Gadwall

Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area, Kingston, Ontario

This pictures are from a week ago. These pictures illustrate what often presents an identification problem for me. The birds appear differently coloured and shaded in different light.

Snake Eating Raptor

Little Catarqui Creek, Kingston, Ontario

This isn't exactly framable but if you click on the picture and enlarge it and look closely you can see that it is carrying what appears to be a snake. If only I'd had more zoom! But I couldn't zoom all the way in and still hold the camera to the lens. Action shots are not easy to digiscope!

The Luck of the Duck, or Serendipitous Birding

Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area, Kingston, Ontario

When I headed over to the Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation area this morning I had pretty much resigned myself to a day of macro photography. I still drag the spotting scope around because you never know... My last couple of outings yielded no birds of any real interest and its late in the season so I wasn't expecting much at our local Creek. What a surprise when, as soon as I got out of the van and walked to the water, I saw a pair of Osprey floating on the 35 kph winds and making full use of the whole sky for their aerobatics. I followed one with my eyes as it dove into the water. It was then that I saw the four Hooded Mergansers (a new addition to my list). I was able to snap a few pictures before they drifted out of range. I went on to discover several large rafts of ducks, like the one above. There were smaller gatherings here and there. At the end of the day I had added three new species of duck to my list. I try to be prepared for such serendipity. I always carry my camera, I have the spotting scope and Sibleys, I carry a notepad and a ruler and pocket knife (in case of fungi), and a snack in case of starvation due to a refusal to come in out of the weather for proper meals. The natural world is so full of surprises.

Mixed Company

This would have been a better picture if I wasn't limited to digiscoping. Two Great Blue Heron flew into the this gathering of Canada Geese. They looked so beautiful with blue wings outstretched and legs reaching for a landing.

Ring-necked Ducks

I've seen these ducks before but forgot to add them to my life list until today.

Hooded Merganser

Gadwall

Today was just the warmup. Tommorow I hit Presquile!

Double Crested Cormorant

Here is another picture of the Double Crested Cormorant that I took at Little Cataraqui yesterday. I had to keep whistling at him to get him to wake up and lift up his head. These birds have become a real nuisance in the Kingston area. Its hard to believe that they were once in trouble in our area.

Eastern Pondhawk

LITTLE CATARAQUI CREEK

Eastern Pondhawk, female. I also saw Whitefaced Meadowhawk, Black Saddlebags, Common Green Darner, and a Mosaic Darner of some kind.

Double Crested Cormorant

LITTLE CATARAQUI CREEK CONSERVATION AREA

Kingston, Ontario

Can you identify this strange bird? The picture was taken at a considerable distance using a Nikon spotting scope and a Canon A510 digital camera, handheld to the lense of the scope.