Wildlife around Mud Lake - lifers!

This morning I brought my mother to Mud Lake, which she thought was the nicest place in Ottawa I showed her so far.

The first bird that welcomed us was this American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis).

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.

International Migratory Bird Day (2016)

Today is the International Migratory Bird Day, and here in Ottawa, there was an event at Brewer Park that included bird banding, birds-of-prey show, and guided walks around the park.

I was there mostly for the birds-of-prey, which was presented by the same organization from the Science by Night ten days ago; therefore, I had already seen three of the four birds.  But at least this time the birds were outside and able to show off their flying skills.

The new bird was Fergus the Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus), a bird found in southern US and Mexico.

Arboretum and UV photography

For the past two days, I attended the annual Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology (OCIB) Symposium at Carleton University.  Yesterday, I went for a walk at the Arboretum after lunch.

Mourning Cloak visiting willow flowers.

Assorted photos from the weekend at school

This weekend, I was at school proctoring a final exam and grading lab reports.  Not fun but just something that always had to be done at the end of each semester.  I brought my camera and tried to take some photos when I go outside for a break.

I found a relatively interesting staircase inside the Faculty of Social Sciences Building.

View from the bottom.

Wood Ducks on Rideau River

Another warm and sunny day today.  I walked over to Strathcona Park during lunchtime to see what I could photograph, such as the flying gulls, cormorant, etc.  The only decent photos I ended with were of a pair of beautiful Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) swimming on the Rideau River.

Bird-watching on long Easter weekend

I hope everyone is having a good long Easter weekend thus far.  My Easter weekend involved bird-watching and spending time with new friends (humans, birds, and one dog).  Here are bird pictures from different places.

Strathcona Park

Male Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)

Mud Lake, Ottawa revisited

Given that school begins tomorrow and I now have a valid bus pass, I decided to go to Mud Lake today to do some wildlife-watching before the hectic school semester begins.  The last time I was there was almost nine months ago, so everything are different now, especially temperature-wise.  To read more about the different types of wildlife one can encounter at Mud Lake at different times of the year, read this post at the blog The Pathless Wood.

A true summer (sunny, hot, and humid) day today.

Audubon Park, New Orleans

This is will the final post from my New Orleans trip.  I presented my research on Wednesday (July 31) afternoon and we left New Orleans the following morning, so Tuesday was my last opportunity to explore New Orleans.

Based on the recommendation from one of my supervisors, I woke up extra early on Tuesday morning and took the streetcar through the famous Garden District and arrived at Audubon Park to do some wildlife-watching.

The first thing I saw at the park was this beautiful garden and fountain.  There were some Monarch butterflies visiting the flowers and I was planning on taking some photos, but there was a strange individual talking to himself so I gave up on that idea.

Raccoon Family at Lost Lagoon

I accompanied my mother to downtown Vancouver today to pick up prizes that she had won from a local newspaper contest.  Afterwards, while it was still early, we decided to bus to Stanley Park and walked around the Lost Lagoon.  According to this post (the photos from that post have all been taken down by the server, sorry), the last time I was there was more than three years ago!?

Anyways, today was a nice day to be out - although there were too many people to our likings.

Several Mute Swans around the lagoon.

First time to Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary: Part 1

This morning was the first time that I been to the infamous Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island. I had heard nothing but exciting encounters from friends and family, and I finally get a chance to see it for myself today. Such a memorable moment.

The weather today was kind of nice, so there were plenty of people there, ranging from families to amateur naturalists to professional photographers. The parking lot was full when we got there before noon - full of car and full of Mallards. Many parking spots were in fact taken by lazy Mallards, so I had to get out of the car and "encourage" the mallards to move along while my family parked the van.

The whole sanctuary was in fact overran by mallards. None of them were afraid of humans, and they were either following you for food or flying right over your head for a sudden landing.

Since I saw and photographed many birds, I will just post the photos and leave it at that.

American Coot (Fulica americana). Note their interesting lobed toes (compared to gallinules for the rest of their relatives in the Family Rallidae).

Sleepy Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). Couldn't get a clear face shot because they were too far away and they are mainly nocturnal feeders.

I believe they are male House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) still in their breeding plumage. They can be identified by their black bib and black bill.

On the other hand, the female House Sparrow is best identified by their buffy eye stripe and unstreaked breast.

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis).

The acrobatic and highly vocal Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus).

A beautiful male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) that flew onto this trunk just to pose for me. Thank you, sire!

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). The glossy black male on the left, and the first-year male on the right.

The always magnificent-looking Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)! I believe this is one of the best photos that I have taken with both the male and female so perfectly positioned. Just this photo makes my day.

First-time seen Golde-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa). I identified it mainly by the color of its crown. I didn't even know that I had taken a picture of it until I sort through the pictures. What a lucky find!

I also observed a Bald Eagle and many Sandhill Cranes flying above me in the sky, but I was too late in taking pictures, such a shame. Anyways, many more photos to come tomorrow (Part 2). Stay tuned!

By the way, I watched the PBS's "Nature" television series on American Eagle tonight. Great footages and stories, although watching them swooping down on coots made me kind of sad because I really enjoyed the coots today. But hey, it's all a part of life. A preview video of tonight's episode can be seen here. I would love to have the chance to see so many of them up close at the same time, perhaps at Brackendale this winter?
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Perching Wood Duck

Another gorgeous day to check out the dyke.

While I was by the golf course, I spent quite a while admiring this particular male Wood Duck "perching" on a acorn tree. Even though they are described as a "perching duck" ("Cairininae" or "Cairinini") with specialized sharp claws for perching and nesting in trees, it was quite entertaining to watch these guys leap from tree branch to branch with their somewhat awkward technique (compare to the graceful Passerines). First of all, these guys are heavy, unlike the lightweight sparrows, chickadees, or even crows. So when they fly onto a branch, gravity tends to act on their weight and they fell until they are somewhat stuck on a lower branch. Overall, it was just a riot to watch these guys try over and over again, until this one guy gave up and flew back onto the water. I wonder why evolution has left them this way because they seem to do better on water than tree.

While this particular Wood Duck was struggling on the tree, it brought down many of acorns, leaves, and whatnots, causing a feeding frenzy for the mallards below the tree.

And since today's Sunday, quite a large crowd came to check out the Snow Geese.
And the autumn colors totally made these trees look like they are on fire! Amazing!

Overall, just a beautiful day today!

Man and heron.

Dark-eyed Junco and Starlings

Bike ride to the dyke.

Such a clear and beautiful day today, except that it was very chilly and windy near the dyke. Most of the ducks were huddling around and staying still to keep warm. But the Wood Ducks for some reason are quite active today and very approachable.

Twice today, two bald eagles were directly hovering on top of me. Being the clumsy and easily-wowed person that I am, I didn't pull out my camera fast enough to snap some pictures. Shoot!

I also came across this lightly-colored waterfowl. I am not sure if it's a variation of female mallard or not.

The most interesting sighting of the day was probably coming up close with a small group of Snow Geese. They are indeed truly beautiful and powerful birds. Spending time just admiring them made me think how stupid the city's plan is of getting rid of them. Perhaps we can collect the goose dung and use them as natural fertilizers or something. I am pretty sure a twice-in-a-year thing isn't too hard to handle for people.

Today is also just a great day of simply admiring the beautiful autumn season.

Sunday's busy exploration

On Sunday, I went to the Minoru Lake to see what kind of waterfowls I can see there. Not surprisingly, I saw many Canada Geese, Mallards, Wigeons, and Wood Duck, which I finally took one decent photo of. Hooray!!

I also came across a strange hybrid which I guess is a mix between a (female) mallard and something - perhaps a male goose?

Now, the surprising part was coming across a couple of rabbits running around and munching on carrots. I am not sure if there are owners out walking these animals or are they just abandoned pets, but then who gave them the carrots? I know there was a bunny situation on several farms in Richmond several years ago, but I haven't been following up on that story in a while. I just hope this current bunny population doesn't escalate to the ones observed in UVic, otherwise the city would have another case of high animal abundance situations (beside the Snow Geese situation) and this one would be permanent. I really wish people would think about the potential consequences before buying pets that they aren't going to care for in a while.

As I was looking around, I came across this mosquito landing on a flower petal which I thought was neat.

Another interesting observation was meeting this funny-looking Eastern Gray Squirrel with a proportionally short bushy tail (which totally defies the meaning Scuridae if it does not have a bushy tail). It probably lost part of its tail due predation, competition, or naturally. As I was leaving, it gave me some great Spider-man poses too. What a interesting fellow.

Then in the afternoon, I biked to the dyke to look around, I saw the same cat from Saturday again. This time not looking lost but stalking some poor birds and doing what felines do best. I guess nobody is missing a cat at home then.

Near the golf course, I spent quite a while looking at this group of mallards and a wood duck being adventurous and going under the fence and into the golf course. Then they had a blast trying to find their way out while their friends are on the other side. Definitely an entertaining moment!

I didn't saw the Snow Geese on this side of the dyke that day, such a shame. Seeing and hearing those animals on my bike ride has becoming somewhat of a habit.

The beautiful fall colors!
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Accipiter identification challenge

Saw many Great Blue Herons today. One of them that was on a tree (the second bird) decided to excrete its waste products in front of me. So it stood up a little bit on the branch and let out a long stream of white liquid falling down to the ditch below. What a scene (wish I wasn't so awe-struck by the scene and took a picture instead). I felt a little embarrassed for it, but apparently it wasn't, because it just went back to whatever it was doing.

I also saw a pretty Spotted Towhee (Piplo maculatus) today. There are four subspecies of Spotted Towhee, and they can be distinguished by the amount of white in the tail feathers.

Now, after yesterday's encounter with the Wood Ducks, I was a bit more prepared today when I rode by. I got a few more pictures of them. As for how good the quality is, you can decide for yourself.

The real prize of the day was when I saw an Accipiter today that was between the Natural Area and golf course. The only downside was that I couldn't identify it because it was so high up and flew away whenever I got closer, and I forgot to use the binocular first (I always have the dilemma of deciding what to do first: to take pictures or use the binocular to identify it). It seemed to have a white patch on its breast and a dark head, but that's about all I could point out. [Edit: It is a Rough-legged Hawk, thanks to Mr. Griffith.]

The weather turned a little bit sunnier when I was going back home. Nice blue sky clearing up.

Happy Thanksgiving!
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The truth about the caterpillar

The weather and temperature today are the same as the last few days - sunny and/or cloudy with cold temperatures. Not looking forward to the coming rainy days although I saw many mushrooms in the woods today that were deteriorating because they can't handle the dry conditions.

The large group of Snow Geese was not near Francis today. Maybe they migrated south? Or perhaps they split up into one of the smaller groups at the mouth of the Fraser River. I observed many of them there today, but this group was definitely smaller in size.

Now, I have been yearning to take pictures of the Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) for a long time now, but always came up short. They are always near the ditches by the Quilchena Golf Course with a whole bunch of Mallards, but they seem really shy and always duck under a well-shaded willow whenever I take out my camera and get ready. The reason that I want to take pictures of them is...well because they are so elegant. The male bird with their colorful and sleek crest and even the female birds are pretty too with their teardrop-shaped eye patch.

Today, I was kind of lucky and managed to get a couple of so-so pictures. But one of these days, I will get a better one (or at least so I wish).

Yesterday, I saved one of the black and red caterpillars. But it pains me not knowing what kind species it was. So I image-google searched "black and red caterpillar" and saw it.

So apparently they are commonly called the banded woolly bear, and the adult will become Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella). It is a common moth around here (I've seen it before around residential gardens), and it is yellow with sparse black spotting on its wings. One interesting thing about these banded woolly bear is that they produce cryoprotectant during winter which is a chemical substance used to protect the tissues from freezing, kind like an anti-freeze. Another interesting tidbit is that folk tale says that the amount of black on the caterpillar will predict the severity of the forthcoming winter (which of course is not true because larvae from the same egg clutch will vary in their "blackness", even if raised under the same conditions). Also, apparently this critter is found in many places because several locations in America have festivals centered around this woolly bear (kind of strange if you ask me).

Now, I came across several banded woolly bears today. However, the sad thing was, they were all road-killed (like above) - probably from bikers or joggers. They had the toughness to last through winter freezes, but not tires or shoes. R.I.P.
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