Green-winged Teal

 

The Green-winged Teal is the smallest dabbling duck in North America. The male has a cinnamon-colored head with a gleaming green crescent that extends from the eye to the back of the head.

In flight, both sexes flash deep-green wing patches. Look for them on shallow ponds and in flooded fields, and listen for the male’s decidedly non-ducklike whistle. These common ducks breed along northern rivers; wintering flocks can number as many as 50,000.

Blue-winged Teal

 

Blue-winged Teal are a dabbling duck that inhabit shallow ponds and wetlands across much of North America. Blue-winged Teal are long distance migrants, with some birds heading all the way to South America for the winter. Therefore, they take off early on spring and fall migration, leaving their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada well before other species in the fall.

The Blue-winged Teal is among the latest ducks to migrate northward in spring.

Brant

 

A few years ago there was a Brant that hung around under the Bluewater Bridge for a few days and I was able to locate and photograph.

The compact, rather short-necked Brant is an attractive small goose with a black head, white necklace, and rich brown body brightening to white under the tail. They winter in flocks in bays, estuaries, and lagoons, where they eat eelgrass and other aquatic vegetation. They nest in the Arctic in wetlands thick with grasses and sedges. Flocks give pleasing calls reminiscent of Sandhill Cranes, and the sounds carry for long distances. In recent decades, some Brant have begun to use upland fields, grazing on grass much as Canada Geese do. Cornell All About Birds

Trumpeter Swan

 

Trumpeter Swans are our biggest native waterfowl, stretching to 6 feet in length and weighing more than 25 pounds - almost twice as massive as a Tundra Swan.

Despite their size, this once-endangered, now recovering species is as elegant as any swan, with a graceful neck and snowy-white plumage. They breed on wetlands in remote Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern U.S., and winter on ice-free coastal and inland waters. Cornell All About Birds

Pacific Loon

 

A couple of years ago we had a Pacific Loon that hung around Sarnia Bay for quite awhile. I had observed Pacific Loons in Alaska however this was a great Lambton species to watch.

Breeding Pacific Loons are dapper birds with soft gray heads and intricate black-and-white patterning on the back and neck.

They nest on tundra lakes, where their far-carrying wails lend a haunting sound to the Arctic landscape.

This is the most abundant of North America’s five loon species, and in winter they gather in large numbers in coastal waters, bays, and estuaries.

Spring migration can produce one of the continent’s great wildlife spectacles, in which thousands of Pacific Loons, along with Red-throated and Common Loons, pass by for hours. Cornell All About Birds

Common Loon

 

The Common Loon swims underwater to catch fish, propelling itself with its feet.

It swallows most of its prey underwater. The loon has sharp, rearward-pointing projections on the roof of its mouth and tongue that help it keep a firm hold on slippery fish.

Loons are water birds, only going ashore to mate and incubate eggs. Their legs are placed far back on their bodies, allowing efficient swimming but only awkward movement on land.

Loons are agile swimmers, but they move pretty fast in the air, too. Migrating loons have been clocked flying at speeds more than 70 mph. Cornell All About Birds

I have been photographing Loons since I started photography back in the seventies when they would swim alongside our canoe on canoe trips in Algonquin Park often with young chicks on their backs however most of those images are on slides or print film.

Barrow's Goldeneye

 

Another cool visitor to the Sarnia area this winter was a Barrow’s Goldeneye.

I had observed this species when we travelled to Alaska but this was a first for me in Lambton. It was found by local birder Matt Parsons and eventually seen by many birders. This very low light distant image was the best I could manage in my attempt to photograph the bird.

A small, stocky diving duck with a large, oddly shaped, oblong head. The bill is relatively small and the forehead relatively steep compared with a Common Goldeneye.

Adult males are snow white below, smartly patterned with black and white above. At close range the head has a purple gloss. The eye is bright yellow with a white crescent between the eye and the bill. Females are grayish with a coppery head and a partly or mostly yellow bill. Cornell All About Birds

Common Goldeneye

 

Common Goldeneye

These distinctively shaped, large-headed ducks dive for their food, eating mostly aquatic invertebrates and fish.

They nest in tree cavities in the boreal forest of Canada and Alaska; look for them on large rivers, lakes, and Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts in winter.

Wood Duck

 

The Wood Duck are considered one of the most stunningly pretty of all waterfowl although not by me. Males are iridescent chestnut and green, with ornate patterns on nearly every feather; the elegant females have a distinctive profile and delicate white pattern around the eye. These birds live in wooded swamps, where they nest in holes in trees or in nest boxes put up around lake margins.

The Wood Duck nests in trees near water, sometimes directly over water, but other times over a mile away. After hatching, the ducklings jump down from the nest tree and make their way to water. The mother calls them to her, but does not help them in any way. The ducklings may jump from heights of over 50 feet without injury.

They are one of the few duck species equipped with strong claws that can grip bark and perch on branches. Cornell All About Birds

Red-breasted Merganser

 

The Red-breasted Merganser is a large, slim, and long-bodied diving duck with a fairly long neck and a long, thin, serrated bill.

A shaggy crest of feathers gives the head a distinctive profile.

Breeding males have a cinnamon chest, a white neck band, and a shaggy green head. Female and nonbreeding males are brownish gray overall with a brownish chin, a dingy breast, and a brown shaggy head. In flight both sexes have a prominent white lower wing panel. Cornell All About Birds

Bufflehead

 

The Bufflehead is a buoyant, large-headed duck that abruptly vanishes and resurfaces as it feeds. Bufflehead spend winters bobbing in bays, estuaries, reservoirs, and lakes.

Bufflehead near the Bluewater Bridge, St. Clair River.

Male Bufflehead are striking black-and white from a distance. A closer look at the head shows glossy green and purple setting off the striking white patch. Females are a subdued gray-brown with a neat white patch on the cheek. Bufflehead nest in old woodpecker holes, particularly those made by Northern Flickers, in the forests of northern North America. Cornell All About Birds

Ross's Goose

 

We recently had a somewhat rare visit of a Ross’s Goose to Sarnia. It was only the second time I have observed a Ross’s Goose in Lambton County.

The Ross’s Goose is a diminutive version of the familiar Snow Goose. The Ross’s Goose is also white with black wingtips but has a shorter neck and stubbier bill.

The Ross’s Goose has seen population explosions as climate change has warmed their arctic breeding grounds, reducing snow cover and increasing plant growth. Cornell All About Birds

Snow Goose

 

 Snow Goose have skyrocketed in numbers and are now among the most abundant waterfowl on the continent. They have a white and blue morph as shown here.

The dark color of the blue morph Snow Goose is controlled by a single gene, with dark being partially dominant over white. If a pure dark goose mates with a white goose, the offspring will all be dark (possibly with white bellies). If two white geese mate, they have only white offspring. If two dark geese mate, they will have mostly dark offspring, but might have a few white ones too. Cornell All About Birds

Northern Shoveler

 

The Northern Shoveler has a large spoon-shaped bill and can be found busily foraging head down in shallow wetlands.

Its uniquely shaped bill has comblike projections along its edges, which filter out tiny crustaceans and seeds from the water.

If the bill doesn’t catch your eye, the male's blocky color palette sure will, with its bright white chest, rusty sides, and green head. The female is no less interesting with a giant orange bill and mottled brown plumage.

The bill of the Northern Shoveler is big (about 2.5 inches long) and shaped like a shovel, but that odd-shaped bill also has about 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges that act like a colander, filtering out tiny crustaceans, seeds, and aquatic invertebrates from the water. Cornell All About Birds

Canvasback

 

Canvasbacks are a large, big-headed diving duck with a gently sloping forehead and a stout neck.

Its long bill meets the sloping forehead, creating a seamless look from the top of the crown to the tip of the bill.

On the water it has an oval body and a short tail that gently slopes down into the water. Cornell All About Birds

Redhead

 

With a gleaming cinnamon head setting off a body marked in black and business gray, adult male Redheads light up the open water of lakes and coastlines.

These sociable ducks molt, migrate, and winter in sometimes-huge flocks, particularly along the Gulf Coast, where winter numbers can reach the thousands. Summers find them nesting in reedy ponds of the Great Plains and West. Female and young Redheads are uniform brown, with the same black-tipped, blue-gray bill as the male.

Many ducks lay some of their eggs in other birds’ nests (a strategy known as “brood parasitism”), but female Redheads are perhaps tops in this department. Their targets include other Redheads as well as Mallard, Canvasback, Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, American Wigeon—even Northern Harrier. Cornell All About Birds

Harlequin Duck

 

The Harlequin Duck is considered one of the most spectacular species of waterfowl in North America, not only for the male’s striking plumage but for the dramatic landscapes that the duck calls home.

The blue, chestnut, and white males, along with the grayish females, breed mainly along whitewater rivers and winter on rocky windswept coasts.

Their lifestyle is rough on their bodies, and many Harlequin Ducks endure broken bones from a lifetime of being tossed around in the rough water. Cornell All About Birds

American Wigeon

 

The American Wigeon is another duck species passing through our area right now.

Breeding males have a green eye patch and a conspicuous white crown, earning them the nickname "baldpate." Females are brushed in warm browns with a gray-brown head and a smudge around the eye.

They make there home in quiet lakes and wetlands.

Groups congregate during fall and winter, plucking plants with their short gooselike bill from wetlands and fields or nibbling plants from the water's surface. 

Despite being common their populations are declining. Cornell All About Birds

American Coot

 

The American Coot is a plump, chickenlike bird with a rounded head and a sloping bill. Their tiny tail, short wings, and large feet are visible on the rare occasions they take flight.

You’ll find coots eating aquatic plants on almost any body of water.

When swimming they look like small ducks, but on land they look more chickenlike, walking rather than waddling.

An awkward and often clumsy flier, the American Coot requires long running takeoffs to get airborne. Cornell All About Birds

White-winged Scoter

 

The White-winged Scoter is a large sea duck with a heavy, sloping bill and bold white patches in the wing. Males are velvety black with a dashing, upturned comma of white around the eye and an orange-tipped bill.

In winter these birds eat mussels, holding their breath for a minute or more, deep underwater, while they wrestle the shellfish free from rocks.

They breed around lakes of the far north, where their diet changes to crustaceans and insects. Cornell All About Birds

Ring-necked Duck

Ring-necked Duck males are bold black-and-gray ducks with a dark head, black back, and gray sides with a white hash mark on the chest. Females are rich brown with a contrastingly pale cheek, a white patch near the bill, and a whitish eyering. Adult males have a prominent white ring on the bill. If you look close you can actually start to see the ringed necked.

Ring-necked Ducks are often in small flocks and pairs, diving to feed on mollusks, invertebrates, and submerged aquatic vegetation. Sometimes they flock with scaup; other times you may see them with dabbling ducks. Cornell All About Birds

Hooded Merganser

 Hooded Mergansers dive to catch aquatic insects, crayfish, and small fish. 

The male has a large white patch that varies in size when the crest is raised or lowered. 

Males court females by expanding this white, sail-like crest and making very low, gravelly, groaning calls.

Journey Through East Africa

 

We were miles away from this tree near the end of the day when I asked our guide if we could make it back to the tree before sunset. When we arrived, there was another jeep already there. So, our guide backed up as close to the spot I wanted to be and I climbed out the back of our jeep onto the hood of the other jeep to get this shot.

Ambroseli National Park was our last stop on our safari through East Africa. We got dropped off in the early evening at the airport in Nairobi, which was in total chaos due to the arrival terminal burning to the ground two weeks before our arrival. The situation was total confusion. People were crammed everywhere.

We were informed that our flight, the only flight for the next 24 hours, was way overbooked and that our seats, that we had reserved eight months prior, were already claimed. Eventually, after some reasoning, we secured a couple of seats beside the washroom. Not ideal, however almost fifty people, who had reservations, didn’t get on the plane and were forced to wait in the airport till the next flight 24 hours later.

Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep on the plane and drove home from Detroit after being on safari all day, all the confusion at the airport, and flying all night.

However, it was an unforgettable trip and a journey we will remember forever. Thanks for reading. Marilyn and Dave

Elephant Train

 

A couple of my favourite images of the safari. Taken on the last day.

An elephant train heading to the waterhole early in the morning.

I had this image in my head all safari and was able to capture it the very last day. One of my personal favourites.

Cheetah

 

The Cheetah is a slim cat with muscular long legs.

They have a small, rounded head that is set on a long neck, a flexible spine, a deep chest, special pads on its feet for traction, and a long tail for balance.

It is also the only cat that cannot retract its claws, an adaptation to help maintain traction like a soccer player’s cleats.

It also bears distinctive black “tear tracks” running from the inside corner of each eye to the mouth that may serve as an anti-glare mechanism for daytime hunting.

They usually prey on small antelopes such as Thomson’s gazelles and impalas but also hunt small mammals and birds. It gets as close to the prey as possible; then in a burst of speed, it tries to outrun its quarry.

These big cats are the fastest of all land mammals. These cats can run as fast as 95 to 120 km/h (60-75 mph). Once the cat closes in, it knocks the prey to the ground with its paw and suffocates the animal with a bite to the neck.

Once it has made a kill, it eats quickly and keeps an eye out for scavengers–lions, leopards, hyenas, vultures, and jackals will steal from this timid predator. Unfortunately, the cat's speed can’t be maintained for more than a few hundred meters before the individual overheats and the majority of hunts result in failure. African Wildlife Foundation