World Bird Wednesday: April 10, 2012

Wow, WBW LXXIII! It has been a while since I contributed to this meme. Check out the images from around the world posted at The Pine River Review.

Niagara Digiscoping: The Perils of Nesting Killdeer

At the start of my work week last week, the perils of nesting Killdeer near the employee parking area began and by Thursday June 9 there were 4 eggs resting in a small depression in the gravel.

There was no point lamenting the fact that I would be unable to attend the Darlington ptarmigan viewing on Sunday morning. So instead, I placed the scope in the car and after dropping Jean off at work, I went to observe the progress of the nesting pair of Killdeer and try a bit of digiscoping.

One of the Killdeers was sitting on the eggs when I arrived and did not raise a fuss as I walked by to enter the building. After checking on a few things I emerged from the building and the Killdeer left the nest as I started to setup the scope. The main reason I was there was to capture images of the bird sitting on the nest. Now I would have to wait as the Killdeer strolled the area near the eggs.

Eventually the Killdeer returned to the nest and resumed its position on top of the eggs.

Its mate was on sentry duty and remained alert while I stood in the parking area deciding on the best location from which to capture additional digiscoped images.

I was mindful of ethical birding practices and kept my disturbance of the birds to a minimum.

After capturing a sufficient amount of images, I left the Killdeer pair to enjoy the quiet of an empty parking area and loading dock.

Incubation will take 24-26 days so we should see the first of the young emerging at the end of the month and then the parental duties of both adults will increase greatly. Until then, check out these other images of birds from around the world that were recently posted for World Bird Wednesday 30 at The Pine River Review.

Niagara Digiscoping: Queens Royal Park

After observing the Eastern Screech Owl, a nice start to a week's vacation, Jean and I returned to the scene of the tick the following day with hopes of capturing an image of the red morph. No such luck. So we drove along the Niagara Parkway to Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) to look for waterfowl and loons, specifically Red-throated Loon.

From Queens Royal Park we observed a loon but it was a species already on the year list. Always cool to see members of the family Gaviidae though.

Common Loon, Gavia immer

In a few more weeks it will be much colder and the nasal calls of male Long-Tailed Ducks will fill the air while the Mute Swans seen here, will most likely be found at the NOTL sewage lagoons.

Mute Swan, Cygnus olor

For other World Bird Wednesday Images, visit the Pine River Review.

Niagara Digiscoping

I'm submitting this post of Niagara Digiscoping to "World Bird Wednesday". A new meme created by Springman! at The Pine River Review blog.

Since purchasing her Nikon Coolpix S220 in 2009, my wife Jean has taken up the hobby of digiscoping. These two images were taken at the Wetland Ridge Trail in the Niagara Region, in southern Ontario.

My tales of our birding adventures would be quite boring if not for images such as these two.

Cedar Waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum

Wetland Ridge Trail, Niagara-on-the-Lake