Outdoor Ontario
Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: Shortsighted on July 31, 2025, 03:51:01 PM
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The stifling humidity has finally abated, for now. What a relief! What is not a relief is the wholesale abandonment of birds from pretty much everywhere that I visited. Reesor (lower) Pond was dead quiet, except for the incessant traffic on Reesor Rd. There were about a dozen ducks way off at the northern end of the pond and no sign of the gallinule family. The special tree with the watery moat had some visitors, such as a kingfisher, two waxwings and two kingbirds, but that’s it. Even the dragonflies were gone. The only bird that was calling was a Swamp sparrow that flitted about just meters away from me. It wouldn’t sit still, not even for a couple of seconds.
Beare Hill Park was also eerily quiet all the way up to the summit. I saw one Mourning dove half way up, followed by two Great crested flycatchers that did call a few times but apparently with reservation. I glimpsed one juvenile Common yellowthroat on the way down. At the base of the hill there were a couple of kingbirds and a few robins.
Rouge Beach Park was the quietest place of all, except for noisy people. No herons, no ducks, no sparrows, no Marsh wren ... just a few Barn swallows. Way out on the floodplain I spotted one single forlorn-looking Spotted sandpiper on the lily pads. There are a lot of lily pads, enough to support solar panels. You’ve heard of marsh gas? What about marsh electric? I know, I know ... it’s not a thing ... yet!
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-XCBLkZj/0/LWFsBmnwsTP7Qdx2NHqqQJQKSrV35BSZPtxF8Lf92/L/GCFC.31st%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-XCBLkZj/A)
Great crested flycatcher (one of two)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-fPkmgGp/0/MNkVSFQ2phjps5zj484WbBbF3sRxccqbF8PrMVtHR/L/Kingbird%2C31st%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-fPkmgGp/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-47JqnBC/0/L4qsSDmrrpMWr5j8F6p8tZxL6hkD5dzCjMVKBSrD6/L/Kingbird%20grass%2C31st%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-47JqnBC/A)
Hiding Eastern kingbird