I Spot My Prey
October 21st, 2009
There's a black and white cat I've been seeing at Mud Lake for years. Its behavior is entirely feral, yet somehow it survives the winters.
Although my forebrain realizes the cat is probably just afraid of me, there's always something a little unsettling about the intense looks I get when we cross paths...
A chickadee, and a wigeon in strange company
October 20th, 2009
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Another chickadee posing for the camera. I have to bring some sunflower seed next time I go to Mud Lake--they're starting to get cranky with me for not having any!
A female American Wigeon with a taste for exotic men :-) (Those are male Mallards flanking her).
Common birds get their day
October 19th, 2009
The lighting was unusual on this one...it came out looking as if I'd taken the chickadee indoors for a portrait.
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There were about five hundred robins today and one Hermit Thrush. I eventually gave up on the Hermit Thrush (he's called "hermit" for a reason) and focused my camera on one of the robins. I liked the way the fall leaves called out his brick-red breast, and vice versa.
This was taken in the maple swamp area of Mud Lake. I photographed a robin in the same place back in April. It's a favorite spot for them.
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A Song Sparrow at Dick Bell Park.
Memories Of Summer
October 15th, 2009
I love autumn. I've loved it since I was a kid. The crisp air, the changing trees, gold and scarlet maple leaves piling up on forest paths. Still, I felt nostalgic looking through these photos I took in early August. Nowadays even the asters are going to seed, and alas, there is no such thing as a winter-blooming wildflower.
Black-Eyed Susan
Common Milkweed
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I call it "cormorant on jade." No digital editing, other than a slight contrast enhancement, nor is the location anything exotic. The Rideau River was just a neat color that day.
Sparrows are always tough to identify, and doubly tough in late summer when the fledglings come out. My best guess on this one is a young Chipping Sparrow.
St. John's Wort (center) and Viper's Bugloss (upper left.)
Fresh autumn Wood Ducks
October 12th, 2009
The pair of Wood Ducks stood out like delicate Fabergé eggs amidst the large, aggressive mallards.
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(Male near center, female on the far left.)
That one was taken just after a large pile of birdseed hit the ground--thus the rather purposeful look of the approaching mallards.
There is in all the world no work of art like nature's work of art: a male Wood Duck in his fresh, newly-grown autumn plumage.
Fall Migration, mid-October 2009
October 11th, 2009
Warbler migration has finally wound down. There will be a trickle for awhile yet, especially of the abundant Yellow-Rumped Warblers, but I didn't spot a single one today. Taking their places are increasingly large flocks of kinglets, juncos, and White-Throated Sparrows.
This brings me full circle. It was kinglet season last fall when I first bought my zoom lens and started photographing birds.
Thanks to the cold weather today, the tiny, hyperactive Golden-Crowned Kinglets were only moving at light speed as opposed to, say, ludicrous speed. This contributed to my obtaining my first decent, in-focus photograph of the species!
A male Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. That red bit is not a trick of the light--it is, in fact, a wee glimpse of the bird's usually-concealed red crown patch.
Miscellaneous
October 8th, 2009
A slightly late migrant warbler--probably Yellow-Rumped. I wondered what attracted an insectivorous bird to the rocks at Andrew Haydon Park. When I studied this picture at home, I discovered the answer :-)
A female Northern Pintail and a Lesser Yellowlegs forage in shallow water at AHP. These two hung together for awhile, for whatever reason. Maybe they just liked each others' company.
Male Pileated Woodpecker, photographed by the Rideau River in late August.
Misty Morning
October 7th, 2009
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A red squirrel adds a welcome splash of color to a foggy morning at Andrew Haydon Park.
Great Blues
October 5th, 2009
Great Blue Heron shots taken in July, August, and October, respectively.
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The cute, we brings it!
October 4th, 2009
...and lord, this place needs it.
Killdeer
- Bring in the cute. They are adorable birds with a habit of showing up in
the ugliest of surroundings!
- Are named for their song, which sounds like "kill-dee-ah."
- Frequent Andrew Haydon Park in fall migration, provided the river is low
enough. (That's where I photographed the above pair.) Killdeer are a type of
shorebird, and like most shorebirds, they love mud.
- Have precocious downy chicks who can walk and feed themselves soon after
hatching, and who really, really bring
in the cute.
- Are highly adaptable and comfortable in human-altered habitats. Where I
come from in the southern states, it's not at all uncommon in summer to find
killdeer and their downy young scurrying along the edges of parking lots and
on commercial lawns. Here in Ottawa they are a little more finicky, sticking
mostly to farmland in the breeding season and mud flats in the fall.
- Are sneaky:
"You sometimes see an adult killdeer in gravel, such as along a rocky railroad easement, or on a dirt road. As you approach, the killdeer may suddenly develop a broken wing. It struggles in front of you, as if it can barely walk, let alone fly. One or both wings drag pitifully on the ground.
If your instinct to rescue the killdeer overcomes you, and you try to catch the bird, it almost lets you reach out and pick it up. But somehow, while struggling to keep its balance, the killdeer manages to stay one step ahead of you. As you pursue it, the killdeer leads you farther and farther away from its four downy killdeer babies crouching on the ground or half hidden under a tiny bush.
When the killdeer feels that the young are safe from you, its broken wing heals suddenly, and the bird flies away, calling a loud "KILL-DEE" that sounds like a jeer."
- http://www.birdwatching.com/stories/killdeer.html - Are some of my favorite birds.
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