Tuesday 16 October 2012

Watch the birdie!

Black-throated Blue Warbler, Female
Female black-throated blue warbler. The little white patch on her wing is how you tell her apart from all the other little warblers out there.

There was a bit of an extended detour on my trip from Spark Box Studio back to my sister-in-law's home to go birding at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory, and what a worthwhile trip it was!

Ruby-crested Kinglet, Male
Male ruby-crested kinglet.

I added several species to my life list, including the two above. Tried to get a good picture of the little ruby-crested kinglet's ruby crest, which is hidden on top of his head, but was unsuccessful. Cute little guy though, isn't he?

Bird nets
Bird nets.

We then took a bit of a walk through the nature preserve, where we were assaulted by mosquitos. The first trail we took led us to a series of nets where the birds are captured. This one has had the birds removed from it already -- they are placed in fabric bags and then taken back to the banding station -- and the net is rolled down to retrieve them easily.


Birds waiting to be banded.

A still picture can be wonderful, but for something like this, you really need to see the video. The birds have been collected from the nets and are waiting to be banded, but if you didn't know this before hand, you might get a little creeped out wondering what the heck is inside those bags!

Eastern garter snake
Eastern Garter Snake.

Not just birds call the reserve home. This eastern garter snake slithered past us and I was suprised to actually get a good picture. For something the size of an ordinary pencil, they move really fast.

Osprey
Osprey.

We saw this osprey fly into the tree with the fish still wriggling in its talons, and stood and watched as lunch was quickly devoured.

Wish we could have been there in the evening, as October is the prime time for banding the northern saw-whet owls that pass through, but that gives me another great excuse to go back to Prince Edward County.

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