We continue to see the mallards all summer here. They have gotten very habituated and often come up to us when we are sitting at the beach. In all the years we’ve lived by the lake, I have never seen a mallard duck eating a minnow. Usually we see them eating plant material, bugs, seeds, […]
This looks like it could be a “romantic” moment between the loons, but when I checked about loon behaviour, I found out that these loons are actually rivals, and are doing the circle dance. They slowly circle around each other, checking each other out. I saw them doing this quite a bit. Often one would […]
We have a lot of mallard ducks on our lake, and are quite used to seeing them. These pictures are of the males. In the springtime we see flocks of males. Their colours are brilliant at that time of year.
Recently a pair of loons built a nest in the small bay further down the lake from our place. It was a very special experience for us to see one so close. The problem was that the nest was so close to the shore and cottagers’ docks. We were concerned that it was not a […]
We have our two loons back again. This morning they were in the small cove in our lake, and I was able to get some pictures of them. One of the loons “stood up” and flapped its wings, which gave me the opportunity to take several pictures of it doing this. I put together the […]
It’s been interesting to see the Pine Siskins this winter as we have seen the most we have ever seen before. They usually come in a big flock of 20 or so. They remind us of chickens when they are crowded on to our window feeder. We aren’t seeing as many now, so we don’t […]
Brown Creepers are very difficult to spot. They blend in with the trees, and are hard to see. My husband spots them easier than I do. A brown creeper is about 5 inches in size, which is smaller than a nuthatch. They often look like a piece of bark from the difference. Brown creepers go […]
We’ve had a few goldfinches coming with the pine siskins. They are starting to get more colour. I enjoy their bright colours in the spring and summer, but they are beautiful at this time too. Their subtle colours at this time of year are beautiful too. We haven’t seen them very much, so it’s a […]
We’ve had a flock of pine siskins at our backyard feeder during the last couple of weeks. They are small and belong to the finch family. Adult pine siskins are brown. They have lots of brown streaks on their breasts, and the edge of their wings and tail are a subtle yellow. It is rare […]
We had a couple of purple finches visit our feeder today. They were in a flock of pine siskins and goldfinches. I haven’t seen any purple finches here for a long time. These pictures aren’t as sharp as I would like – I’m hoping they come back again soon.