Wildlife at Home, the Wetlands and Lakeside Park

The 9th of May saw the temperature drop down to freezing! The soft and squishy waterlogged ground surrounding Shoemaker Lake that could previously only be traversed with the aid of rubber boots had now been transformed into a soft toffee type substance with a thin icy crust. My first thoughts were, what is going to happen to all of the birds that depend on insects to feed? Well, this American Robin had a backup plan. I'm guessing that the seeds of Staghorn Sumac are not the favourite food item for American robins, but in times of need, they are always there. The yellow-rumped warblers were still somehow managing to find insects to feed on. The kinglets also, although they are more adapted to hunting for food in much colder temperatures. And quite to my amazement I actually saw a hummingbird. We had a mixture of snow and hail over the course of the day. The next photo shows a hermit thrush with snowflakes falling around it. Moving on to Sunday which was almost a...

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 ...

I never know what I'll find when I go to Lakeside Park, and sometimes it isn't what I find, rather what finds me. Partly hidden behind the woodland's latticework of twigs and fallen branches, this coyote knew I was there. It could definitely hear my clumsy rubber boots and with the wind coming from behind me, it also had the advantage of scent, but it hadn't seen me yet. I knew that I only had a few moments, if that, to capture some photographs. My autofocus struggled, as did the coyote's sight, to cut through all of the obstructions between us, but I did somehow manage a few shots before the coyote disappeared into the undergrowth.  The unexpected often catches me unprepared. A little earlier in the morning, I was attempting to take a photo of the first migratory warbler that I have seen this year, a yellow-rumped warbler. The warbler would not sit still for an instant, and in the course of attempting to relocate the warbler, I was entirely ta...