American Coot

These birds are so rambuncious in the water, it's funny to watch.

Red-necked Grebe.

First grebe I've seen! They dive pretty deep, I lost sight of it quickly.

Bufflehead

Female on left.

Greater Scaup

It is extremely hard to discern between a lesser scaup and a greater scaup, but I'm fairly certain these are greater scaups. Notice the green hue of the males mostly black head.

Rutty Duck

Male has blue bill.

Northern Shoveler

Largest bills in North America!

American Wigeon

Ring-necked Duck

Can't believe I noticed this pair of ring-necked ducks amongst the scaups. Actually, I didn't notice until I got home, lol.

Swan

Looks like a tundra swan, but could be a trumpeter, not sure.

Savannah Sparrow

Canvasbacks

Male has red head. Photographed from very far.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Just about to land.

Prairie Dog

Cute little prairie dog, eh?























How about now? lol

Swainson's Hawk (light morph)

It took me a while, but I finally noticed that this is not a Red-tailed hawk! It is a Swainson's hawk. I noticed the multiple tail bands. It had a fresh kill and an either incredibly brave, or stupid Magpie wanted some, lol. It actually pulled on the hawks tail, fairly hard! The hawk couldn't have cared less. I'm sure the Magpie could have been the hawks next meal if it wanted!

....and then there were two.....

Brown Creeper

Hard to tell from the photos, but these little guys aren't much bigger than a twoonie!! Notice the insect it just cought! Glad I got a decent shot, wish I could say the same of a Golden-crowned Kinglet I saw just earlier. Even smaller still, he was!!

Ruffed Grouse

This grouse and I went for a nice walk through the woods. I followed it leisurely for atleast 30 minutes, trying to get a good shot. In the dense folliage, he wasn't flying away, but also wouldn't let me get too close. I never walked directly towards it, always just to the side, trying to get it to stop moving. Their first line of defense is camouflage, if they think they are not seen they freeze. I would lose site of it for a minute, until it moved again. So hard to see this little dude, even from 10 feet! Almost got myself into trouble. Wandered a little far off the beaten track. Didn't plan on trecking so late in the day. I realized I only had about 1 hour of sun left. I was lost, no compass, no food, no flashlight, looked like it was going to rain, in the middle of cougar and grizzly country. If you think you are scared of being in the forrest alone at night, in Ontario, try it in Kananaskis Country where there are true human predators. Oh my word!!! I'm more scared in the middle of the day here, than the middle of the night in Ontario. I did my best to stay calm and found my car just in time! Whew!