#151 long overdue post

So this post should have been written a long time ago, but I'm just getting around to it now! So this is all old news...and it's a bit of a mish-mash of stuff, so I apologize for that....

So I was out biking one day and found 2 awesome feathers. It reminded me of being a little kid and collecting this stuff and bringing it home. I'd just watched the episode from Life of Birds on flight and learned some interesting stuff about feathers so it was pretty timely. So I was trying to identify them and haven't had much time to look into it but at least made some guesses.

This one is huge...over a foot long. Has to be a hawk of some kind.

This one is a little smaller, just under a foot, but the really cool thing is the wispy edges on the one side...which makes me wonder if it's a barn owl (for silent flight)(?)

Not much time dedicated for birding lately but on the way to Rona I spotted something in a little greenbelt stream beside the road. Turned around and saw this little guy. Glad I stopped now since after pouring over the books I realized it's a lifer...yay!

#151: Solitary Sandpiper; Ottawa West, August 7, 2011

 

We stopped on the way home too and it was still there. A black-crowned night heron flushed that had been right in front of us, but that we totally didn't spot. There was also a green heron in the area, and then out wanders a virgina rail! 

Normally those suckers are so hard to spot, and here we were on the side of a busy street and it just comes strutting out. I guess the water is so low, there aren't as many places for the birds to go so they get really concentrated. And then, look who shows up! We see deer alllll the time here, but the fawns not so often, so that was nice. 

Saw this juv. merganser at Andrew Haydon Park after work one day. Sun shining on it nicely.

So Matt is a teacher and gets to goof off all day in the summer, unlike myself, who gets to toil away in cubicle. So he was driving along and saw this osprey flying with a fish. It got really close to him but he couldn't pull out the camera until it was pretty far off. But it's neat because we just watched that episode of Life of Birds where they explain how ospreys turn the fish in the air so as to create the least wind resistance, and you can see that here....pretty cool!!

Ok, this is where the birding stuff ends so I'll just warn you now as I venture into other things :)

Had to include this pic of a porcupine totally maxed out in a tree...lol

Looking out for more butterflies...still need to get a book to help me identify these. I'm so oblivious. Birds and butterflies both have wings...close enough right?

saw this one at my mom's - giant swallowtail missing the tails?

this one's really pretty! saw while in Burlington...not even sure these are in Ottawa?

checkerspot?

Well, this going to be my last post for a while...but I'll be back in about a month, and hopefully with lots of western lifers ;) Come back mid-September!