Pink Lake
July 31st, 2010
Hard to believe I've lived in Ottawa all this time and never been to Pink Lake before. Well, I have now! For those of you who aren't locals, this is a stunningly beautiful, deep green meromictic lake in the Gatineau. Note to self: take parents during their visit. With any luck there will even be some fall colors up there by then.
I figured we wouldn't see many birds with so many noisy people around, but it was better than I expected. There was a Black-and-White Warbler, first spotted by Mike, numerous Belted Kingfishers taking advantage of the lake's bounty (at least around the edges, it was teeming with fish), and, most interestingly, a fledgling Brown-Headed Cowbird keeping company with a much smaller bird, a Yellow-Rumped Warbler who was clearly its foster parent!
This is that dastardly bird that I first described in this post. I've seen many cowbirds and I know what they do, but this is the first time I've seen the evidence for myself: the incongruous sight of a tiny warbler tending to a baby twice its size. It's odd that they never seem to smell a rat, not even once their young is practically full-grown and looks nothing like them.
July 31st, 2010
Hard to believe I've lived in Ottawa all this time and never been to Pink Lake before. Well, I have now! For those of you who aren't locals, this is a stunningly beautiful, deep green meromictic lake in the Gatineau. Note to self: take parents during their visit. With any luck there will even be some fall colors up there by then.
I figured we wouldn't see many birds with so many noisy people around, but it was better than I expected. There was a Black-and-White Warbler, first spotted by Mike, numerous Belted Kingfishers taking advantage of the lake's bounty (at least around the edges, it was teeming with fish), and, most interestingly, a fledgling Brown-Headed Cowbird keeping company with a much smaller bird, a Yellow-Rumped Warbler who was clearly its foster parent!
This is that dastardly bird that I first described in this post. I've seen many cowbirds and I know what they do, but this is the first time I've seen the evidence for myself: the incongruous sight of a tiny warbler tending to a baby twice its size. It's odd that they never seem to smell a rat, not even once their young is practically full-grown and looks nothing like them.
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