New Years Day Walk

Got out for a bit before heading into Toronto for a family evening. First walk of the year and we spotted something new, and some creepy and cool things.

Again, there was like 50,000 Canada Geese at the shore of Lake Ontario in Whitby, and this time we were a little more alert to spotting the "different" goose that had to be there. Bingo - don't we see some grey goose that had a strip of white in front of its bill this time. No Snow Geese though. This one we learned after viewing it at home and checking, is a Greater White Fronted Goose. Maps show it is off course but who knows how accurate those are or how much migrating birds vary off course. This goose shouldn't be found this far east according to maps we noticed.

We also noticed what was a mottled swan, maybe still in its juvi stage. Tons of ducks too, some Buffleheads, and what we think may be a mix of some other ducks, maybe Ring-Necks or Wigeons or something, we can't be sure. One in the group which landed had a copper coloured head.

Besides the bird life, there washed up on the shore was a very large crayfish which must have washed up in the tide and died on shore. The other enticing subject matter was all the ice formations where water has splashed up on the fallen dead trees along the shoreline.

The walk began with the spotting of a red tailed Hawk, on the ground, under a tree, which pretty much took off as we neared it, carrying its prey.

First Post of 2013

This was supposed to be the last post of the year but turned into the first of a new year - a quick little one about our last little outing which was Sunday December 30th 2012. It was a pretty much a full sun day too, one of the rare days where the sun has shown its face in the last 2 to 3 weeks in Southernish Central Ontario.

First, we headed to Thickson Woods around 10:30am. Not a huge lot to see though we did see a hawk fly by overhead quite low, and a Ruby Crowned Vireo hopping around on some downed dead pine needles on the branches of a fallen small pine tree. There were the usual Red Breasted Nuthatches, woodpeckers, and one lone red squirrel. However, Before getting there we had gone to Walmart for cold meds for me and if we had not have, we'd have missed the cool sighting of the cutest American Kestrel on a wire beside the road as we headed back. So adorable! Perfect day too, with the sun on it and the wind ruffling its feathers.

We decided to head to Halls Rd. after Thickson. I love going down to the shore of Lake Ontario, which is a close walk from the path there. On our walk in, the barred owl was about again and we watched her for a bit, dozing, preening, yawning, basically a sun basking day for her. Good to see she seems to be doing well and is obviously finding food and likes the area.

Heading down to the shoreline ended up providing a pretty cool discovery. As soon as we cleared the path and looked out, there were 1000s of Canada Geese on shore and in the water. Many were so funny, standing on 1 foot with their faces tucked back into their back feathers, looking so cute. We watched them for a bit until another couple came down to the shore. They were talking about how there Has to be something different among this huge amount of geese. They began looking with binoculars and soon named some sort of gull and walked off further down the beach. We saw nothing that distance away where they seemed to be referring to. Then, a white head among the geese stood out. We walked down along the shoreline and through my lens I could see a thinner grey bird, the size of the geese almost, but with a white head and yellowy beak. We neared the couple, who had a little book on birds, and they blurted out that it was a Snow Goose. Ok, I thought they were more white but hey, what do I know.

Funny enough, when we got home and had a chance to view the pics of it I had gotten, there was a 2nd bird, all grey/brown but with similar markings at the wing edges, floating along with the Snow Goose. After a little research, we learned one was a Dark Morph Snow Goose and a juvenile Snow Goose. How cool as the last interesting sight on one of our 2012 walks!

The Wild Turkeys

For 2 years I have not gotten so much as a cold and especially Not at Christmas which was a tradition with me many years. I attribute this to having a much stronger immune system than I had before taking vitamin D every day. None the less, I got sick a couple days before Christmas. So, basically, we didn't get out for any walks as I don't have a hat or ear muffs so there was no way I wanted frozen painful ears. As well, the light was so very dull and overcast that nothing had an interesting look and any photos I may take would be full of heavy "noise" from having to boot my ISO up to pick up any information and have a decent enough shutter speed when hand holding my camera (I am not a tripod liker).

Boxing Day was going to be a stay in day, a rest and get better day. For the most part it was but my daughter had gone shopping (earlier than I leave for work lol!) that morning and needed a ride from the Go station home. She lives fairly close to me so this was fine. We had about an hour and a half before she'd be in the station and sick of sitting around I thought why don't we do a quick get out to Lynde Shores then leave and grab her at the station when she lets us know she is almost there.

We just did the regular little path at Lynde Shores, not going very far. There were a few people there but it was pretty dismal out and most were probably shopping indoors or still visiting family and friends for the holidays. The ducks were acting a bit odd, walking a few steps then plunking down to rest for a few moments, then getting up and moving a few more steps, only to plunk down again. As we headed up the path, we saw what was probably the same group of turkeys we see in the farm fields along Halls Rd. They were right on the path eating what was probably dropped bird seed. As soon as we got too close, off they ran into the forest area, down onto the path further on, then doubled back as we followed the path to see where they went. 2 recent fallen trees blocked our way so we climbed around them and the turkeys were down further on the path. People were coming along the path from the opposite side which inadvertently boxed in the turkeys so they had no choice but to head back into the forest. Your could see them through the pretty sparse cover, trotting in line, jumping over a fallen tree, heading back to the first area we saw them. I have never seen them this close, and never at Lynde Shores, they tend to be timid, but they must have been really hungry this day.

There were 14 turkeys, probably mostly females but there were a couple that had the beginnings of the red piece on their neck and these are most likely the juvenile males from the batch of babies we saw in the summer. The adult male turkey we only saw once and this was in spring, with him desperately trying to get over a fence, trying to get away from us as we had come up on him suddenly while driving along Halls Rd. Generally, you don't see the adult male hanging with the group of females except at breeding season.

We saw the leucistic Chickadee again, as well as the usual Blue Jays, White Breasted Nuthatch and lots of squirrels. Gratefully, "killer squirrel" was scarce today, thank gawd because we didn't have food on us as we figured we'd only be about 45 mins then heading to get my daughter, and back home again to just veg and watch a flick and have dinner.

The Magnificent Great Black Backed Gull

Sometimes, when we go out for a walk, just to get out and to see what may be seen, they start out being almost boring. I've learned from experience that they tend to never remain that way. This Sunday's walk proved to fall into that pattern too.

I had taken my daughter out shopping for some small gift items she wanted to get for friends and their family As we left the stores, it was sunny and real nice out. I was looking forward to a planned walk in the late afternoon. The weather changed a lot, quickly, and became overcast , windy and bitter compared to earlier, but we went out anyway. We decided just to go down to Halls Rd., our favourite place for a quick "get out for a bit" place.

There were barely any people there this time around. We walked down to the lookout over Cranberry Marsh - nothing. It was bitter enough that I was ready to just go home and get into a movie. The horizon looked interesting though, pinkish under the darks. So we thought we'd take a quick look at the shore and over the lake. As soon as I stepped out of the path onto the shore, there flew a large gull with dark backs of its wings. It was a great black backed gull. When you see them, you notice how much more magnificent and amazing they are, so much different than the regular gulls everyone is used to seeing like the common ring billed gull. We've only seen one once before and I had no camera with me and it was raining pretty hard. They are also huge gulls and seeing them swimming among the Canada Geese, gives a good idea of their size. We were lucky enough to see them in flight, an adult and a juvenile one. There was one ring billed gull with them as well. After watching them for about 15 mins, they decided that was it and off they flew.

On our way back up the path, we stopped to look at a bird that we spotted but do not know the name of. We thought maybe female Western Tanager but are not sure. It also looks like a large female Goldfinch, but I do not think it is. The large group of Cedar Waxwings were a surprise to see. They hung for a bit then flew off in their group. It was cute because one loner got left behind and flew off after about 30 secs after the large group, protesting about being left behind lol!

As we watched the waxwings, a family with 2 little girls came along. John had a few seeds left so as the group stopped near us and remarked about the birds, he asked if they had any seeds with them. They said no, that they had just stopped here on an impulse while on their way somewhere. We gave them the seeds and the 2 girls got to experience the chickadees land on their hands to take them. It was a nice feeling to see the family happy that they stopped because the girls enjoyed getting to feed the birds. It soon was so cold that they left and we all said Merry Christmas and headed back.

Lately, every time we drive back and forth past Lynde Shores area, we spot this small what looks like some sort of tiny bird of prey. I had thought when we headed out this day, that if I spotted it again I was going to stop this time and try to see if I could get a shot of it and see what it is finally. We did see it, but earlier in the drive and we saw 2 people out of their car on the side of the road, taking photos of it. I passed it and said if we see it on the way home, I'll stop. We got passed the spot we had seen the bird on the wire and the people stopped, so I figured it was gone. Then suddenly, there it was, partially in silhouette now though. We parked on the side of the road, opposite the side it was on, and walked down a bit. We then realized it had a mouse hung over the wire and was eating. Though the light wasn't the greatest, I managed to get some shots and realize it was a Kestrel. What a cool sighting! So this was what I was seeing all the time on our drives back and forth along that route lately. It was worth standing out freezing in the cold wind for :-)

What started out as a seemingly boring and  eventless outing, turned into yet again, a fun and exciting experience.