Another Hike On The West Side Of The Vermilon River.

 The weather is still strange in that the mornings are usually sunny, and the afternoons cloudy, with rain in the afternoon or over night. The scenes pretty well lay out the sky changes. So hiking continues around the weather, and my current fascination with the wildlife young. That means hiking the west side of the River, which I now call "The Warbler Highway".

 Wildlife young are difficult to identify because their plumage is a non-breeding plumage, and even then, not fully developed in many cases. This is especially true of the warblers, in which case I have been using Cornell Labs of course, but  also Warblers of Canada, the University of Alberta site, which also gives tail configurations as well as immatures, and The Warblers Of Ontario, which shows immatures. All these sites can be goggled. If that fails, I run to NWO Birds, where I have a file called "Help ID This... Someone usually comes to my aid, not only with birds,but insects as well.

THIS WHOLE POST IS SET UP FOR THE SLIDESHOW FUNCTION, WHICH ENLARGES ALSO. SIMPLY CLICK ANY PHOTO. IN FACT,I HAVE REDUCED MANY PHOTOS IN SIZE TO SAVE ROOM. I DO SUGGEST YOU READ THE COPY FIRST.

River Reflection

The Sky Turning.

Rock and Reflection.

The Morning started well with the Black and White Warblers. Of the nine species of warbler listed in Warblers of Ontario, I have seen all but two. That doesn't mean they're not here, just I haven't seen them. To those who think I wait for them to appear-no, sorry I hike and find them randomly. If I can't track them down, fairly shortly I move on. Waiting for them to appear closer out of a thick forest is a waste of time.

Black And White Warbler.

This is the start of the warbler sequence. This female Redstart is resplendent because she's showing off her tail feathers. The male tail is equally bright, but her colours are much more subtle.

Immature Female Redstart.

Male Redstart.

Preening Male Redstart.

Male Redstart.

Just sitting down to rest, I caught this Oven Bird, another warbler. Sometimes people describe him as a less flamboyant member of the warbler clan, I really don't find him so,especially with those head colours, and those incredible chest markings, plus that eye ring.

This is what I meant by hard to recognize as this immature Yellow Rumped Warbler shows. He's even still fuzzy.

Immature Red-winged Blackbird.

Immature Starling.

Immature Starling.

But here is a secret I use. Wherever the chickadees are, the warblers are close behind, as they feed on the same grubs in the Birch trees. In fact, they along with the warblers naturally control the grubs in the Birch trees. While you wait for the warblers to arrive, the Chickadees will also entertain you and allow you to sharpen your camera reflexes.

I think of all the flyers, the Canada Geese are the best precision flyers even when they're training their young. These guys fly the River course and are fun to catch, especially as they suddenly cross over your head on a narrow trail.

Mallards.

This is a male Hairy Woodpecker. A commentor asked last week how to tell him from his smaller cousin the Downy. Size is useless, of course, because the two are not together, The beak of a Hairy is the size of his head, as you can see from the opposite photo. From the photo below you can also see the white bars on his tail. So always get a back shot if you can.

Male Hairy.

Calling Raven.

Ring-billed Gull in Flight.

Gull in Flight.

Question Mark.

Question Mark

The rain has re-juvenated the wild flowers in the forest, although it is too late for the blueberries, The Fleabane is blooming again.

Joe Pye Weed.

Unknown

Devil's Paintbrush.

High Bush Cranberries.

Great blue Heron and friends in a wetland on the far side of the River, after I spooked him.

A post to Sky Watch Friday, and  Camera Critters. Click to go directly to the site.