Spring is here because of flowers and pollinators

Last night, I was planning where to go today and considered taking the bus to Stony Swamp, a natural area southwest of Ottawa where photos of interesting animals are frequently shared on Facebook, such as Black-backed Woodpecker during the winter, porcupines, frogs, etc.  But the thought of the trip taking almost two hours, while it is located 15.6 km west of where I live, is kind of ridiculous (Ottawa transit system is quite poor compare to the Metro Vancouver transit system).  Anyways, I decided to walk to the bus station (via Sawmill Creek Constructed Wetland) and visit the Arboretum in the end.

Little did I know I would see several interesting things today.

First was this pair of Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) - first of the year!

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) singing for a mate.

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) - first flower of the year! [Thanks to two people who picked up on my mistake.  My brain is apparently still in hibernation mode.]


Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

Lone Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) male.

Another Song Sparrow.

While I was photographing the sparrow, I noticed a large bird flying overhead.  Looking up, it was an Osprey - another first!

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) overhead!

The Osprey flew and hovered around the creek a few times before flying further south.  Below is a sequence of the hovering action.

Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) not in their typical V formation.

Then I saw a woolly bear caterpillar crossing the bike trail.  I watched it cross the path safely before I go to the bus stop (and then to the O-Train station).

At the Arboretum, the first bird I saw was a Turkey Vulture flying overhead.

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)


Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus)

Spider on the pond.  I believe this is some species of Pirate Wolf Spider (Pirata sp.).


American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Besides the vulture, some robins, and several large flocks of waxwings, I did not see a lot of birds, probably because there were too many people and dogs running around.  I did see one butterfly, but it flew way too fast for me to track it.  As I disappointingly walked to a bus stop, I came across a patch of open flowers - the same patch I photographed exactly one year ago!

Beautiful Crocus flowers!  With busy honey bees!


Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

While looking at all the pollinators, one that stood out from the honey bees was a female Andrena sp. resting on a snowdrop.

So beautiful!  This female had enough of me photographing her and flew elsewhere afterwards.

Then I moved on to photographing this fly visiting flowers.

Then I spent almost an hour lying on the ground photographing honey bees.  Since I now have a better camera, I tried to use the C-AF tracking to photograph bees in flight.  I took a lot of photos, but only a few turned out all right.

Kind of lazy-looking.








Flying towards a flower with excitement!




Probably the best photo of the bunch.

Maybe I should make it a tradition and visit this patch again next year.  Great day overall.