Wildlife at Home, the Wetlands and Lakeside Park

For a week or so now I have been aware of an unusual croaking noise coming from way up high in the trees. I had been unable to locate the owner of the croaking. And even though the sound did appear to move from tree to tree, I never saw any movement, or was that perhaps because it was one communicating with another?  Some kind of tree frog maybe, or was I possibly starting to lose my mind? I was not going crazy and I did finally catch up with the owner of the croaking noise a few days ago, more by chance than anything else. I was in position, neatly hidden in the undergrowth as I waited for a northern flicker to return to its nesting hole. And then I saw it, partially hidden, high up in the leaves of a willow tree. It possessed a really long tail that was broken with patches of white, a curved beak and a definitive line under its eye separating the colours on its head. The only bird that sprang to mind of being anything remotely like that was a bee-eater, but that was impossible....

I had meant to publish these images on my last post, but I felt that it was already getting pretty full. We have had goslings at Lakeside Park for a few days now. They are so cute and fluffy and they do have the ability to make people stop in their tracks to take a photo or two on their cell phone or camera. I am no different from anyone else in that respect, but it seems that every morning I am given better photos, so here are my best and cutest so far. After their breakfast, this group of five goslings huddled together and were soon joined by their mother who snuggled up to them and then covered her goslings with her wing for safety as they took an early morning nap. Not to be outdone by the goslings at Lakeside Park, we also have cute ducklings. The warbler migration is now in full swing, and that can be attested to by the numbers of birdwatchers and photographers who are also migrating to Lakeside Park and who are at times outnumbering the warblers. It is good ...

We have experienced some really changeable weather of late. From grey overcast days with cold winds that made everyone wrap up again in their winter clothes to warm and beautifully sunny days which gave the illusion that summer is finally here. There has been plenty of activity at Lakeside Park, but I am falling a little behind with my posts and that is purely down to how much time I have to process the images I have been taking. I'll try to recap, starting from the second of May with a pair of Canada geese flying down from the lake to Shoemaker Creek. As you can see it was really overcast. And from the same grainy day, a swamp sparrow sang out at the edge of the reed beds at the top of Shoemaker Lake. Now on to the third of May which really contrasted to the previous day in regards to temperature and visibility. The bright sunlight added a splash of colour to this female red-winged blackbird. Not that it was needed at all, but the strong morning sunlight also l...