Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Winter Birds( Redpolls, White-winged Crossbills, Ruffled Grouse, Evening Grossbeaks, Blue Jays, and A Northern Crow) of The Vermilon River.

 The scene photos were all taken in the Long Lake Wetland on a foggy and frosty day. The right side of all the photos is the east, and the sun is rising over the ridge slowly burning off the fog and frost. There is an ice skim on the water which accounts for the reflection, and on the right side of the photos you can see the frost still on the trees. These are the pre-winter light variations in the Vermilon Forest. Winter will bring gray skies and bright snow. Summer will bring verdant backdrops with bright splashes of colour. So light plays an interesting part here, even in the birds' plumage as the  winter birds are by and large arrayed in bright colours.


 I saw a large flock of birds about a week ago, and finally caught up to them. They're Redpolls, which I'm delighted to see. They were feeding on the birch seed pods. I saw these guys for the first time last year. In the literature it mentioned that these birds leave the Artic in something called an irruption every two years, but they're here again. Maybe we're far enough north for them to pay a visit every year. The first photo is a male, while all the others are females. They're as hard as Chickadees to photograph in the forest as the flock seems to move as a single unit.

 The in flight shot is a fluke and yes it is the same bird.

 The White-winged Crossbills are a first for me, and were part of a larger flock that was on the east side of the River. At first I though they were Pine Grosbeaks, but look closely at the bill. As well, the wing markings are also different from the Pine Grosbeak Impressive colours!!


I have only seen these two Evening Grosbeaks so far this year, which is strange as they're usually in flocks also. The photo opposite is the female and below the male. A stunning pair though.


The female Ruffled Grouse was posted earlier on another meme. I 've seen them before, but this is the first time I've been able to get a photo, and I wanted to show her here with the birds of winter.

Always a stunning looker although not dressed in bright colours, the female Hairy stays here all year.


The Blue Jay is an all year resident, But I think is more noticeable in winter, because of the absence of leaves and his flamboyant colouring. 


And of course there is our Northern Crow Hugey in basic black, but always looking stately. I think the bright plumage of the winter birds warms the winter, and compensates for the frequent gray skies.

26 comments:

  1. jealous of you getting redpolls, grosbeaks and crossbills. such neat birds. if we're lucky, texas may get to see a grosbeak passing thru in migration.

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  2. Gary you see some wonderful birds to around your patch whether they are local or just passing through and as always your images are brilliant to see.
    My favourite from this selection has to be the Ruffled Grouse..she is a stunner.

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  3. the crossbills looks like the oenn we suddenly had during summer.

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  4. Fantastic selection Gary.
    Love the Redpolls and Grosbeaks, but my favourite is the Blue Jay. I'd love to see these.

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  5. My favourites are numbers 5,11 and both Hairy Woodpeckers, but I do like them all. Brilliant shots.

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  6. A very interesting description of the light and color you see at this time of the year. Great photos and the birds are beautiful.

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  7. The Crossbills and the Grosbeaks in pics 7 thru 10 are my favourites. The first 3 pics of the forest and river are beautiful, are you able to canoe down the river?

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  8. Looking a bit chilly up there Gary. I have never seen white-winged crossbills!

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  9. What a fantastic variety of birds, Gary! We are lucky if we get Redpolls and White-winged Crossbills down here. I'll keep looking. Great post!

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  10. Wow the grosbeak are wonderful... Such an amzing bird.... Beautiful collection of pictures gary and it is funny to see how red can be your redpolls ;-)

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  11. I've always rather liked crows until I saw one a few days ago attempting to pull a little possum out of the crown of a palm tree with the most horrible cawing cries. Sometimes it's not easy to watch the food chain in action. When I was in Japan I noticed the crows there are huge with much bigger beaks than here.

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  12. Stunning post Gary. The scenery of the river forest is really something to see. The birds you display are amazing in variety and beauty. What more could we ask for? Simply sublime!

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  13. Great series of shots. I like the little notes you give us.

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  14. Thanks for sharing your shots of winter birds. Aside from the jay and (maybe) Hairy Woodpecker, I'll not see any of them other than in your photos.

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  15. Such lovely shots of all the finches. A joy to see.

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  16. What a beautiful spot & what a wonderful collection of birds!! Just stunning!!

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  17. Beautiful shots, Gary! Especially love the grosbeak in the grass!

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  18. Great series, very good post!
    Thanks for sharing,

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  19. Beautiful photos!
    Thanks for sharing.

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  20. Outstanding post Gary!
    Most of these birds don't visit Georgia...so it is great to see them though your eyes. Thanks!

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  21. you get some beautiful birds there in canada. i only see a few of them here in new jersey!!

    great captures of the hairy woodpecker and the sweet tilts of his head!!

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  22. Hi Gary

    Another great post. I loved the colours on your first photo and Hugey looks very handsome.

    Regards
    Guy

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  23. Hi there - another great collection. The grosbeaks and crossbills esp. good.

    Don’t know about the 'feer' on my gulls being impressive - but I think their feet are! ;)

    Stewart M

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  24. What an amazing variety of birds! And so different from the ones we see here. All of them are so beautiful. The difference in the male and female Evening Grosbeaks...that's fascinating!

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  25. What lovely birds, many of them I didn't know. The doggie reminds me of The Call of the Wild, I have read and re-read that book so many time! I am a new follower from Rome, Italy.

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  26. So many fabulous shots of lovely lovely birds! That blue jay is wonderful.

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