Posts Tagged ‘Bird’

This time I ventured down to the waterfront by Woodbine Beach in order to try to get some shots of some Bufflehead ducks. They’re very shy and invariably swim away from you if they feel they are too close to you. Managed to sneak up on a couple of them who promptly swam away from me when they caught a glimpse of me. Here are a couple of pics of that male and female pair who felt I was getting too close for their comfort:

Male Bufflehead Duck

Female Bufflehead Duck

At what was presumably a more safe distance from people, this pair of Buffleheads swam together along with a small flock of other Buffleheads and assorted other ducks and geese in the harbour by Woodine Beach.

Male and Female Bufflehead Duck

According to the Bufflehead Wikipedia article, they are among the smallest ducks in North America. For a size comparison, here are a couple of male Mallards adjacent to a much smaller male Bufflehead:

A Couple of Male Mallards and a Male Bufflehead for Size Comparison

It was a windy morning down by the Woodbine Beach, and the waves were very choppy, which was why I was surprised to see what turned out to be a lone female Red-breasted Merganser in an unsheltered bay, ocassionally diving for food under the surface.

Another shy bird, I had to use my telephoto to get these shots of her:

Female Red-breasted Merganser 1

Female Red-breasted Merganser 2

Female Red-breasted Merganser 3

A flock of Long-tailed ducks have clearly started to over-winter down at Woodbine Beach. I always find the males comical, like Harlequin Ducks done in monochrome, and then there’s the ridiculously long double-tail.

Their call is not the usual throaty “quack” you would get from a Mallard, but the sound you might get out of a chicken if it was laughing (and maybe somewhat annoyed too). (A good example of what they sound like can be found here).

Here are a series of photos I managed to snag of the flock this morning down by Woodbine Beach:

I like this one because it shows the slight variations in plumage and even head-shape that exists in these ducks:

Trio of Male Long-tailed Ducks

Then there was this fellow, who unlike the rest of his shy brothers, ventured closer to me rather than keeping his distance, allowing me to take a couple of nice shots of him and his reflection in the still waters.

Male Long-tailed Duck and His Reflection in the Water 1

Male Long-tailed Duck and His Reflection in the Water 2

Then there’s this one of a male and female pair about to land. I managed to get both of them nice and sharp by moving the camera, but as a result the other ducks they are landing among are blurred. Still, a fun shot.

Pair of Long-tailed Ducks Coming in for a Landing

I think this is a vireo, but am not entirely sure. It is an LBB though (“Little Brown Bird”). 😉

(Postscript: I’ve since been corrected in my identification; this is more likely a Yellow-rumped Warbler instead, and the pics at the Cornell Ornithology Lab site would seem to confirm this).

Vireo on Rock Looking at Camera

Vireo on Rock Looking Out at the Lake

Shot while walking the dog down by Woodbine Beach.

There was a flock of long-tailed ducks by Woodbine Beach this morning, and this lone male came close enough for me to take a few good shots. They are normally very shy and tend to swim directly away from any human (and their dog), so was surprised to see this one coming my way. Unlike Mallards, have never seen a long-tailed duck looking for a handout of bread, so am guessing that the underwater weeds close to where I was are plentiful.

Here is a selection of the better shots:

Male Long-tailed Duck 1

Male Long-tailed Duck 2

Male Long-tailed Duck Diving

Lucked out and managed to get a couple of good shots of some local birds while walking the dog down by Woodbine Beach this morning: a male Downy Woodpecker and a male Goldfinch in winter plumage. Here are the two best shots:

Male Downy Woodpecker

Male Goldfinch in Winter Plumage

Was walking down by Woodbine Beach and saw a few other birds instead of just the usual run-of-the-mill flock of Mallard ducks: a juvenile Green Heron Black-crowned Night Heron and a Brown Creeper. I had my f/2 200mm lens with me thankfully, and managed to get a few nice shots in.

Here’s a shot of the Heron in the water hunting for small fish:

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

And here he (she?) is flying away after getting spooked by my camera’s shutter:

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Flying Away

And just a few meters away from that last shot I saw something flitting and “creeping” up a nearby tree. It was a Brown Creeper. It didn’t seem too bothered by me and allowed me to take a bunch of photos. It moves quickly with it makes its way up a tree, so despite the fast lens I only had a few shots where it wasn’t a white-speckled brown blur. Here are a couple of the shots I took of it:

Brown Tree Creeper 1

Brown Creeper 2

Took the dog for a walk while on an errand to pick up some prints from the local camera store when the sun broke through the clouds for a few minutes, lighting up the flowers in Kew Gardens. For some reason a small flock of sparrows were interested in some lily flowers, so I started taking a few pictures.

While taking pics and focusing on a sparrow near the top of one of the flowers, another sparrow came fluttering in. I didn’t have the shutter setting on fast enough to freeze the flight of the landing sparrow, but the effect still looks cool:

Sparrow Landing on a Lily Flower

And here is that same sparrow perched on the plant:

Sparrow on a Lily Flower

Took the dog out for a walk early this morning prior to our trip to see the girls up at Camp Couchiching, and I finally got some decent pics of some male goldfinches flitting about some blue flowers at Woodbine Park. Here are my pics from what I shot:

A Trio of Male Goldfinches

Male Goldfinch #1

Male Goldfinch #2

I predict that you are going to see many more pictures of the Mallard Ducklings that are calling the pond in Woodbine Park their home. There are clearly two small flocks of ducklings, each with its own mother protectively looking after them.

This was my favourite shot from the day, with a group of five ducklings heading one way while mother Mallard looks on. The white thing reflected in the water is the pond’s fountain.

Mallard Ducklings and Mother Mallard