Killbear 2026

Well, we have just returned home from our annual Killbear Provincial Park camping trip. It was a great time as 3 of the 4 kids, our daughter in law Theresa, and 5 grandkids all made it up. We had our usual four sites right on Georgian Bay and thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

I always enjoy birding there this time of year as the park has everything from a great selection of warblers and woodpeckers, bittern, night herons, a heron rookery that had 12 nests this year and was very active, loons and of course lots of Barred Owls.

Our granddaughter Evelynn came back from biking and excitedly announced she had discovered a mother Red Fox and 5 pups. So off we took and these shots were taken as we just sat and watched the pups playfully wrestle around.

Our grandson Ben also had an incredible experience with a pair of loons. While he was out swimming, maybe 50 yards off shore, a pair of loons swam by busy fishing. They didn’t flush and as he just stood still, they continued diving and swimming all around him maybe 15 feet away for an extended period of time. Very cool indeed.

Marthaville Pasture walk

This week I had another excellent walk along one of my favourite pastures. According to my images I’ve only been walking this pasture going back 10 years. Todays walk was extra special as I had the opportunity to discuss the pasture with the local cattle rancher. It was very interesting to listen to his stories in regards to soil and water conditions as to how they relate to his cattle.

The pasture showing the cattle rancher and the students gathering stool samples from the cattle.

A little later a research group of three students from Guelph University arrived. These students were majoring in microbiology and were there to analyze the water and soil as well as the cattle. All in all, a very interesting time and I’m glad they included me in discussing their work.

No images of Upland Sandpipers on fence posts today so this is a reworked image from a decade ago.

Today, on my third pass walking along the roadway, I was able to locate three Upland Sandpipers that were all on the ground.

The pasture always has other favourite birds like Bobolink and Meadowlark.

An image I just couldn’t pass up.

Dow Wetlands Birding

 

Interestingly Clay-colored Sparrow young leave the nest before they can fly. They hop to the ground from their nest in a shrub and run an average of 40 feet to seek cover in a thicket, where their parents will continue to feed them. They won’t fly for the first time for another 6 to 8 days. Cornell All About Birds

Sedge Wrens forage low in vegetation or on the ground, where they are difficult to see. They probe for insects at the bases of plants or in the soil, using their fine bills and strong legs. Males sing on territories, sometimes from exposed perches near the tops of bushes but often from hidden perches. Cornell All About Birds

Northern Cardinal

 

I know that Northern Cardinals are very common in our area however I absolutely love this image for it’s colouring, sharpness and texture. Because it was taken on an overcast dreary day I believe it really helped the image stand out.

Wood Thrush

The Wood Thrush has a pot-bellied body, short tail, straight bill, big head, and upright posture. Definitely one of my favourite calls in the forest early morning.

Wood Thrushes are warm reddish-brown above and white with bold black spots on their underparts. Juveniles show a somewhat muted version of the same pattern. All have a bold, white eyering.

I love this image as it shows the bold black spots, the pot belly, the straight bill and upright posture as well as the beautiful reddish brown colouring.

The reclusive Wood Thrush hops through leaf litter on the forest floor, probing for insects, bobbing upright between spurts of digging and leaf-turning. The male's clear, flute-like song echoes through the forest in spring and early summer, and both sexes make distinctive, machine-gun-like alarm notes.

The Wood Thrush breeds in deciduous and mixed forests in the eastern U.S. where there are large trees, moderate understory, shade, and abundant leaf litter for foraging. They winter in lowland tropical forests in Central America. Cornell All About Birds

Orchard Oriole

 

The Orchard Oriole swaps the typical flame-orange of other orioles for a deep, burnished russet. Hopping among riverine shrubs or scattered trees, male Orchard Orioles sing a whistled, chattering song to attract yellow-green females. The smallest of North America’s orioles, it gleans insects from foliage and builds hanging, pouchlike nests during its brief breeding season, and then heads back to Central America for the rest of the year. Orchard Orioles also feed on fruit and nectar in orchards, gardens, and elsewhere.

I was able to capture this image of an Orchard Oriole at Wawanosh Wetlands recently.

Orchard Orioles migrate north late in the spring and head southward early, with some returning to their wintering grounds as early as mid-July. Because of the short breeding season, researchers have trouble distinguishing between breeding orioles and migrating ones in any given location. Cornell All About Birds

Eastern Whip-poor-will

 

One of my absolute favourite bird calls is listening to the Eastern Whip-poor-will, early evening, on a quiet spring night. Eastern Whip-poor-wills are easy to hear but hard to see. Their plumage blends perfectly with the gray-brown leaf litter of the open forests where they breed and roost.

It’s also fun to watch them sally out from perches to sweep up insects in their cavernous mouths.

Eastern and Mexican Whip-poor-wills used to be considered one species, simply called the Whip-poor-will. But in 2010 they were split into two species based on differences in mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Eastern Whip-poor-wills give faster, higher-pitched whip-poor-will calls and have more colorful eggs than their western counterparts. Cornell All About Birds

Some Local Birds

 

Managed to observe my first local Green Heron of the year a couple days ago at Wawanosh Wetlands.

And a Long-billed Dowitcher at a local sewage lagoon.

A White-crowned Sparrow posing nicely.

Common Loons

 

A couple of shots of Common Loons that were gathered in our area. Pretty cool to observe a dozen loons migrating north. We have also been camping in Northern Ontario in the fall when the loons gather on a northern lake before migrating south and the symphony is quite astounding.

Spotted Turtle

 

I can not count the number of times through the years that we have checked this log on this lake in search of a Spotted Turtle. Well a couple of days ago our efforts paid off a we were able to observe this Spotted Turtle for a rather extended viewing.

The Spotted turtle is one of Ontario’s smallest turtles with a shell that is rarely more than 13 centimetres long and it is easily recognized by its smooth black shell, which is spattered with bright yellow-orange spots. The head and limbs are also black with yellow-orange markings. These turtles eat aquatic insects, crustaceans and worms.

The Spotted turtle is semi-aquatic and prefers ponds, marshes, bogs and even ditches with slow-moving, unpolluted water and an abundant supply of aquatic vegetation.

They are found in different types of wetlands throughout the province, depending on the types of habitats that are available. Females dig their nests in sunny locations where there is not a lot of woody vegetation.

This species usually hibernates in wetlands or seasonally wet areas associated with structures including overhanging banks, hummocks, tree roots, or aquatic animal burrows. From Ontario Nature