Post by rowanberry on Aug 19, 2018 12:15:51 GMT
I thought it might be a nice idea to have a thread for any wildlife seen whenever we go on holiday and see things we'd like to share the photos of.
I'll start it off by posting some of the things I saw when I went to Canada last month, (it's taken me this long to work my way through all the photos and edit them) but these were the best of them.
An adult North American robin, which is actually in the thrush family... first time I have seen one of the juveniles, (which at first I thought was a thrush) because they are so similar in colouring to our speckled blackbird fledglings!
A pair of Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) sitting on a powerline... these birds are amazing to watch- the number of insects they catch is incredible. They are nimble fliers, like swallows and spend a lot of time perching and watching until they spot something to catch, especially just before dusk. They also liked playing 'king of the castle' at the top of this tall conifer.
This little flycatcher (Empidonax minimus, I think) was not pleased I was sitting too close to her nest... I didn't see it at first, but it was hidden under the eaves of a near-by shed.
I didn't see a great many waterbirds, (I was hoping for a loon, but no luck) but there was a lot of gulls and terns about on the lake.
One thing there was a lot of were pelicans! Plenty of them flying overhead in flocks, which was often in an untidy 'V' formation. They don't call as they are flying, like geese to- which meant they often were already going out of sight by the time I spotted them.
I am not sure what sort of warbler this was... despite going through the bird identification book several times... the closest I could determine is it might be one called a Water thrush. It stayed hanging onto the reeds for ages, singing its heart out.
Not the sort of thing you want to see hanging over the car you've just stepped out of, but this hornets nest did seem to be fortunately vacant.
There were two of these, but I only managed to get photos of them one at a time. Lovely little things, and they become human-tolerant very quickly... especially when there are peanuts on offer!
I didn't see many insects other than grasshoppers. They were also in the middle of a dry-spell over there, (and still are... the Western provinces are desperate for rain) but there were a lot of these hopping about in the dry grass. This was quite a large one- nearly close to two inches in length.
Lots of orioles around, since the youngsters had just fledged. They LOVE grape jelly, and so it's possible to buy special jelly feeders, like this one.
There have been several studies done as to whether or not this is good for the birds, and researchers say that birds process sugar more efficiently than humans, so it's ok. People were getting worried about the quantities of jelly they can eat, but like the hummingbirds and sugar-water, it seems to do them no harm.
A North American red squirrel, having a rest. They are much smaller than the greys- similar in size to the British reds, only without the tufted ears.
I didn't see much of the larger wildlife, since where I was staying was more residential- but there were plenty of rabbits!
The Northern Flicker has to be my all-time favourite woodpecker... and difficult to photograph, since they are just as flitty as Greater Spotted ones are. This one was a juvenile- it would wait in the top of this dead tree for the parents to come and feed it, which made it easier to get a shot of it.
A North American goldfinch- pretty, bright yellow birds, that also like eating thistle seeds. They have a similar sort of warbling call to our goldfinches.
Scarlet keys on a red maple- the tree was covered in these, which made it look very autumnal.
I would like to have seen a beaver, but this was the best I could do! They had been very busy alongside of this stream.
Deer-crossing signs are everywhere, of course... someone took it upon themselves to give this one a bit of a festive embellishment.
A white-tailed doe... the size of her eyes! I did see several deer, and they were all does. The bucks have learned to keep themselves (and their antlers!) safely hidden back in the woods until after dark.
Not exactly the sort of thing anyone likes to discover wandering around in the back garden, but I was still pleased to get a photo of something not seen here. The scourge of every dog-owner, (inexperienced dogs just have to give chase... something they learn to never do again- the smell is truly horrific) skunks like living under sheds and outbuildings.
I was so happy to get to see a hummingbird! They are migratory and spend the summer further up north, so this one might be making an early start to her journey back south. This is a female Ruby-throated hummingbird, and she appeared on my last day there.
