Birds, birds, everywhere!
These birds are exhausting to watch!! Common Mergansers dive underwater to catch fish. After the chicks leave the nest in summer, the female stays with them as they grow up while males gather in flocks. In winter, mergansers form large flocks on inland reservoirs, lakes and rivers. They stay in these tight flocks to feed and court during the cold months. These are males and juvenile males by the looks of it. One catches a fish, the entire flock thinks it’s theirs! What a guy has to do to get a quiet lunch around here I do NOT know! They have been favouring the calm areas on the bay that are protected from the wind. Quite the bunch these boys. There have been a few ladies as well!
It’s a busy time stocking up on high protein out there! Watching them fish as a flock is interesting as they dive and drive fish too and fro, some surface, then dive back down as if they are herding the fish towards their buddies. Way better than any TV and certainly the news as of late.
As I was sitting at the table I heard quite the commotion…trumpeting…loud, loud trumpeting. I ran outside with my camera as a large flock of swans circled overhead then started to come down and land in groups. Man they are loud! Such a sight these magnificent flying white tanks! They can weigh up to 25 lbs! No wonder they make a splash as they land!
You can hear the Captain announcing” Please raise all tray tables and make sure your seat is in an upright position! We are on our final approach! Landing gear down! Deploy flaps! Touchdown! Applying brakes! Thanking you for flying with Swan Air!” Ha!
These guys! Along with a group of obvious hooligans a very proper family with four young cygnets arrived and were given a respectful distance! Although awkward on the ground due to short legs set behind their center of gravity, the Trumpeter Swan can walk more than a mile at a time, even when traveling with cygnets less than a week old.
Trumpeter Swans are impressively large—males average over 26 pounds, making them North America’s heaviest flying bird. To get that much mass aloft the swans need at least a 100 meter-long “runway” of open water: running hard across the surface, they almost sound like galloping horses as they generate speed for take off. (All About birds) Landing is no easy feat either! One group came in and almost immediately tucked their head under their wing for a quick snooze. Apparently one got out of line and was told in no uncertain terms to back off buddy! Great social interaction!
Maybe he was the swan that never shut the f*ck up the whole flight from Northern wherever! Ha! They are remarkably beautiful these birds and always a treat to see them. This is the most we have seen in the four years we have been here!
Tired of birds yet! Ha! All these photos are on sunny days, it’s deceiving. It feels like we have been cloudier than normal but that is November for you. At least hunting season is over. I spied a large 5 or 6 point buck on the road on my way home from the barn one Sunday, glad to see he made it! Time to move the wildlife camera around. It’s been out on our front deck as I was trying to figure out what wild creatures the cats had spent night after night watching until they were exhausted and downright grumpy! I mean really grumpy, don’t touch me, leave me alone to snooze in the sun grumpy! Raccoons? Coyotes? Nocturnal squirrels, what wild creature could it be, a bobcat? I hope anyway…No….deer mice…apparently they are very very entertaining!
We live a wild life out here in the woods! We’ve had some more flurries, thankfully nothing has stuck around with the ground being so warm. Still a few Fall things to do before the real storms dump their white stuff on us! It has made for some beautiful hoar frost on the glass and leaves coated with frost and ice. There is so much beauty, even on the gray days, it’s there! And I can walk out for the mail again without being too worried about being mistaken for a large doe and shot! 😉 Ha!
I love reflections, and reflections in bubbles, how cool is that! Ha! Some ice has started to form on the bay. Time for Rocket to go on the leash, the big goof would probably walk right out on the ice. Mike chased him down the steps today afraid he might wander out! They were fresh and fruity in the wind, it feels like it’s been howling for days!
Did I mention it was -8° Celsius this morning? I just ran out with the phone early this morning! I didn’t dawdle to take a few shots! I have been keeping an eye on the sunrises, nothing very fancy the last few weeks. I bail out the canoe every few days, almost time to tip her up onto the dock! Keep hoping for one more “nice day” for a paddle without a gale force wind! This was just TOO cold, calm, but too damn early and cold…I am a wuss! Bring back my nice sunrises please!
I sat behind the truck using it as a windbreak one sunny windy afternoon to try to see if the Red-bellied Woodpecker was still about, he did not disappoint and put on a show with a Blue Jay.
He was having a tiff with the Blue Jay as he was stealing the blue jay’s stash of suet he had hidden in a small hole on this maple branch! The Red-Bellied did not care, he was not going to be bullied by the jay. They had quite a few words to say to each other…Before the Jay gave up……and sat and watched his hard winter work of suet hording being eaten by the woodpecker. 🙂 Karma I told him…;)
Our regulars have been enjoying the suet blocks and the American Bittersweet berries provide such a beautiful backdrop! The juncos, ha! They should be called mini penguins! The Dark Eyed Juncos spend more time on the ground than perched. The Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers let me know when the suet is getting low, I even spied the Red-Bellied coming in for a nibble! So far just the male. Hoping a lady will show up. My favourite shot so far this Fall, the White Breasted Nuthatch about to grab a berry! Such busy chatty little birds!
A few days have not even gotten above freezing…ugh! I can count on the the greedy Jays to bring a smile to my face as I sit bundled up against the wind. They are hooligan clowns! I set my table up with some lovely cedar gifted from a friend and a few stalks of berries I’d foraged for along the road with a few pine cones…By the next morning it looked like an all night rave had happened there…sigh…hooligans I say! The Jays said the squirrels did it…not sure if they are to be believed!
Now to go look for more berries beside the road to redecorate! We have a few days that look like they might be above freezing! Time to go photograph the very furry donkeys down at the barn! I’ll stop my novel here and leave you with an absolutely stunning sunset. We don’t often get this kind of colour except at sunrise so it was a real treat, those pinks! It lit up the whole sky, what a show! We’ll get to joining the local photo club, Smiths Falls Sushi and more birds next week! Only three more weeks until Winter, someone must tell Mother nature that! Ha! Saludos amigos! Stay warm!
