Mud Lake

Sep 12, 2013

It wasn't so long ago that a Wood Duck sighting was really special.  Now you can go to Mud Lake any time and expect to see many.  I saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Warbling Vireo.  Others said there were other species, but I did not see them.

 

While there today, I ran into old friends Tom Hince and Bruce Dilabio out on a bird guide's holiday.

Salamanders at the Cottage

Sep 08 13

This weekend almost all birds had vacated the area, save for a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers and Blue Jays.

Barbara was moving patio stones, when she uncovered a Red-backed Salamander.  This is a species that we have seen a few time before over the years.  We always get the lead-backed variety.

 

But she later uncovered a Blue-spotted Salamander, a species that we had never seen before. 

 

 

We even made a short video.

 

Signs of Fall at the Cottage

Sept 02, 2013

Barbara heard a warbler up the road, so went to investigate.  The fall warblers are notoriously difficult to identify, and this guy was no exception.  But after consulting a number of field guides, we believe that it is a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a common migrant.

 

An uncommon sighting was a Common loon in fall plumage.  Sept 02 is too early, so we theorize that this is a non-breeding individual that was passing through.

 

 

Canoe Trip Birding

August 19-26

We were on a week-long canoe trip near Biscotasing, north of Sudbury.  http://web.ncf.ca/eb317/Venturers/Bisco/Bisco.htm

It's easier to do fishing than birding when on a trip with 15 other people.  But we did spot 3 Bald Eagles, including a juvenile, and a number of ducks, which we took to be Redheads.  Close inspection of the photos upon our return led us to believe that they were juvenile Common Goldeneyes - something we don't usually see around Ottawa.  We got close to one - here is a photo.

 

 

We also saw a couple of Spring Peepers and a Mink Frog.  It was interesting that there are no Turkey Vultures that far north.

 

 

 

Unusual Summer Visitors

August 12, 2013

Our feeders at Grand Lac des Cèdres are usually busy with Purple Finches and Chickadees, but on this day a couple of Evening Grosbeaks showed up.  They appeared to be a male and a juvenile, with the former feeding seeds to the latter.

 

On the loon front, our only two young on the lake are doing well, and seem destined to reach the large young stage (thankfully).

Darling Long Lake

July 30, 2013

To celebrate Barbara's birthday, we went to one of friend Jim's favourite lakes, Darling Long Lake south of Calabogie.  The road in is long and rough, but we had the lake to ourselves.

We heard a bird very close in the reeds, but we were unable to track it down.  We had a nice picnic and even caught a walleye.

Bird List

1. American Kestrel
2. Osprey
3. Common Loon
4. Great Blue Heron
5. Swamp Sparrow
6. Common Yellowthroat
7. Belted Kingfisher
8. Hooded Merganser
9. Wood Duck
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. Tree Swallow