Wildlife in Peterborough - Redpoll, Osprey, and Mink

Our maple sap-collecting concluded yesterday after spending almost 12 hours boiling the sap we collected for the past weeks.  It was quite an experience, and I will never again under-appreciate how precious maple syrup is. 

In the morning, looking out the back porch, I saw little birds jumping around the branches, so I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos.

I think it is a Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea) because of the streaked rump and pattern of streaks on undertail coverts (from other photos not shown here), as oppose to Hoary Redpoll.  Cute birds.

Good wildlife-watching day; Bad photography day

Life sometimes like to play funny tricks on you. For example, today is incredibly cloudy and a bad day for photography, but yet I saw so many cool critters, e.g. Muskrat, lots of raptors, Mink(! - no photo). Sigh, blurry photos will still serve as a good day.

First, I saw a Muskrat eating vegetation in the ditch. First Muskrat of the year!

Definitely not a Wordless Wednesday - Heron up-close and American Mink again!!!

My story began when I biked across the bridge towards the Terra Nova Natural Area. Looking to my left, a young heron was just across from the deck!

So close!

Not wanting to startle the heron and missing the opportunity to photograph it up-close, I parked my bike on the grass and slowly walked towards it.

Getting closer.

Mink in Richmond (2008-09-27)!

On September 27 (Saturday), I was out again biking along the dyke in Terra Nova. When I passed the golf course, I heard unusual duck quacks. Looking down at the ditch, I saw these birds swimming and quacking quite seriously, as if they were chasing something.

So I looked ahead of this angry group and that's when I saw it. A dark-bodied mammal of some sort, and at first I thought it was a squirrel. But then I don't think squirrel are such able swimmers.

Never seen any other wild mammals in Richmond besides squirrels, rabbits, and rats, I was quite excited and incompetent in identifying this mysterious creature, so I quickly took these pictures.

With the ducks still behind it, the creature quickly went onto land and poked its head about. And then it disappeared into bushes. I saw it again on my return trip (or heard it first as it jumped into the water causing the ducks to start quacking again), but I was too late again in taking pictures.


When I got back home and checked with my field guide and the internet, I am pretty sure I just observed an American Mink (Mustela vison) with the brown body. I wished I saw the whiteness under its chin and throat to solidly confirm what I saw, but these pictures were the best evidence that I had.

This animal is common along shoreline of waterways and lakes, but is rarely seen. It is a predator for aquatic birds, mammals, fish, and frogs, so I guess that's why the Mallards were ganging up to scare away this potential predator.

According to The Biodiversity of Richmond, a mink was sighted in Richmond Nature Park in 2005, but it was unconfirmed. Well, at least, I have photo evidence this time, poor ones at that. Hooray!
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