Robins ........

Brightly colored breast  ..... and pretty chubby too.

Turkey Buzzards ................

Not a lot of birds seen today but several groups of Turkey Buzzards found.  They are beautiful when they are soaring in the air, but oh so ugly up close.

A few birds around the Bertha Stewart Conservation area

and a Hawk, unimpressed with being disturbed ..... leaving

Less ducks again this week but still a couple of shots I liked .....

A seagull also caught my eye .......

 Lots of American Robins were foraging for food - no worms to be had yet

 3 Turkey Buzzards fighting over a racoon carcass

 This little beauty is a Hooded Merganser
 

  Female Canvassback

March 14th and not as many ducks in the river now

A busy day on the St Clair between Walpole Island and the Shell Dock - next 4 posts

To top off my day I came across a Hawk looking for lunch ....
A photographer friend from Michigan told me this is a Red-shouldered Hawk. My thanks to David Stimac for that - you should check out his we1 site - he takes amazing photographs   http://www.davidstimac.com/

There are also a lot of Swans on the St Clair. These are Tundra Swans (not Trumpeter Swans as I had thought).

 .... and these are the Mute Swans

Sadly I saw many ducks and a swan that had succumbed to either the lack of food, or the cold, perhaps a combination of both.

A couple more that I am not certain of but I shot a note off to a duck photographer who I am sure will know what they are ......

Looks like a Red-Breasted Merganser

 Possibly a Ring-Necked duck

 These Canvasback's were keeping their eye on me even though they were resting.

This is a pair of Common Goldeneye's

Some of the males appeared to be performing little snippits of mating rituals, I think.

Mallards at Sombra ferry

Friday 28th Feb I spent a very entertaining hour watching Mallards land, slide, and chase corn cobs on a sheet of ice that looked just like glass. I should have taken a video because stills just don't show how hard it was for them to keep their footing.

....... and in the end he walked back, so nonchalontly

This was free-for-all over a corn cob - a bit like street hockey

They look like they are huddling together to stay warm but the corn cob is under there somewhere.

A closer look at Ducks ........

I often go looking at other people's blog sites to see what they are seeing and photographing.
One of my favorites is Burg Birder, who has given me much inspiration over the last year.
My last visit sparked my interest in the Ducks and Water-fowl that are in such numbers this Winter in the St Clair river - and I am so glad I did ...........

I am only just learning to identify Ducks so feel free to correct any mistakes you see.Hopefully I will learn how to get closer to them and get better photographs in the future. Click on them to make them bigger.


This shot was at the Government Docks, near Sarnia Bay.

The 2 black and white's at the front are Bufflehead's and flying above them (I think) are 2 Redheads. Behind them a lot of Mallards and a few more Redheads

At the back, the topmost one is a Canvassback

Mustn't forget the 'locals'

With the appearance of 'exotic visitors', we shouldn't forget the locals that we see all the time ...

The Seagulls are true survivors and don't share their teritory with each other let alone with newcomers. I watched as one of them started pecking at a pair of white swans - much bigger than it was - be=ut the swans soon decided there were plenty of other fishing holes and flew off downriver.

Bald Eagles on St Clair River, Lambton County

They really are impressive creatures. This appears to be an immature male (neck feathers not yet turned white)
The bottom pic is zoomed in closer and shows what I think is a duck it has caught (unfortunately the bird is not too clear)

Racoon

Driving down Tecumseh I spotted a ball of fir out of the corner of my eye. It was about 5 feet off the ground in a very flimsy tree.
I went back and sure enough, it was a Racoon, trying to stay warm I imagine - not easy in 25F temps with a 40 kph wind.

My first Snowy

Found this one going down Tecumseh Line ..... just beautiful :)

7 Jan / 2014

A group of Snow Buntings. These are beautiful birds to see, unfortunately not a sharp pic.

Horned Larks (sorry no horns). This is close to the northern edge of their year-round habitation.

and a Hawk

7th January 2014 ..... AT LAST !!!

I finally saw one of the Bald Eagles that so many people are talking about. Several were sitting on the ice about halfway accross the St Clair river.
A little later I caught this (poor) photo of one circling over Corunna.

6th Dec - Pigeons

 

.. an interesting colour selection in this flock of pigeons