Bluffers Park with Ann

Ann and I met up at Bluffers Park just after 4 pm. I won the race down the hill and she showed her maturity by sticking her tongue out at me after we parked. It's on!

We went along the west side and saw...nothing. No turtles, no beaver, no night herons. We got pretty excited when we saw a robin so it wasn't looking good, even though the robin was adorable.

We kept going because I wanted to show her the Canada goose on the nest, and as I approached it I was horrified because there was some green thing on her neck. I thought it was garbage of some sort but it was a band:

That really bugs me because it's so big but they do this for a reason, it just seems way too invasive to me. We walked over to the boat launch and go figure, a second Canada goose with a green band was swimming around:

What we really wanted to see was the long-tailed ducks, and they didn't disappoint:

Buffleheads wouldn't come too close:

Beautiful Mallards:

Beautiful swan:

Complaining gull:

Canada Goose:

Sharp-shinned hawk on the east side of the park:

Around the Scarborough Bluffs

I had a pretty quiet work day today so between dog walks I went down to Bluffers Park. I'd run into my friends Pat and Nancy earlier and they told me there were Night Herons on the west side along the bluffs. Here is what I saw in a few different parts of the Bluffs today, click on each shot to make it bigger if you wish:

A Brown Thrasher. I didn't get a clear shot because he went into the branches and was gone really quick.

A male Downy Woodpecker:

Male red morph Eastern Screech owl who gets cuter every time I see him!

A male Gadwall (thanks Lev!)

Two Night Herons in flight!

Double-Crested Cormorant:

Turtles, turtles rah rah rah, turtles, turtles ha ha ha!

The Night Herons landed on some fences but I couldn't get too close. Their eyes are orange/brown:

The three of them flew into a tree:

A female Canada Goose on eggs. I saw a solitaire Canada Goose swimming nearby and figure it was the male. Needless to say I didn't stick around.

How smart are they? The Bluffs are so steep where they were climbing and it took them a while to get to the top.

A couple more of the Herons before they flew off:

ShenANNigans!

It seems that no matter who goes out on wildlife adventures with Ann, something funny happens. Tonight was one of those nights.

We met up at the park because we wanted to see the screech owls flying around, calling each other, and possibly mating. Screech owls rarely fly during the day so you have to go at night. So there we were, watching the owls, waiting for dark to arrive and finally we saw them take flight. We heard them calling each other, the male with typical tremolos, the female with a freaky tremolo that almost sounded like morse code. I think she was telling him to get a move on and find her dinner!

Soon after, we heard one of them in a pine tree and the other showed up. Within seconds we heard "cheepcheepcheepcheep" and knew they mated. We made some juvenile jokes and started to walk to the cars.

We were alone in the park and we were looking for the other owls while talking, so we were on high alert, almost like the owls were except our heads couldn't swivel all the way around. Suddenly we heard this really loud noise out of the blue behind us and we yelled and started to run. Turns out it was a kid on a skateboard! We thought it was a killer who was stalking us, or even worse, an owl getting revenge for being photographed so much!

The awesomeness of owls

Over the past few years, a group of birding friends has been following the trials and tribulations of 2 pair of Eastern Screech Owls in a local park.  The original pair has been there for at least 5 years and the newer pair for 3.  Of course, they could have been there long before we discovered them...

There is something so mysterious about owls that you don't see with other birds.  Part of it is their swivel head that seems to be held up by a pipe cleaner instead of a neck.  The thing that is mesmerizing with Screech owls is their calls, they don't hoot like other owls and they only occasionally screech, most of the time they tremolo, sometimes it sounds like they're meowing and other times they whinny like a horse.  They're tiny birds, maybe as tall as a robin but they can stretch themselves out and when they look at you, it's so intense and ferocious that it will make you take a step or five back!

Unlike most birds, their eyes are in front of their face like a human's.  It almost looks like a human face trapped behind a mask.  Screech owls don't fly during the day unless they're threatened.  Males will fly and hunt during the day when babies need feeding since the female stays in the nest, otherwise, they mostly stay hidden in pine, spruce or cedar trees.  Sometimes they'll be in a hole in a tree and a passerby won't even notice because they blend in so well with bark.

Tonight, a number of us met at the park about an hour before dusk.  The owls made their haunting tremolo calls and then flew out of the pine tree and into a bare maple.  A few minutes later and the male took off while the female waited.  We stood back and within a minute or two, the male returned with a small bird which the female tore apart.  Gross, yes, but it's nature and the term "cruelty free living" is not in their vocabulary!  After her meal they flew to a few more trees before mating for no more than 2 seconds and then they flew apart again.  We left after all that entertainment, but will definitely be back to see them.

If you'd have told me 5 years ago that we had owls in Toronto, I would have pointed and laughed.  Never did I think I'd regularly see 4 owls within 5 minutes, and if we have babies that number could easily triple!

Update: While I'd love to tell you where the owls are, I can't. The "bird paparazzi" as many of us call them get crazy when they find out certain exciting birds are around. We love sharing the owls but feel the need to protect them because of baiters (photographers who bring feeder mice to get the birds to hunt so they can get an action shot) or idiots who go right up to their faces and use a flash in the owls' eyes. One charmer used an external flash in the face of the baby owls a couple of years ago on their first full day outside the nest. Newsflash to people like him: When people get their picture taken they expect the flash, owls don't. We can't warn them that powerful light is going to hit their eyes. Then there is the other brainiac who posted a picture on a large, national weather site and told people where the birds were. The paparazzi showed up in large numbers but by that time, the owls had hidden themselves quite well and we just lied whenever someone with a camera asked where the owls were.

We have to respect these birds. So often they are sitting right out in the open, sunning themselves. Watch them from a distance and don't crowd them. You wouldn't like it if someone came up to you and snapped a shot of your face without warning and the owls don't like it either.

End of rant.

Ravens chasing snowies and snowies being sneaks!

Chris and I went out for a few...okay several hours today.  We left at around 8 am, had an adventurous time at the gas station consisting of an overflowing gas tank, washing windows with a faulty squeegee, giving up and getting a car wash and a panic attack over a possibly forgotten camera battery.  Once that was all sorted out we headed northwest of Toronto in search of wildlife. 

We knew there were snowy owls in one area and it was my time to prove that I was no longer wildlife repellent.  The pressure was on, but since we had a lot of time on our hands I had a feeling good things would happen.  Click on any photo to enlarge:

Could he be cuter?  See ya!

Check out the nails!

Their wingspan is 4.5 to 5.5 feet wide. 

We started to drive around and were happy to see snow.  We haven't had much snow at all this winter and this field was pristine:

We couldn't figure out what this machine was doing.  I thought he was getting a jump on spring planting but he was ploughing a snowmobile trail:

Ugh, the hay is STILL in the barn:

Snow buntings were next but we couldn't get too close:

And another snowy!

As we were admiring the snowy we heard croaking.  We turned around and saw a Common Raven chasing a white bird...which turned out to be another snowy!!

That was so exciting!  We didn't expect to see a raven, let alone one that brought us another snowy!  And even better, a few minutes later we saw a second raven!

We thought it was an eagle initially but weren't disappointed that it was a raven. 

Our final snowy took off and flew across the field:

But wait!  After I got home and was checking out my pictures, look at who was on the top, right corner:

Snowy number 7!!!  Actually it was #5 because we saw #6 perched on a pole and #7 in a field after we started heading back.  But without the picture we would never have noticed.  I had him in a couple of pictures and Chris did as well. 

What a fun day!  This was my first full weekend off in years, I rarely get a day off let alone a full weekend so it was nice of the birds to co-operate!

Last day and the flight home!

It was raining again but I've had no complaints about the weather.  Every time I go to Vancouver I end up with spectacular weather so a bit of rain won't hurt.  I took my DSLR for one final walk along the sea wall and another trip to Stanley Park, followed by a trip to Vanier Park to see the eagles one last time.

The boats and ships were out on the water:

My eagle friend made one final appearance but was unsuccessful in catching any birds while I was there.  They scattered and chased it away:

The sun rose and the fog started to burn off:

The great blue heron decided to show off its flying skills:

Watch out, gull!

And a final trip to see my eagles at Vanier Park.  Ms Vanier, you are gorgeous!

As we were walking over to Granville Island, a crow was chasing the male back to his nest:

And that's it!  Now, a few pictures from the air:

Bye Vancouver, see you next time!