Nature's decorations

 I'm not a big fan of extreme cold, nor is my camera equipment. But when the weather conditions collude like they did yesterday, it is worth the effort to get out and enjoy it. For any readers living in southwestern Ontario, yesterday arrived with some glorious scenes out the window.

I'm talking about hoar frost. It is delightful to see, but sometimes a challenge to photograph. And it is relatively short-lived. We see it once, maybe twice, each winter.

This is what a small part of it looked like out our kitchen window, taken with a telephoto lens and with the neighbour's cedar hedge as a background.

Marie suggested we take a walk over in Paxton's Bush. So off we went, to enjoy the hoar frost and keep an eye out for the resident Great Horned Owls. There were very few other folks out. Perhaps it was too early on a Sunday morning, or maybe folks decided to enjoy the scenes from the warmth indoors.

 

 We didn't see any sign of the owls, but perhaps they saw us. We were enjoying the quiet and scenery, as well as the crunch of snow as we walked along.

Hoar frost only occurs under certain conditions. It is when it is very cold (yesterday morning was about minus 15C or so) and the surface of things like branches are frozen. If there is little to no wind, and a certain amount of moisture in the air, the moisture will freeze onto the frozen branches, and slowly build up ice crystals. Yesterday morning there was a bit of mist, which of course is indicative of more moisture. So it all came together very nicely!

After our excursion to Paxton's Bush, I decided to put the macro lens on and explore photo opportunities in the garden and prairie patch behind our place. Here are a few images.

Indian Grass seed head

This next photo is a cropped image of the previous one, showing the intricate design of ice crystals in a bit more detail.

Common Milkweed

Dill

Monarda

Purple Coneflower

As the sun became stronger, there was a slight breeze, and many of the ice crystals started falling off the branches. Against the blue sky, it was very sparkly!

Also in the prairie patch was evidence of one of the residents. There were various faint tunnel patterns under the new-fallen snow, and an occasional spot where the tunnel came to the surface. It is probably that of a vole.

Where there is water, there are birds

 Open water is a significant attraction for many species of birds, especially at this time of year. Just like humans, birds need water to drink, if nothing else. Of course the term 'waterfowl' implies the importance of water to that group, and many open water areas in wetlands and rivers are a great place to find concentrations of them. With the current cold weather, areas of open water are very limited, not surprisingly. The warm water outlet along the Thames River, on the downstream side of Chatham, is very popular with various water birds. I've made several visits there over the past few days. 

 Certainly Mallards are by far the most common, with typically more than a hundred of them in the area.

 Of course with the warm water flowing into the river, it is also attractive to small fish, and that turns out to be a food source for ducks. In spite of the fact that many ducks are primarily vegetarians, when they are hungry enough any source of food and protein is important. I've even seen Canada Geese gobble down the occasional fish!

There is a small number of American Black Ducks, closely resembling a female Mallard but darker and with a greenish, rather than orangey, bill.

A few domesticated Mallards are present, showing a mix of normal Mallard colours but often with patches of white, since they may have hybridized with domestic white Pekin ducks.

One of the most colourful of our native ducks is the male Wood Duck. A pair of Wood Ducks has been present most of the time.

The female woodie is less vibrantly coloured.

There is at least one female Hooded Merganser, the smallest of our three native merganser species, usually around. In the second photo, there is a Mallard close by, giving an idea of scale.

A female Common Goldeneye has been hanging out as well.

Of course there always seems to be a large number of Canada Geese around. Some are on the ice, but a majority of the several hundred individuals can often be seen on the snow-free grassy river slope across the river.

A few gulls may be around, but not always. This next bird is a Herring Gull. A much rarer Iceland Gull has been seen from time to time.

Where there are concentrations of waterbirds, predators of waterbirds may be around waiting for an opportunity to pounce on some unsuspecting or weakened individual. I have seen an immature Bald Eagle, shown next in the trees across the river from this patch of open water, as well as a full adult Bald Eagle flying through or perched nearby.

On a much smaller scale of open water, are some large ditches which are fed by springs. One such ditch just south east of Blenheim often has one or two Wilson's Snipe present, their long bills probing the unfrozen muddy bottom for some morsel.

A little more unusual for the location, is this Northern Mockingbird. It shows up from time to time, and while it likely is feasting on some berries in the nearby bushes, it will come to the water for an occasional drink.

Right nearby where the mockingbird was, this Red-bellied Woodpecker was found. It probably had nothing to do with the water in the ditch, but was more interested in the woodlot close by.

A day or so ago I decided to roam around the former Dover Township, northwest of Chatham. There really isn't any open water readily available given all the cold and snow, so this departs somewhat from the open water theme above. With the landscape almost entirely covered by snow, I really wasn't expecting to see any Snowy Owls. I expect more than one of them saw me, however. But it was still very much a worthwhile time to roam around. I managed to get a few distant photos of a coyote scampering across a field. Being hunted as much as they are, I suspect they are very wary of any vehicle that stops. This individual was probably at least 500 metres away, and although it kept loping farther and farther away, it would stop from time to time and look around. The light wasn't the best angle with the bright sun bouncing off the snow; these are highly cropped.

Another highlight of my roaming around that day was encountering this Merlin perched in a tree. It was a little leery of me stopping the vehicle and pointing something out the window at it, and I only got three or four photos.

I am quite sure that this is the first time I have ever photographed a Merlin!

Closer to home, a periodic walk through Paxton's Bush shows that the resident Great Horned Owls are still around. I'm not sure where they are going to nest this year, as the tree stub they started with in 2020, is not available to them. In case you missed it, you can read up a bit about last year's saga by checking out this. Nonetheless, the owls are still here, although this first photo shows three birds.

Given how close it is to the beginning of the nesting season, and how territorial this species can be, I was a little surprised to see three birds so close together. Presumably the third one might be offspring from last year, and may be learning the ropes for its future activities. Marie and I go for somewhat regular walks to Paxton's Bush, and we will be keeping an eye out for the whereabouts of this nesting location.

 

Early February jaunts, before the real cold

 It definitely seems more like winter! I got out a couple of times before the forecast for the cold and snow was to arrive, looking for lingering things. The Stefina Line area southeast of Blenheim can be worthwhile, especially if a Wilson's Snipe shows up at its usual haunt in the winter. It hasn't yet, to my knowledge, but other things are around. Northern Harriers can be seen regularly floating over the grassy fields. They usually aren't very close, and with a busy background, are hard to get and keep in focus.

On one occasion as I approached the ditch where the snipe is often seen, I was surprised to see this adult Bald Eagle in a tree at the edge of a woodlot. I only had time for a couple of quick shots, and these were taken through the front window of the vehicle, so they aren't as crisp and clear as I would like. This is the first time I have ever seen a Bald Eagle anywhere near this spot. It makes one wonder if it is looking for a new nesting location, as the Ontario population generally is expanding, so it bears watching.

At another scrubby old field pasture type setting a bit farther north, I sat watching several dozen sparrows coming and going, all the while several raptors were on the hunt for something to eat. Most of the sparrows were House Sparrows, but there were several Am Tree Sparrows and upwards of a dozen White-crowned Sparrows mixed in. This young White-crown obliged me for a minute or so.

I took the opportunity to check out part of Rondeau. It was a nice sunny day, albeit a bit cold and with a brisk northerly wind. Clearly there were other people who had the same idea, as most of the parking lots had several vehicles. I chose to go out the west side of the South Point Trail (SPT), which is a nice walk through the forest and ends up at the lake. There were very few birds, but woodlands are normally fairly quiet at this time of year. Even looking out over the lake produced absolutely no birds in sight. But the shoreline landscape was worth the walk out. 

Lately it has been next to impossible to make one's way through the shrubby tangles and fallen trees along the shoreline. The former South Point Trail is now officially two trails, with one being SPT East and the other SPT West. With the buildup of ice piled along the shoreline, and the north winds which meant the waves weren't crashing on shore, I decided to tackle the challenging shoreline from the west side around to the east. It wasn't easy, but a whole lot easier than it would have been a month ago. Once I got to the east side, I continued up along that side of the SPT, then followed Harrison Trail north to Gardiner Ave and then back to where I had initially parked. It was a total of at least 8 km, and in all that distance, I only came across 6 people going the opposite direction, so physically distancing was easily done.

Upon returning to Chatham, I realized that the Thames River was almost totally frozen, so that made it an easy decision to take a side trip to the water treatment plant where it spewed warm water out into the river. Even in the coldest weather, there is usually an open spot varying in size depending on the intensity of the cold, and that makes it attractive for lingering waterfowl. This first photo, taken a couple of years ago, shows how small the open spot can be, but the waterfowl congregate in large numbers regardless. When they aren't resting on the ice, many can be seen in the water, waiting for a small fish to appear. The fish are likely also attracted to the warm water flow, so it serves the waterfowl well. It does seem a bit odd, however, to see Mallards, normally an eater of grain types of food or other vegetable matter, swallowing a fish!

Mallards are the most plentiful, with typically at least 100 birds. There are a few Am Black Ducks mixed in.

And usually there are a few singles of other species.

Common Goldeneye

This next photo shows the male Wood Duck, which was my primary target for this photo. It wasn't until a bit later that I noticed the duck to the right, which is a female Wood Duck. It always had its head tucked in, so wasn't immediately apparent from a distance.

An immature Bald Eagle flew through fairly quickly, as did a Red-Tailed Hawk, but I didn't get their photo. A Belted Kingfisher is often here, perched within easy sight of the water outlet, waiting for a small fish to appear. But I didn't see one on this visit.

As I was returning home, I had to wait for a stop light near a taller apartment building more or less overlooking the river, and where a Peregrine Falcon was seen regularly last year. The presence of ~150 Rock Pigeons in the immediate area is a readily available food source for this aerial predator, and although it had been reported on one occasion a few weeks ago, I had not encountered it yet. That changed today, as while I was waiting for the light to change, I glanced up at the top of the building and saw it perched on one of the tallest aerials. So I immediately changed plans and got myself located to a spot where I might get a photo. It wasn't close by any means. This first photo, taken with a lens combination at an equivalent of about 14 power binocular, was cropped to the equivalent of about 21X. 

And this is what it looked like cropped to about 110X!