binoculars on them, and saw that in fact that whole patch of water was heaped with tight-packed masses of...somethings.
They were moving. Not just in a shifting-in-the-wind way, but in an organic, creepy-crawly way. Just a bit. It was so unexpected my brain malfunctioned at first, and I started wondering ridiculous things like whether bats hibernate in water. Them it kicked back into gear and I figured they must be fish or amphibians of some sort, but as long as I watched them, I couldn't figure out exactly what they were. All I could see was these lumps, and I would have taken them for just lumps if not for the fact that occasionally, one of them squirmed.
The other part of this tableau was a robin, who had pulled a fish (one of the multitude?) out onto the ice edge. It looked more like a heron meal than a robin meal, but he was giving it his game best. The whole ten minutes I watched he hopped around, pulling pieces off it to eat. Yay, winter protein source! Meanwhile, the nearby masses of somethings made no reaction to his presence nor mine. Question: what happens to all those little guys if a bunch of robins (or starlings, or crows) discover them? Are they basically doomed now that the protective ice layer has melted in the middle of January?
It looks like the mild weather is going to persist for at least a few more days, so I'll likely take the camera out soon. In the meantime, here's a chickadee pic from back in December.
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