Beaver and Yellow Rump Warblers…

Well today I got to see one of the Beaver for myself!

here at the rapidly filling first bay by the viewing platform…

on the far bank, could just make out this guy in the grasses

he didn’t seem terribly perturbed as we walked down the trail on the opposite bank for a better angle…it helps that although my dog is definitely interested….she knows that animals are only to be looked at, not chased – of course she is always on a leash and we might not be so lucky if we encountered a wild horse….but that is another story!

the Beaver wasn’t the only attraction on the far side…this Tree Swallow was down on the bank, probably collecting nesting material…there were also all sorts of little birds coming down to the water for drinks and bathing…

after a while the Beaver lumbered down this, now we know about it, obviously well worn path to the water…

and disappeared.  It is so nice to see Beaver here again.  There used to always be beaver, in fact the remnants of a lodge over by the log bay are still visible, but Beaver themselves hadn’t been seen for a few years.

the other item of note today were the numbers of Yellow Rump Warblers – this female was at the log bay – they were throughout the park.  She caught my eye because she looked different – after down loading the picture I see why – she is a ‘myrtle’ with the white ‘chin’ rather than the usual yellow.

I think the water level was pretty much stable from yesterday.  I looked for a Spotted Sandpiper, but still haven’t seen one.  My husband saw one last night…at least it was there until an off leash dog appeared on the scene.

in keeping with the Yellow Rump Warbler theme….here is a male Audubon…

and another, this one in one of the Black Twin berry bushes….

a male and a female here…there were actually 3 in this particular willow but couldn’t get them all in.

and now it is May

The month of May started out very promising with the sunniest, warmest day we’ve had yet this year…

this picture was taken May 1st…

same view today – in the rain – the most important thing to notice is the level of the rising water.  The only birds visible over here were this pair of

Mallard – sneaking along the far side of the bay…

here we were looking sort of southeastwards yesterday…

and eastwards today – the gravel bars are disappearing – as they should be this time of the year.

most noticeable when we set out today was a lot of Canada Goose ‘carry on’ – went to the viewing platform and there was a Goose perched on the nearest piling, with another at it’s base and another perched on a piling further down…

here is the one perched on the closest piling – the one with all the purple martin boxes on it.

Just as I reached a point where I hoped to be able to see a bit more, the one from the other piling flew over to this one, there was a bit of a ‘kafuffle’ and they disappeared from sight.

The vocal carry on continued, so on the way back we returned to the viewing platform to see what we could see….

 

 

in the short length of time we’d been away there had been a migration ‘Fall out’….all the bushes in the surrounding area were covered in birds….primarily Yellow Rump Warblers….

This one, and the one above being male ‘Audubon’ Yellow Rump Warblers…

but also some of the ‘Myrtle’ sub species – these having white ‘chin’s rather than yellow.

It wasn’t just Warbler’s though….here a couple of Warblers, but also a couple of American Robins…

but also White Crowned Sparrows (we have had some White Crowned Sparrows here for a while as some will stay and nest here, but many more will move through)

also seen was a Lincoln Sparrow – the picture I took today was only good enough for me to be able to give it a positive ID so I am using this ‘file photo’ taken in my former backyard several years ago.

If the weather hadn’t been so bad, I would have gone back with binoculars to see what else might be in the mixed flock…but since it continues to be wet, windy, and miserable I haven’t bothered.

The Canadian Geese had now proved to be 2 pairs…this pair had settled into grazing on the grass on the gravel bar across from the log bay and a second pair were at the point of this same gravel bar.

One more note:  there was a pair of Osprey flying about earlier today.  Yesterday we spotted an Osprey nest being build on a piling just to the north of the bridge that takes highway 7 over the Harrison River.  I’ll attempt to get a picture of it one of these days.  Osprey have always nested on pilings out on the river, but this is the first pair to do it in a spot where a boat isn’t needed to view it.

Yellow-rump Warbler….

Another horrible, wet, gray day.  A Northern Harrier flew past just as we started our walk (no picture)…

noticed the ‘eagle’ tree by the viewing platform was quite well populated…spent some futile time trying to get pictures of Golden Crowned Kinglets that were feeding down in the blackberry thicket…and noticed a Fox Sparrow as well…

could hear Belted Kingfisher’s and caught sight of this male, way off…and was turning to head towards home when, like before, I caught sight of a small bird flying down into the log bay…

so, not having taken binoculars due to the wet weather, like before, I aimed my camera in the general direction. From the actions and the call it was making I was pretty sure it was a Yellow-rump Warbler…and I’ve just spent a while going cross eyed peering at down loaded pictures…(it is in the above picture, but even I can’t find it right now…will have to click on to enlarge)

and can confirm with this extremely cropped down picture – that it is indeed a Yellow-rump Warbler….

while I was taking these pictures, it flew up into the bushes at the end of the log bay….

by the time I got back to that side, it had flown down onto the rocks again - (it is in the middle at the bottom)…..I am pretty sure it is the same bird I saw the beginning of the month because I had suspected at the time that the bird was perhaps a ‘Myrtle’ rather than an ‘Audubon’ because it seems to have more white under the ‘chin’.  If it stays around long enough to get it’s breeding colours, hopefully I’ll be able to confirm that.

Heading back through the gloom noticed in this bay, not an out of season warbler…but a Bald Eagle

He seemed to have found enough salmon remnants to make a meal…not sure how nutritious since there is nothing but skin and bones left!

Yellow Rump Warbler?!!!

Our stretch of clear days has come to an end.  Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning, but haven’t seen a flake yet…

It was just kind of gray and with the increased dampness…felt chilly..

Don’t know if it is the change in the weather or the fact that everyone is back at work and school now so the birds pretty much had the place to themselves….but there was sure a lot of activity.  Must have been close to a hundred Red Wing Blackbirds…

They were everywhere!

There was even a female (lower bird) ~ usually we only see male’s during the winter as females usually migrate much further south.

There were also an abundance of Woodpeckers – saw 3 Hairy Woodpeckers and then ‘tapping’ led me to this little Downy Woodpecker… he was working away in between those two logs…unfortunately it was pretty dark in this spot so couldn’t manage a better picture – not with a dog in one hand anyway.

The big surprise though, didn’t happen until I got home.  I’d seen this little bird drop down into the bay and grab a quick drink, and I’d managed to snap this shot…but it wasn’t until I got home I realized it was a Yellow Rump Warbler!  One doesn’t really expect to see any sort of Warbler in January!