A bit of mixed bag today, but I'm making the most of the relatively dry weather. The highlight was a flock of Canada geese flying over farmland early this morning.
They weren't the only birds around, but it's especially nice to spot one of the smaller water birds. This little grebe was busy diving for food, only occasionally pausing on the surface.
At the other end of the size scale is the grey heron, even juveniles. This one posed happily on the far bank.
Back home I've been gathering more night footage of the badgers (as well as our numerous foxes) and I'll post some soon. For now, a relatively rare appearance from Shutterbug, keeping the foxes on the front page of the blog. He came by early this evening, and for once was in a relatively companionable mood. Most times recently he's simply walked through the garden without paying us any attention at all. His winter coat is now looking near its seasonal best.
Camera note: all birds taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Fox photographed with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.
gdare
1 Nov 2012Canada geese… they call them evil over here 😛
derWandersmann
1 Nov 2012Nice shots of the geese, Words … common as dirt over here, of course, since they've begun wintering over in large numbers. It's the open water that attracts them, and then, people will feed them (and of course, then they complain about the goose-poop all over. Sigh!). Still, they're wonderful flyers, and beautiful birds. I reckon you pays yer money, and ya takes yer choice.
I occasionally see a grebe around here, but not often. Herons, on the other hand, are relatively common … great blues, not many greys, and an occasional brown. We do, occasionally, see cranes, but I haven't seen any for a few years.
Shutterbug is looking very well, indeed … I suppose some of the bulk is caused by his winter coat, but he looks like he's put on some weight.
gdare
1 Nov 2012😆
derWandersmann
1 Nov 2012They poop all over your cities too, eh?
SittingFox
1 Nov 2012The dabchick is definitely a nice find – they're so easily overlooked. Shutterbug is looking good.
Wulpen
1 Nov 2012Very nice Pict
Words
2 Nov 2012Adele, the grebes are frequent sightings at Seven Sisters, if you can spot them. Small, brown and under the water more often than not.
Words
2 Nov 2012Darko, that's fair enough. I imagine they are even less well tolerated than our herring gulls.
Words
2 Nov 2012Erwin, thanks!
Words
2 Nov 2012dW, we've got quite a number of Canada geese here as well, though nothing like the size of flocks that you must have. We don't see any blue herons, just the smaller grey; and cranes are rare sightings.
Shutterbug is in his winter garb, and no doubt putting on some fat for winter.
ICU109
8 Nov 2012nice shots of the geese, have them all over here in Port Huron, Michigan. Thought they came over from Sarnia Ontario, imagine them carpooling across the Blue Water Bridge lol! Nice pics of Shutterbug against the black bg stands out well, nice coloring of coat.
Words
9 Nov 2012Kathy, I would think our flocks are fairly small compared with what you must get.
derWandersmann
10 Nov 2012She (and I) are in the Mississippi Flyway, if memory serves.
ICU109
18 Dec 2012http://conservation.audubon.org/mississippi-flyway
interesting site.
here is map site- cuts right thru Port Huron.
http://www.birdnature.com/mississippi.html
ICU109
18 Dec 2012wow, never heard of that but birds do have their flight paths they stick to. GPS in their brains.
derWandersmann
18 Dec 2012When I was a kid (and the land was colder), there was 'way less open water all winter, so most of them didn't winter over. You'd get flocks of hundreds and thousands, usually too high for any but the biggest guns, in vee-after-vee-after-vee, all honking back and forth to each other … with the tan long grass and reeds, the ice, and the occasional tree, you'd swear you were back at the opening of the Pleistocene. Magnificent! I'll never forget it.
ICU109
18 Dec 2012yes ahh, global warming. Some say the Saint Clair River used to freeze over in winter 100 years ago so one could walk to Sarnia, Ontario. before the days of the Blue Water Bridges' first span which was exactly like the old bridge in this pic:
here is Blue Water first span:
I noticed this while watching the movie "What Lies Beneath" made I think in 98 in this scene from the film:
ICU109
18 Dec 2012I was like, DAMN That's MY Bridge!! WTF!!
However, theirs came down in 09:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=f350c76c-b438-42f6-be78-18d631bcee01
Ours added a second span I think early 90s:
new span blocking old, but lights at night on new span are magnifinent indigo:
opened in 97 actually: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Water_Bridge