Lynde Shores - a little bit of everything!

[jjmb]

Well, maybe not everything, but a nice variety at least.

Took an early Saturday morning walk. Got there around 7:30 and noone was there. Peace and quiet. Here's what I saw:

Common loons
Pied Billed Grebe
Cormorants
6 Great Blue Herons
Turkey Vulture
Canada Geese (of course!)
Mute Swans
Gadwalls
American Wigeons
Mallards (also of course)
Blue winged teal
Northern Shoveler
Ring-necked duck
Buffleheads
Scaups (have trouble telling the difference)
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Sharp Shinned Hawk
4 American Coots
3 yellow bellied sapsuckers
Downy woodpecker
Golden Crowned Kinglets
Northern Flicker
Song Sparrows
Swamp Sparrow
Cowbird
and also all of the usual suspects: doves, cardinals, juncos, chickadees, jays, RWBBs, starlings, crows, etc.

And lots of deer. A great outing!!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

Swung by this afternoon and saw a fair amount, including buffleheads, cardinals, chickadees, blue jays, red wing black birds, grackles, hairy and downy woodpeckers, juncos, scaups and a ring necked duck.  The swans and the Canada Geese were nest building.  Loons were present but were too far out in the lake to get photos of them.  

Also wanting to know if anyone has any idea of what I saw.  With its wings folded it was a red winged blackbird, complete with the red spot and yellow trace line.  Then when it spread it's wings, the leading edge of the wing was WHITE! I've never seen anything like that - any suggestions?

Photos are as follows:

Northern Flicker -> http://outdoorontario.net/Gallery/Attil ... rn_Flicker

American Wigeon -> http://outdoorontario.net/Gallery/Attil ... can_Wigeon

Female Northern Harrier -> http://outdoorontario.net/Gallery/Attil ... rn_Harrier

[GStuart]

Also wanting to know if anyone has any idea of what I saw.  With its wings folded it was a red winged blackbird, complete with the red spot and yellow trace line.  Then when it spread it's wings, the leading edge of the wing was WHITE! I've never seen anything like that - any suggestions?

It sounds like it was a Red-winged blackbird.  The white can be accounted for by partial leucism, which is not particularly rare, but frequently spectacular.  A quick google scan for images of blackbirds resulted in this picture of a Boat-tailed grackle.  -->  Picture  <--

[Anonymous]

I'd like to revise a bird listed.

I'm changing the Female Northern Harrier to either a Coopers or a Sharp Shinned, reason being it was up off the ground and when I saw it perched it was near the top of the tree, unlike the Harrier which prefers the ground for nesting, roosting, and hunting.

GStuart -> interesting bird, however the one that I saw showed zero signs of white while sitting in a tree and had the markings (red and yellow) of a red winged black bird....

Could it be some type of cross?

Cheers, Attila

[GStuart]

Unlikely.  Black bird, red epaulet, yellow fringe... it's a Red-winged blackbird.  The odd white feather, while not "normal" is not unexpected.