Rondeau Ric

From the archives , February 17, 2017. Short-eared owl near Blenheim Ontario, Canada. Asio flammeus As suggested by their wide global distribution, Short-eared Owls can travel long distances over vast expanses of ocean. Witnesses have reported seeing these owls descending on ships hundreds of miles from land.

Ducks waddle, Grackles strut their stuff, Woodcocks walk like an Egyptian,  But Turkey vultures rock. 

Not many ants around, so this flicker was rooting around in the grass for what ever was edible. Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, March 21, 2025. Colaptes auratus Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.

Red-winged blackbird, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, March 13, 2025. One go the feeder raiders that cleans our feeders out first thing in the morning . Agelaius phoeniceus  Winter flocks can be congregations of several million birds, including other blackbird species and starlings. Each morning the roosts spread out, traveling as far as 50 miles to feed, then re-forming at night.

  First of year, March 16, 2025, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Taken through the wonderful wildlife window. Say the first on the 15th finally got a shot the next day. Also had a northern flicker but didn't get an image. Pipilo erythrophthalmus Eastern Towhees tend to be pretty solitary, and they use a number of threat displays to tell other towhees they’re not welcome. You may see contentious males lift, spread, or droop one or both wings, fan their tails, or flick their tails to show off the white spots at the corners. Studies have shown that male towhees tend to defend territories many times larger than needed simply to provide food.

First decent image of a chickadee this year. Also had a male towhee and a make flicker in the yard on the 15th, no photos, maybe tomorrow.   March 13, 2025, Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Poecile atricapillus Chickadee calls are complex and language-like, communicating information on identity and recognition of other flocks as well as predator alarms and contact calls. The more  dee   notes in a   chickadee-dee-dee  call, the higher the threat level.