Monday, May 20, 2013

Bird season is over!

Well the migratory bird season is officially over today. There are still some around but the parks do not have guided tours anymore. We don't do the tours. We just wing it!! (no pun intended...well, maybe a bit). This is a long weekend in Canada known as the Two-Four weekend but officially it's called Victoria Day after the long departed Queen Victoria from England. Long weekends don't mean much when you are retired so today Joe is doing mounds of laundry and I'm finishing Finn's quilt - finally.

We had our first very cold BBQ and bike ride on Saturday with a few walks thru the trails as well. Sunday we did our last official bird hike and did over 8,000 steps. Tired today so that's why we are staying put. I did get some excellent photos of some of the birds and some just okay ones of others. Here they are.

The Scarlet Tanager is my husband's favorite bird. We them several times but these are the only really good photos I took of it.

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There were lots of flycatchers this year.
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We saw this little wren sitting on a branch and all of a sudden he starting singing.
So cute and such a unique song they have.
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The Indigo Bunting is my favorite bird and this is the first time I got a good photo of him.
We were having a coffee at a picnic table at the visitor centre and all of a sudden he swooped in and landed on the perch on the feeder. I left the coffee and grabbed my camera and got several good shots of him. We had been at the pony barns and saw a half dozen of them but they were not looking their best with only half their feathers blue....lets say they were pretty but a little bedraggled looking.
So glad one decided to stop at the centre.
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Right after the Indigo Bunting left a Wilson Warbler showed up. He didn't get too close so I don't have a great photo of him but at least I have one. This is the first time I was able to get even a so-so photo. I took a few others of him but this one showed off his black head the bast.
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The Tufted Titmouse posed very nicely for me.
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The Common Yellowthroat is really, really hard to get a photo of. They will jump up from the grass and back down again so quickly. I was lucky to get even this so-so photo of one that perched on a branch for a moment. He was a long way back so not a close-up but best I have so far.
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I think this is a female, but it may be an immature male too. I'm waiting to show it to a birding expert so I will know for sure which it is. But for now, I'm going with a female.

And this is the best I could get of the Black-throated Blue warbler. Again, they won't sit still and he was a bit far back but at least I have a photo of him.
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Well, there may be a few more bird photos but not many. I'll be back to posting my cards/scrapbook layouts/paintings/quilts etc. from now on.
 
 


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