Recent Highlights

     Life seems to have been busy of late, in the most pleasurable way of course, so let me present just a few recent highlights.

05 May, 2023

Lakeside Park, Kitchener, On

     If there has been a year over the entire span of my sentient memory when I have not seen goslings in the spring, I don't remember it.

     Nothing, it seems to me, quite says "Spring" like Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) with their young.

     If a broad smile has not yet stretched the limits of your mouth, better check your pulse.

06 May, 2023

RIM Park, Waterloo, ON

     There is nothing exceptional about a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater), but this picture of a male and female together seemed particularly pleasing to me.

     As many of you will already know cowbirds are obligate brood parasites and their eggs will be laid in the nests of other species. Not for them the rigours of raising a family!

     This White-tailed Deer (Ocodoileus virginianus) doe was resting quietly by herself and led us to wonder whether she was preparing to give birth.

     We quickly moved along and left her in peace.

09 May, 2023

Hillside Park, Waterloo, ON

     Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) is a great favourite spring migrant - and it's not hard to see why.

12 May, 2023

Benjamin Park, Waterloo, ON

     This small park lies directly behind our house, and at times produces a surprising variety of birds for a small urban oasis.

     Today was the turn of several Magnolia Warblers (Setophaga magnolia) to provide neotropical enchantment.

13 May, 2023

Wilmot - Region of Waterloo, ON

     The old adage about being in the right place at the right name is always true when it comes to finding birds.

     There is a snag at the corner of Wilmot Line and Conservation Drive which for years seemed to be greatly favoured by an ardent male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea). Doubtless the original male has long since died, and for the past two years there appears to have been no successor, but we check every time we pass by, more out of habit than anything else.

     Today we hit the jackpot!

     Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is right at the northern limit of its range, and very seldom seen in our area. In fact neither Miriam nor I had ever seen it here, so I leave it to you to imagine our elation at discovering this bird.

     It is a strikingly handsome species, it stayed with us for several minutes and even put on a flycatching display from time to time.

     Such a fabulous sequence for a couple of birders!

19/20 May, 2023

Waterloo, ON

     A friend called to let us know of the existence of a family of Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in the embankment adjacent to a shopping plaza in Waterloo.

     On the first evening we went to see these beautiful creatures, we saw only one kit, with no sign of its mother or its siblings.

     Seemingly, lacking playmates, it spend most of its time lying at one of the entrances to the den.

     When we returned the next night we had much better success.

     All four kits were outside, cavorting and tussling, filled with the exuberance of childhood.

     The mother seemed a little scruffy, no doubt the result of caring for four very demanding offspring.

     I suspect that it will not be long before the den will be empty and the young foxes will begin life on their own, feeding on the bounty that an urban environment offers to a resourceful canid.

     We wish them well.