Wildlife at Mud Lake

Before checking out the blossoms at Lincoln Fields today, I was at Mud Lake watching birds.  One of the first birds I saw was this singing Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), which I think is a lifer for me.

Singing away.


I saw another one later in the day surrounded by flies.

One recent common sighting at Mud Lake is the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo).


Here is the male less than ten metres away.




Is it weird to think a creature is ugly and handsome at the same time?


Crouching turkey.

A child amazed by an Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus).


Another chipmunk.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) nesting on a beaver dam.

The trail around Mud Lake is temporary blocked off by the construction of the wooden bridge.  At the end of that western half of the trail was a Great Egret (Ardea alba).

Taking off!

Handsome.

Found a Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) in the forest.

A male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) taking off the wings of an aquatic insect (a mayfly perhaps) and enjoying the fleshy body.

A mystery bird high up in the trees.  My labmate thinks it may be a female Baltimore Oriole.


Male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa).




Look at the metallic sheen on the female's wing feathers.










A Flatheaded Poplar Borer (Dicerca tenebrica) flew into me in the forest.  Had I known it was a pest (to aspen trees) at the time, I probably would not have let it go freely.








A whiteface dragonfly (Genus Leucorrhinia) whose identity I am not quite certain (because there was a spider web between me and the dragonfly).

As I re-start the trail from the northeastern end, the first thing I saw was a parent goose with at least ten gooslings.

Nearby was an even larger family - two adults with 30 gooselings!

Here are just some of the gooslings and one of the parents.


Very dinosaur-like (i.e., like one of those duck-billed dinosaurs).


Adorable!


Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

A male American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) - lifer!

Nearby was a female.  Not sure if they are a pair or not.

Female taking off.

Then I somehow ended up in a different place than I was expecting (i.e., the other side of the wooden bridge construction), but then I saw this Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) and Lincoln Fields in distance.

Here is a list of the (identifiable) birds I saw today (and probably many more that I did not identify):
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Gray Catbird
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Canada Goose
- Mallard
- Wood Duck
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Wild Turkey
- Great Egret
- Black-crowned Night Heron
- Ring-billed Gull
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- American Robin
- Northern Cardinal
- European Starling
- Common Raven
- Common Grackle
- Eastern Kingbird
- American Goldfinch
- Yellow Warbler
- American Redstart
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Lincoln's Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Mourning Dove