Some Birds of the Vermilon River. A Post to WBW.

Tree Sparrow

 I was initially going to call this post "favourites of mine", but I soon realized that all the animals or birds that I see become favourites of mine. I suppose I glory in nature. I was also going to call it " Sparrows of the Vermilon", but I hold that one until the wild sunflowers, smaller than the domestic variety, in my garden go to seed. They're growing now and will soon be ready. When they're ready, I bait the whole area with seeds and see what shows up. Last year I got a great collection of sparrows, and I hope it works again this year. So that explains my current title.

Having said that here is a selection of sparrows.

Tree Sparrow.

Tree Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow.

Whit-throated Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow Signing his Heart Out.

Male Goldfinch.

The Dark-eyed Junco should be with the sparrows as he is actually a sparrow. They've left me now and moved further north to the boreal forest.

Dark-eyed Junco

As I said earlier I have seen more Yellow-rumped Warblers this year, and this fellow is perservering in a wind storm, singing nevertheless.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Male Purple Finch.

Robin

I never tire of the Robin who wakes Boom & I in the morning. I think this fellow looks especially majestic.

Add caption

Certainly this Grackle looks slightly mad.

 The Buffleheads below are new to me. They're named "Bufflehead" Because the male's head is reminiscent of a buffalo head.


 I put this post together in the new dashboard format that Blogger/Google is so proud of. It then disappears and I have to go to the old format, post a blank, and call up this post and delete the blank. Isn't Google a marvel??



A Post to WBW @ http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com.

Female Bufflehead.

Male Bufflehead.

Some Bright Skies and Wildlife of the Vermilon River. A Post to Skywatch Friday.

Bright Skies



Rock Face




Upper River



The weather has been pretty hit and miss, with four overcast or rainy days to one of sun. So you're seeing some of both here. The river scenes are all of the upper river.

 Click to Enlarge Photos.



Rock Face




White -throated Sparrow




White-throated Sparrow





White-throated Sparrow



These White-throated Sparrows were all shot in very gray overcast weather, which gives the background a gray look making them, I think, look like Oriental prints. The same goes for the song sparrow, but the Warbler was shot in sunshine. The Pussy Willows were shot in shadows of the woods as I had to move off trail to get them. I did this overcast shooting previously, during the winter with some starlings, and some winter scenery. The winter scenery was almost monochromatic showing colour only in the evergreen trees. Dull gray and bright sun are the norms of the North, although they are extremes, and usually what photographers would advise to avoid. But, they are the North, and need to be dealt with.


White-throated Sparrow.




White-throated Sparrow




Profile of White-throated Sparrow.




Song Sparrow




Yellow-rumped Warbler




Pussy Willows.



Grackle



Common Grackle

The Grackles were shot in super bright sunshine and certainly benefited from the sun as it picked up the iridescence in their feathers, and enhanced the slightly mad eyes. Again dealing with a norm of the north. I think the iridescence certainly adds to the photos. The same I think is not true of the starling whose feathers have all the sheen, but lack the reflection that bright sun would give to them.

Common Grackle

Head On Grackle

Starling

Is there a point to my rambling ?? Actually yes. I think Northern Ontario is a rugged country that should be depicted as one. It's colour schemes and lighting is not the same as Southern Ontario or anywhere else for that matter. This is the same argument that, of course, founded the Group of Seven, those artists that are so basic to Canada. They rejected the UK Lake District genre that was popular here and embraced the rugged extremes.

 To avoid dealing with the extreme light or to turn the wild cold water soupy or jello like with a filter and a slow shutter speed is to turn a wild animal into a zoo animal, and does a disservice to the ruggedness of the  area, or at least that's what I think.

A Post to SkyWatch Friday @ http://skyley.blogspot.com/

A Plethora of Sparrows And a Yellow-rumped Warbler of the Vermilon River. A Post to WBW.

American Tree Sparrow



American Tree Sparrow



Song Sparrow



Song Sparrow




Savannah Sparrow




Savannah Sparrow




Dark-eyed Junco




Dark-eyed Junco




Dark-eyed Junco




Dark-eyed Junco




White-throated Sparrow




White-throated Sparrow




White-throated Sparrow




White-crowned Sparrow




Yellow-rumped Warbler




Yellow-rumped Warbler.

 If you have been following my last series of posts, especially the hiking ones you'll note that I have changed the look, including copy areas, and increased the number of photos. Part of the reason is that I've started to do landscapes, and talk about the area. The other reason is that I thought initially I would run out of photos when heavy winter set in. This was not the case, so you're getting more photos. I haven't done an editorial type post for a while and that's because Boom & I are trying to puzzle through somethings and we're pretty slow at thinking. When I was younger I thought I understood and knew a lot, that's sure not true now.

Anyway this post is about my wonderful selection of sparrows-- I know those dull little brown birds that are everywhere, but take a good look at these guys, they're multicoloured and adaptable to their environment.

We don't have as many Savannah's as farming areas would have, because, I suspect, we lack the open areas that they like.

Just for those who are uncertain Dark-eyed Juncos are Sparrows, and aren't they a wow with even different subspecies. Our forest is home to the slate or dark coloured ones.

I included the Yellow-rumped Warbler who like the junco is a resident here, but migrates south in the winter. Isn't he a beauty?? By the way I'm not knocked out with his name. There most be a bunch of birders somewhere in a dark backroom thinking up funny names.

These shots are all from various hikes, but are accumulated to give you an impression of what a wilderness forest is home to in terms of a species, and all the members of that species are not here. I choose the title," A Plethora...." because a former mayor of the Valley of Death used the word extensively. I thought, and still do that he was, and is a pretentious twit.

A Post to WBW @ http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

A Hike to the Wetlands of the East Track Of The Vermilon River. A Post to My World Tuesday.



South Wetland showing Tundra




South Wetland















We're right at the east track, but we're not going to hike it; instead we'll stick to the wetlands, the north and the south one, although they're really the same body of water except the track bisects them and makes to all intents and purposes two separate wetlands. We're not going to get too far without our crow of course. These pair of Robins were hanging around on the fringe of the wetlands.


Our Crow




Robin




Robin




 Sparrow




Savannah Sparrow




Savannah Sparrow




Savannah sparrows are not as common here probably because it is not farm country with its open areas, so I count myself lucky to get these photos.


Song Sparrow




White-throated Sparrow



White-throated sparrow are in fact more common that the Savannah's. This little guy is showing off his distinctive yellow head marking and white throat really well. The stunted brush along side the wetlands makes great shelter for the song sparrows as well.



Song Sparrow




Black-capped Chickadee







We've moved up the trail and picked up a couple of chickadees, and a common grackle whose colour scheme is pretty impressive.


Common Grackle




Black-capped Chickadee




Female Wood Duck?




Female Wood Duck?





This duck flew overhead and I thought at first it was a merganser of some sort, but if you look closely it has prominent white markings around its eyes, which make me think it's a female Wood Duck.

Pussy Willows



Seeds??



I really liked the pussy willows which are now showing in large numbers and then I saw the tufts of something or other on a tree and thought they looked equally interesting.