Orioles have arrived, another hobby I enjoy

[BarleyBop]

Rose Breasted Grossbeaks

Haven't seen them in years. In 1967, the city had crab apple trees, 'centennial trees', available to celebrate Canadian confederation, so folks up and down the street planted them in their front yards. A few years later, we'd be treated to dozens of grossbeaks, flitting from tree to tree, right down the street, gorging on the fruit when they passed through town.

 

[BarleyBop]

...in modeling, as in everything else, sometimes, sometimes we pick off more than we can chew!
(photo from Sayulita, Mexico, 2007)

 

[Tommergun]

Blue Jays are visiting again...since I put feed out. Rude!

 

[Nedry]

Blue Jays are visiting again...since I put feed out. Rude!

View attachment 148382

Orioles and Blue Jays? Must be an American League East thread.

 

[BarleyBop]

...that time of year!

...and a little further down the path by the sailing club docks... Purple Martin's have taken up residence again in their beachfront condos.
They swoop down between the boats nabbing insects outta the air.

There was also a gaggle of birders excitedly observing a Red necked Phalorope (we asked what the commotion was about) on the opposite shore of the river. Apparently a rare sighting of a migratory bird that nests in the arctic!

From Mr Googles:

Their field scopes must be pretty powerful, as the river is quite wide at this point!

 

[locomotive]

Last time I was bird watching my wife went nuts.
Admittedly they weren't the feathered kind…

 

[user 22148]

I love birdwatching, one of my favourite pasttimes.

We get some very different looking birds here in the UK than you guys in North America, although a lot from similar families I think. I spent a happy half-hour today watching the recently arrived House Martins and Swifts swooping about the trees near the buildings of the nature reserve I was visiting.

 

[BarleyBop]

Swifts

Nice, we live centertown, a block from an old Dominican College: it has a huge chimney, and right around dusk the chimney Swifts can be seen soaring in search of supper! For all their agility snd speed, they really do look like flying cigars.

 

[BarleyBop]

Hmm, robins having a hard time... first, an egg rolling around in the street not far from our house.

Then, what I think is a juvenile female, lying in our back garden.

 

[BarleyBop]

Idyllic conditions on our dog walk today down by the Rideau River, here in Ottawa. A nice breeze, sunshine, 20°C, a shaded pathway...

Mini armadas of geese shunting between the shores, the sound of bullfrogs and the first cicada of the season.

I tried to get a picture of some fledgling Nuthatches skittering up and down (upside down) the trunk of an old maple. They just wouldn't hold still, and the dog probably made them nervous.

We did see a few turtle hatcheries, protected by the local river conservancy society.

I'm thinking Snapping Turtles, and have seen them in the river in past years.
Happy 4th to you know who you are!

 

[BarleyBop]

Walking along the river today, a heron wading in the shallows. Froggie better be quiet!

 

[BarleyBop]

Visiting my son's place, either a house or purple finch family have taken up residence under the front porch roof. Papa flew into a pine after feeding the little brats, and I snapped a pic with my phone.

 

[BarleyBop]

... a week later, Papa's brats making a real mess!

 

[BarleyBop]

Today's river walk turned up a female Downy woodpecker... I should bring my DSLR on these walks! Phone is handy but the zoom not great.

 

[BarleyBop]

Hey @Jim62 , do you get these birds in your neck of the woods? We also see the big Pileated and tiny nuthatches. The Pileated basically carve put walk-in pantries! Haven't seen any downtown though.

 

[Jim62]

We get those same birds. Love the pileateds they rid me of old tree trunks from trees I had to cut down. It takes years but they do it. Yes we get all those birds. We also have redheaded woodpeckers and red bellied woodpeckers. Our woods are just filled with a bunch of peckers LOL.

 

[BarleyBop]

My son shared a link from REDDIT that showed this amazing photo (the air was cold enough to see the birdsong)

... not nearly as amazing, but on my walk by the canal this morning, three Mallards. This one was somewhat reticent to jump into the water...

...looks well fed though! LOL
Don't know if it is a juvenile male or a female.
When do the males get their distinctive head coloring?

 

[BarleyBop]

A bit far for my phone camera. Pretty sure it was a Green Heron. Walking the dog in the west end by the marina on the Ottawa River in a small bay.

Water level seems to be about 18 inches lower than usual. Dry weather with little rain.

 

[BarleyBop]

... on the same walk, and in the same little bay, an Egret.

 

[BarleyBop]

Morning walk, Mourning Dove.
The partner flew off before I got my phone out.

 

[BarleyBop]

Not a bird, but almost big enough!

 

[Tommergun]

Its amazing how thin and fragile those wings are.

 

[BarleyBop]

fragile

True, and I appreciate how many mosquitoes they can gobble on the fly... always welcome in my garden!

 

[BarleyBop]

Back along the Ottawa river near the marina, spotted some Wood Ducks!
Gotta start bringing a better camera along on the dog walks...

Also this heron standing at the end of the floating sushi bar!

Why hunt when the current brings the food to you?!

 

[BarleyBop]

Hey @Jim62 , haven't seen any posts in a while! What sort of avian action down round your way these days?
I'm up in ski country this weekend, fall colours still on display!
These guys avoided Canadian Thanksgiving, and probably glad they are far from the border with yours just around the corner!

 

[kevin]

 

[BarleyBop]

Speaking of the cold weather... (on dog walk today)
Open water is starting to be more scarce!
Another week, and the river will be ice bound.

Pretty sure I saw a Wood duck with the distinctive nape, in amongst all the Mallards; his name must have been Waldo, because now I can't find him in the four photos I took!

 

[BarleyBop]

Buddy on a pole sounding like an old car horn this morning. "Kahoogha, kahooh, kahooh!"
Ravens in the hood keep pigeons and squirrels in check, scavenging the dead ones and finishing off the dying ones. Unfortunately, they also raid songbird nests. Not unusual to see a couple of tiny finches diving at them to pester them away!

This guy has fluffed his feathers for extra warmth, enjoying his view of the snowfall

 

[Tommergun]

My daughter yells, "Dad, Dad, there's a big bird out front!" So I grab my camera and run to the front door. It's just a crow, American Crow to be exact.

 

[Tommergun]

Carolina Chickadee
Bewicks Wren
Downy Woodpecker