Water Birds and a Beaver

 Certainly with the limited amount of open water available this time of year, any of it is a major drawing card for birds. Waterfowl in particular, not surprisingly. So I keep checking places like the small patches of open water at water treatment plants and the like.

The warm water outlet for the Chatham water treatment plant, as it enters the Thames River, consistently has several dozen to a couple of hundred water fowl in the immediate area, but they come and go.

A female Bufflehead has been around for several weeks....

...as has at least one, and sometimes two, Common Goldeneye.

Up to 9 Redheads have been present, mostly males, 

but a female or two have been there a bit longer.

Snow Geese are not often seen there, but on one occasion recently there were 14 of them, and showed various plumages varying from pure white, to partial 'blue' phase, to a good solid blue phase.

Mallards are by far the most common, and while they certainly are not rare, they are quite an impressive duck nonetheless. In fact a colleague of mine, who had a Ph. D. and specialized in waterfowl biology mentioned that he thought they were a very strikingly marked duck that never got the adulation they deserved. I agree, and while I like to photograph rare or less common birds, if a common species gives me a good photo op, I will take it.

Even the females are quite attractive in their own way.

A single Pied-billed Grebe continues to hang in there as well.

There are always a few gulls looking for something to snatch away from anyone else.
 

 At the Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons, the open patch of water is getting smaller. But a few ducks are continuing to spend time in the water or on the ice immediately surrounding it. A couple of male Northern Pintail were present for several days....

...but most of the ducks were skittish. As long as you stayed in the vehicle, they were fairly tolerant, but any move to step outside caused most of them to take to the air.

A couple of male Redheads were also there....

...but also decided any movement outside the vehicle was reason to take flight.

Most Mallards were more likely to stay put....

....although a few got up for a little flight once in awhile.

a Mallard returns

 I've been out roaming around the former Dover Twp on several occasions. There is still an occasional Snowy Owl, but most seem to have moved on. Of course with the snowy farm fields, they are definitely a lot harder to spot!

There are still several thousand geese as well as a few swans, especially in the vicinity of St. Clair NWA. Mixed in with the Canada Geese have been a few Greater White-fronted Geese, but I haven't managed to get any photos of them lately. I did get this photo of a single blue phase Snow Goose

.....and snapped a few of the Tundra Swans.

I went to the west end of Rivard Line, just north of St. Clair NWA, where a large-scale water pump continues to keep a bit of water open even in the coldest weather. As is sometimes the case, a Belted Kingfisher can be found, waiting to snatch a minnow from the water. This bird looks to be in fairly good condition, so must have had some success in minnow-catching over the last few weeks.

Oh, and regarding a beaver, I came across this critter one time in late afternoon at the warm water outlet along the Thames. I managed to capture a couple of quick photos before it disappeared under the ice.

Seeing beaver out in broad daylight at any time of year is unusual. Seeing one in winter in broad daylight, and along a stretch of the river within the city limits was a lot more than just unusual, in my opinion. I think this is the first one I have seen anywhere near this location. The population has been expanding in southern Ontario for a few years now.

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