I went looking for pollinators in London Heritage Farm today. But given the weather and the flowering conditions (almost zero), most of the honey bees I saw were sunning (when the sun was out briefly).
There is a sharing farm in the back with several private gardens. One of them was guarded by this toy Stegosaurus.
Bees need the sun to warm up their body.
A more natural background. I'm starting to like these little critters more and more.
There is also a small pond in the farm, and because it was small, it traps the birds when you stand at one side of it. When I was there, it was occupied by two Hooded Mergansers and a female Bufflehead. But they soon left and was taken over by a male Merganser.
These two mergansers are slightly different - one has a completely dark bill while one has a slightly yellowish bill. I think the dark-billed one is a male in non-breeding plumage (according to All About Birds).
Male Hooded Merganser?
Female Bufflehead
The only flowering tree in the farm and some flowers already dropping too.
Afterwards, I biked back towards to Finn Slough.
The birding condition was average - some sparrows (which I am glad to photograph today, especially because today is World Sparrow Day), some chickadees, some juncos, and lots of blackbirds.
Then I got to Finn Slough, and Number Four was napping.
While wondering I should take photos of the cloudy day, two dog owners walked by with their dog, Tango, far behind them.
Here's Tango doing what every dog does.
Sniffing along. Reminds me of Blackie back in Taiwan.
Here's the cloudy day picture.
And a Bald Eagle flew by with my landscape lens. One of the troubles of using a DSLR - inability to zoom in and out without changing lenses.Another week gone.
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