M.V. Glenora ferry swallows feeding time - photo essay

So I found myself headed to Prince Edward County once again this weekend...the pull of the County is so strong! Once again, not a ton of time for birding...there's so much to do there, and I was too busy tasting wine, eating cheese, getting distracted and caching my little heart out that I really only got to appreciate the birdies with my eyes and ears and not my lens.

However, on the ferry ride over, I noticed swallows swooping around and saw one go right under the bridge of the ferry. I got out and enjoyed watching the show for the entire crossing, while most people were busy peering over the edge of the boat. The thing that blew my mind is that the nest is almost always moving, and extremely busy! There are 2 boats that run, so I wonder if the other boat has a nest too, or if she ever gets confused about which boat her nest is on! As the ferry was crossing, she'd fly around and catch stuff and bring it up to them. FASCINATING!

the chicks lined up, waiting for mom to come back. check out the hilarious tufts on their heads.

open wide!

giving me the stink eye, and then...

down the hatch!

what on earth is that? I love how she uses her tail to balance...plus it's a beautiful forked and patterned tail.

dragonfly for dessert!

there she is, about to land at the nest. it was really touching to watch her to do this, and repeat, over and over.

Since I have not been constantly looking for new birds to count (although I do admit to doing that to a certain extent), I do enjoy getting the chance to really observe more closely and appreciate some of the birds that I have already seen.

Another bird event of note was when we stopped in Waupoos. There was a big blueberry patch covered in netting and I noticed that there were some birds stuck inside trying to get out. I made Matt stop the car and I tried lifting the side of the nets up to let them out, but of course they flew away as soon as I approached them. I got seriously frustrated. Anyways, there was one juvenile robin really stuck in the netting that Matt actually removed, so while I felt a little better, I felt bad that I couldn't help more of them. Some were really clearly trying to get out, and I was worried that they might have babies waiting for them to feed them :(

Earth Day - Easter long weekend, day 1

Couple of items of business today.

Matt and I checked out Mud Lake...it was so nice outside, and I even got a little sunburn. It was really busy with everyone having the day off and the sun shining. What attracted me there was the gold crowned kinglets, but of course I didn't find one. The first thing we saw were lots of swallows zipping around. I didn't look too carefully but definitely saw barn and tree.

Witnessed something of a kerfluffle between two tree swallows.

Love the forked tail on the barn swallow.

Not far off, we saw this bird, and it looked like it was all wet or something, and maybe trying to dry off. It kept fanning out its tail, and a chickadee was really playing with fire by hopping around really close. Soon after, some gulls came by to harass it until it finally flew off. A few other birders that were there and I concluded that we thought it was a merlin.

Horribly backlit...what can you do?

On the ridge, a yellow-rumped warbler was hanging around and singing loudly.

Lastly, just before leaving, we caught a black-crowned night heron. Such great birds!

I missed this when it originally aired, so I was happy that they were reshowing Saving Pelican 895, an HBO documentary about the rescue response for birds after the oil rig explosion off the gulf of Louisiana (it's on again May 1 and 15 if you missed it). Also, here's the trailer to check out. I was watering up within 60 seconds...I'm so soft. While the story tried to focus on the positive and really focused on the birds, the whole situation makes me so ANGRY. Everyone is complaining about gas prices, but I have no problem with them at all because I hope that MAYBE it will finally force people start looking at the problems with the system and start seriously looking at viable alternatives. Ok, happy Earth Day!
Some stats from the movie:

• 3400 oil rigs off the gulf coast of Louisiana
• 7000 birds dead (seriously...does this not make you feel dead inside?)
• 1200 birds rehabilitated and released into the wild

You may also want to check out this short Cornell video on Youtube: Deepwater Horizon: One Year Later.

Another amazing rehabilitation item: I was amazed, inspired and incredibly jealous to find out that a childhood friend of mine is now working with Kakapo in New Zealand. If you don't know about Kakapo, just watch the first disk of David Attenborough's Life of Birds. They are a flightless parrot and there are only 120 left. Anyways, this girl does seriously cool stuff...she also worked with wolves in Texas. She even has some pics of wolves licking her face.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm seriously questioning my career choice and wishing I was doing something meaningful/wonderful like that. Should have studied biology....

may two-four part ii (54-59)

#54: Barn Swallow; May 22, 2010; somewhere along County Road 10
I saw barn swallows at Bill Mason too, and yesterday on AI. Seems that I am seeing tons of them all of a sudden.


AI: Guest starring: Bonnie and her friend Sharon and Dad.
Another early morning. I headed to the island on Sunday, catching the first boat of the day (just me and one other person on it!) at 6:30 am, since Bonnie (she lives just down the road from Dad), who is helping out with a study of short-eared owls on the island, said that the best time to catch the owls aside from dusk is between 6:30 and 7:30 am. We drove along Front Road to try and spot them. I *think* I saw them but to me they were really just little brown specks off in the distance. There were also harriers flying around. Bonnie said there were around a dozen of them a little while ago but there are only a few left this time of year. I will definitely try and get there for the right time of year next time! Well, nothing was wasted since we saw lots of other birds. There was a red-tailed hawk on 40 Foot Road that was standing guard. Normally they flush when you approach, but he made it quite clear we were not welcome and stood his ground, shouting at us.
Bonnie had to leave but Dad and I spent the day stomping around the island...and we saw over 30 kinds of birds in just a few hours!


#55: Bobolink; May 23, 2010; AI
AH! This is one of those birds I didn't think I was going to see, but there were tons all over the island. How cool are they? They sound amazing too!

#56: Eastern Kingbird; May 23, 2010; AI (40 foot rd)
These guys were also all over the place, but tough to shoot. FINALLY when we were just about done for the day, one posed nicely for me!

#57: American Wigeon; May 23, 2010; AI (south shore)
Dad spotted this duck. It doesn't look exactly like in the book since it's not full plumage and the drake (hey now, look at me using bird terminology!) doesn't have the green stripe on the back of his head right now.

#58: Brant; May 23, 2010; AI (KFN property, southeast corner shore)

Well, there is a long story that goes with this one, and this bird I certainly did not expect to see. Brant don't live here and only migrate through, and they are a rare sight. This Brant was sitting on the shore alone, and didn't even try to move as we approached. I guess it was injured because I got even closer and it just made this really sad sound. I ran all the way to the car and back (got birdwatching and a run in all before 9 am....that's a first) to get my cell phone and try and figure out who the heck to call. I called Bonnie, and got some other numbers to call. We decided to move on, and left some messages a few places in the meantime. I got a call back from a serious birder on the island, Janet, and someone from KFN. I was mentally preparing and trying to figure out how I was going to catch a wild goose without a towel/box/gloves/anything, carry it a few km to the car, put it in the back, ferry it for half an hour and drive it the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee. Well, we headed back to where it was about an hour later, and we couldn't find it. We asked some of the few birders we saw that day and they said that it had flown off when they approached. So, I'm pretty sure it was injured (so strange that it was not with its flock and sitting that way), but there wasn't much I could do. I hope it's ok :( Gawd, I'm such a softie; I understand the survival of the fittest thing, but not much kills me more than injured animals. I guess that's why I'm vegetarian. Anyways, here it is. Please say a little prayer to the goose gods!

#59; Purple Martin; May 23, 2010; AI (KFN)
There are a whole bunch of purple martins in purple martin houses at the KFN property.
When we got back to my dad's, there was a giant pileated woodpecker, and it was so handsome. I miss that little island....wish I could just spend forever on there!

Next post (coming shortly) will be shorebirds from the island, but it's so nice out I'm going to bike to Shirley's Bay and see what's around there. And I have a few assignments to work on for my photo class tomorrow. Sigh. Back in a bit.