Merganser Sighting


Another overcast morning saw my futile attempts at photographing the arctic tern hunting. I'm not sure why this is so engaging, perhaps the almost impossibility of it all in this light. I did though happen to catch a great blue heron in flight as it headed for the tree tops. There were three great blue herons at the lake this morning:


It was during my apparent time-wasting with the tern that I spotted something in the middle of the lake which did not look like a mallard or a Canada goose. Here is the first photo from the seated area of Lakeside Park:


I initially thought it was a grebe of which we had two this spring, the horned and pied-billed, but identifying would have to wait until I returned home. It moved further out as I tried to snap a few more photos and so I decided to move to the trail side of the lake. The light shimmered on the ripples on the lakes surface from that side:


We played a game of tag over the length of the lake, back and forth, swatting at the mosquitoes as I tried to keep out of sight. I again shot a lot of photos just to be sure I at least had something:


Not a great deal of detail in any of my shots with the light coming from behind and the distance to my subject, and that is why I haven't cropped down quite as far as usual:


Once home, I drew a blank as far as grebes went. I had to use my merlin app on my tablet and there it was, a common merganser. The first of which I have seen at Lakeside Park:


I'll finish off with another kingfisher photo. The juveniles I am finding to be much more hospitable than their parents:


Copyright © wildlakeside.blogpot.com 2019 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.

Location: Lakeside Park, 206 Lakeside Dr, Kitchener, ON N2M 4C5, Canada

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