White-breasted Nuthatch -Fall Colours

This White-breasted Nuthatch has been a regular in my yard this Fall. The red-breasted variety has been mostly absent which is a bit of a switch from recent past years.

 

Hermit Thrush

 

Eastern Phoebe

I was excited to find an Eastern Phoebe on October 1st. I realized pretty soon there were two birds in the same area. I wasn't happy with the photos from the first day so tried the following day with even less luck even though both birds were still around. By the 3rd day there were three birds at the same location and that is when I managed to get these shots. Third times the charm as they say.

 

Something Completely Different

 Snapping turtle from Spring of 2020 while trying to photograph Wood Ducks.

Green-winged Teals - Fall plumage

In the same pond as the Wood Ducks and the herons there were usually several if not dozens of Green-wing Teals. I have always been hesitant to put an s at the end of teal to indicate more than one but I guess that is the correct plural form. In any case the birds would tend to congregate there during high tide since the water in the river estuary was too deep to feed. The pond in effect was just a safe resting spot until the tide fell again. That all changed on October 8 when hunting season began and since that day I haven't seen a single bird in that spot. A few birds were starting to molt into breeding plumage but not any of those pictured here. It seems they are a little later in that regard than the Wood Ducks since they reach that stage by the first of October at the latest.

 

Juvenile Great Blue Herons

 Every Fall the number of Great Blue Herons in the area is higher than at any other time of the year. Many are juveniles, some will stay late and a few will try to over-winter. They tend to be better subjects for photography than the adults since they don't possess the fear of humans that the older birds have learned These images were captured a couple days apart at the same location. The first two of one individual on the first day.

Wood Ducks, Adults and Juveniles

 

Ermine/Weasel

Apparently there are at least 3 species of weasels that occur in eastern Canada and I'm not expert enough to identify which one this is. My uneducated guess would be Least Weasel. All I know is that what started as me pursuing this animal for a photograph turned into the weasel being as curious about me and checking me out from the crevasses in the rock pile it took shelter under. 

 

 

The Chase

 Juvenile Merlin and unidentified shorebird, possibly a Sanderling. After sunset, the falcon silhouetted against clouds still lit by the sun while the shorebird is against the part of the sky in earth's shadow. I just like the pastel colours in this image and the obvious story unfolding. 

Wood Ducks and Lily Pads

 

Semipalmated Sandpipers

 

Beaver Family

Just to mix things up a bit, something other than a bird.

 

Red Phalarope

 This species is a first for me. While I have seen the other two Phalarope species several times this bird had eluded me. There might have been an occasion or two where I saw this bird on a pelagic trip but I had never definitively identified it. I was photographing the shorebirds in the previous two posts when I noticed a bird head into the water. At first I thought that was kind of odd until I realized what it was. Both the Red and the Red-necked Phalaropes spend much of their time in the ocean, anybody who has done one of the many whale watching tours should be familiar with them. This one is in Fall plumage, someday maybe I'll get to see one in full breeding attire. 

Sanderlings

 

Red Knot

 

Dickcissel - August 22, West Head

 

Alder Flycatcher

 An unusual place to find an Alder Flycatcher, on the rocks at the end of West Head. I'm mostly guessing at the species here, the small flycatchers can be difficult to identify without hearing their calls. During migration they are mostly silent and sometimes they can show up in unusual places. As their name suggests they are mostly found in thickets, only venturing out to take insects on the wing and then returning to cover.