Northern River Images

Its my best intention to spend some dedicated time this weekend at one of my favourite wildlife viewing sites in Algonquin before the weather becomes less favourable. In fact, today was a balmy one for November. I was again rewarded with some prime photo opportunities towards dusk tonight. I had stopped at this point on the trail and captured some nice images of a Beaver earlier. I then moved on down the trail, and upon my return, is where the story gets interesting. I looked... to see if I can still see the Beaver. He was gone but this fellow was in the exact same spot. I thought it was déjà vu but it was actually two. No matter, I'll take that. This was a fine specimen of a North American River Otter or Common Otter. My best shot of an Otter to date. I think I caught him by surprise. He swam over closer, as seen in the second image, to check me out. Otters are a curious lot. An adult Otter can weigh between 10 and 40 lbs. It is protected and insulated by a thick, water-repellent coat of fur. Th Otter is a member of the weasel family and is equally versatile in the water and on land. It establishes a burrow close to the water's edge. The den typically has many tunnel openings, one of which generally allows the otter to enter and exit the body of water. Otters give birth in these burrows, producing litters of 1 to 6 young. Like most predators, Otters prey upon the most readily accessible species. Fish is a favored food among the otters, but they also consume amphibians, freshwater clams, mussels, snails, small turtles and crayfish. I like the first image because it provides an above water side profile. But my favourite part? The chin whiskers. See more

Many times we encounter birds that are out of their normal range. Sometimes this occurs during migration when they end up off their route often as a result of storms. In this case, this bird has been a regular returner to the Burlington shore. This guy is a Brant Goose and is spending his time at the foot of Brant Street. He is affectionately referred to Brant St. Brant. When I encountered him, it was midday and the sun was brighter. I observed him grazing in the middle of a ...lawn and then flying overhead to the water after being spooked by a Gull. He then made his way up onto the rocks then flew back to where we started. A nice display. The compact, rather short-necked Brant is an attractive small goose with a black head, white necklace, and rich brown body brightening to white under the tail. They winter in flocks in bays, estuaries, and lagoons, where they eat eelgrass and other aquatic vegetation. They nest in the Arctic in wetlands thick with grasses and sedges. Flocks give pleasing calls reminiscent of Sandhill Cranes, and the sounds carry for long distances. All adult Brants have white markings on the neck, most pronounced in the "Black" Brant and least developed in the "Atlantic" Brant, though individuals show variation in the size of this necklace in all populations. A Canadian study found that individuals tended to pair with others that had similar amounts of white in the necklace. I have spent a little bit of time recently pursuing some of these wayward geese. In all cases, I have found intermingled with Canada Geese. So, when you see groups of Canada Geese, look carefully. You never know who you will see. See more

Out owling today. At dawn we struck out. At dusk we lucked out with this awesome Barred Owl.

Recently, I was on a photography tour of a few waterfront parks close to the GTA. I was rewarded with a collection of nice images that I will share over time. I was at Cranberry Marsh having just captured some shots of a White-tailed Deer. Rounding the corner onto the Lake Ontario beach, this beauty displayed in some rather pleasing light. Although it has a very distinctive red head, this bird is known as a Red-bellied Woodpecker, named after the red colouration on its breast.... Red-bellied are pale, medium-sized woodpeckers common in forests of the East. Their strikingly barred backs and gleaming red caps make them an unforgettable sight. A Red-bellied can stick out its tongue nearly 2 inches past the end of its beak. The tip is barbed and the bird’s spit is sticky, making it easier to snatch prey from deep crevices. Males have longer, wider-tipped tongues than females, possibly allowing a breeding pair to forage in slightly different places on their territory and maximize their use of available food. You may sometimes see Red-bellied wedge large nuts into bark crevices, then whack them into manageable pieces using their beaks. They also use cracks in trees and fence posts to store food for later in the year, a habit it shares with other woodpeckers in its genus. The golden autumn hues in the background of these images softens the bold plumage of the Red-bellied, a very striking bird. See more

A few weeks ago, I decided to make a your of some of the waterfront parks on the Lake Ontario shore in and around Toronto. I am pleased to have seen so many natural areas close to the largest city in Canada. Its teeming with wildlife. I was a Colonel Samuel Smith Park at the foot of Kipling Avenue in search of shore birds. It was approaching a beautiful sunset when I came across these little darlings as they were foraging for insects in the rocks on a rather blustery evening.... I have seen many of these Snow Buntings in the country where they travel in large numbers. I also observed solirary Buntings in Algonquin skimming across freezing waters. Cold and dark winter days come alive with the flurry of black-and-white Buntings tumbling in flight across barren fields and lakeshores. These restless birds flock up by the hundreds in winter, scattering across Canada and the United States. Buntings breed in the high Arctic among rocky crevices where their crisp white plumage blends in with the snowy landscape. In the winter they acquire rusty tones that help them blend in with their winter homes of bare ground and crop stubble. Unless you fancy a trip to the high arctic in summer, winter is the time to go looking for Buntings. Look for them in crop stubble and along lakeshores where debris forms a ring around the water's edge. When they forage they tend to crouch down and blend in extremely well with the ground; even if you don't think you see anything, give the ground a scan and look for movement. Snow Buntings are also restless during the winter and fly to a new spot every 10 minutes or so. Look for a flurry of black-and-white as they dash off to a new foraging spot. What's sweet in these images is the twilight sun reflecting on the rocks complimenting the Buntings plumage. See more