Weekday Walk at Bluffers Park in Scarborough

I had taken off a day for my 50th birthday which I celebrated this year. Nothing big, just my kids and Dad and my husband at Tara Inn on Kingston Rd., a really great Irish pub we like. It happens too to be not to far from Rosetta McLean Gardens, and the Bluffs, places we like to frequent here and there, for nature walks and bird spotting.

We hit the Bluffs a couple days after my birthday, on a weekday, and found it quite a sighting filled visit, Mostly copulating birds lol! Spring has spring it would seem :-)

We did run across one sad sighting, a completely dried out open carcass of what I am sure was a mink, on one of the wood and fence gangplanks around the water treatment areas. I did shoot a photo of it, out of curiosity, which I won't post here of course, due to its hideous nature. Not sure what happened to the poor critter, possibly a bird of prey, but not entirely sure.

Well, the Kingfishers were quite active and rowdy, not to mention frisky (more than one time) though the pigeons on the beach were a lot closer for a better photo unfortunately lol!

The Red Tailed hawk was right above our heads, as was one of the pair of ravens. A pair of Mallard ducks swam along the edge of the main centre pond area, where there also were quite a few turtles, and we learned something about your basic mallard duck. They will catch and eat fish if the opportunity arises. The female duck suddenly had a small fish in her bill, and after a bit of a struggle, she did swallow it. I had no clue ducks like that eat fish! The male duck showed no interest in stealing it from her, maybe due to her possibly being a future Mom?

As we walked through the little paths around the water control area, I spotted a single dried leaf spinning wildly on a branch, making a cool whistling sound, then stopping as the wind dropped. I'm not a huge taker of videos but this entranced me, so I shot a little vid, very short, of it, which I have here above.

It was a really pretty day :-)

Old Haunt Visit on New Years Day

Happy New Year to all!

Here's to hoping that 2016 brings only the best to everyone and to our world, Earth.

Husband and I took a walk to our old stomping grounds, Halls Rd., east of Toronto, on our way to an 85th birthday party of my friend's Dad. He is an awesome person and still goin' strong, living life to the fullest, at 85 :-)

It was a fairly dull grey day though the sun did come out After we'd left our walk and were at the party, of course lol! But, it was still an enjoyable time visiting the marsh, the paths, and the shoreline of Lake Ontario. It was not too cold, there was some wind out on the lake which created some nice waves. There were the usual cute creatures, the grey squirrel, red squirrel, the black capped chickadees, one lone little American tree sparrow, the red cardinal flitted by (no pics of the little bugger).

As we left, along the road, we saw a couple photographers standing outside their pulled over vehicle. One person was crouching further away, on the new cement paths that lead into Lynde Shores, apparently he/she had spotted something. These guys had large lenses, maybe 600mm, one with lots of camouflage on themselves and the cameras.

Because we had to slow and proceed with caution I guess is why John spotted a small hawk like looking bird land on a dead upright tree trunk just to our left. I grabbed my camera and peered through my lens. It looked to me to be a small falcon like shaped bird. Right away I'm thinking American Kestrel. It indeed Was! What a treat, and I believe it is a male. I took some pics out the car window, then when it changed to a tree behind, I got out and took some outside the car. The light was too dull for me to get real sharp images, especially given the distance of the bird still was not idea, a bit too far for my 300mm lens, plus the image stabilization made for some not too great haloing sort of bordering around the bird when I tried to correct the values in my RAW image. But hey, we were so thrilled to get to see this gorgeous little bird again! It's been a couple years since we've had the pleasure of spotting one.

I guess what the other photographers saw was probably the mate to this bird, as they were back behind us, and I guess were sighting the female.

All and all, a nice walk in our old much loved conservation area where we used to live.

Lots of Migrating Birds!

We did a walk last weekend, at East Point Park, off Kingston Rd. in Scarborough, as well as a visit to Rosetta McClain Gardens yesterday. Mainly we went to see what interesting birds we could spot at both locations, and secondly, for the enjoyment and exercise.

East Point was an overcast, windier walk the weekend we went. One thing about East Point, is you do need to be a bit mindful of what small man made paths you may choose to venture down. Lots of birds to see though the light wasn't fantastic. Weather wasn't overly cold but the winds were a bit gusty. Lots of Golden Crowned Kinglets, an Eastern Towhee, warblers, woodpeckers, and a red tailed hawk. Our biggest thrill was seeing a female Black Throated Green Warbler for the first time, and managing to get at least a semi ok documentary image of it. What a little cutie! Lots of gorgeous dried Fall vegetation to see as well.

It was quite the enlightening walk that day, to say the least lol!

Yesterday, our visit to Rosetta McClain Gardens was had on one of the most ideal of days weather wise. Thanksgiving weekend here in Ontario can often be gorgeous, warm, sunny, and have just the right mix of summer and autumn in it. Well, Saturday was the epitome of perfect Thanksgiving weather.

There were megatons of Kinglets, peeping and feasting in the trees on the East side. We got lucky and saw one Fox Sparrow though not in great lighting conditions enough for a good shot of the little guy. He was with the White Throated Sparrows, foraging and digging through the ground cover for food. We saw a Hermit Thrush high up in the medium sized Mountain Ash trees near the washrooms, eating the red berries on them, along with robins and sparrows. The dying roses were also quite beautiful in many ways and the gardens still had blooming flowers.

There were Still the odd Monarch flying around and Still wedding photos going on lol!

East Point Park Birds

Rosetta McClain Gardens Birds