Yellow-rumped Warbler

This is one of the latest Yellow-rumped Warblers that I found at Buena Vista Park , just before the weather started to turn quite nasty.
This morning it was almost freezing and actually felt like -5° outside.
I've already prepared the backyard for the inevitable snow that we will be getting either this month or the next and set out a large platform feeder made out of an old coffee table top, that I will cover to protect the seed when the time comes.
Visitors this morning included 2 Blue Jays, a Male Downy Woodpecker , a Black-billed Magpie, a House Finch , two Pine Siskins and the usual 40 or so House Sparrows.

Wood Duck

I wish I could have gotten this close to the Surf Scoters last Saturday!
This beautiful male Wood Duck is actually a captive bird that I photographed last Autumn at the Forestry Farm Park.
Unfortunately I did not see any wild one's this year, but at least this photo is finally getting published :-)

Surf Scoters at Gardiner Dam

While looking for a Yellow-billed Loon that was spotted earlier in the week , myself and 2 friends traveled out to Gardiner Dam to see if we could find it.
Unfortunately as is often the case with birding, we were unsuccessful, but did come away with a new year bird ( also a lifer for one of my friends )
The new bird was a pair of juvenile Surf Scoters, large sea ducks that breed in Alaska & Canada and usually winter in southern US along the coasts.
I couldn't get very close to them, and my vantage point was high up, but I just had to get a shot of them for my files.

We did find 4 Common Loons, checking them very carefully to make sure we didn't overlook anything !

Other highlights were an Osprey , a lingering Wilson's Warbler at the visitor centre keeping out of the strong gusting winds, plus 10 Harris's Sparrows, 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1 White-throated Sparrow, 3 White-crowned Sparrows , 30+ Junco's , 1 American Tree Sparrow and 5 Bald Eagles.

Surf Scoter :

Lingering Plovers

On a recent trip out to see the Whooping Cranes at Osler, it was nice to see a small scattering of shorebirds that hadn't yet decided to fly south.
More noticeable were the bigger flocks of Black-bellied Plover, associating with a few Baird's Sandpiper, but the highlight was seeing a couple of American Golden Plover foraging in the marsh with them.
Up until this point, I have only seen this species at a distance and usually mid-flight, with their Golden backs glinting in the Sun.

American Golden Plover :



Black-bellied Plover :

Whooping Cranes Return

Ten adult Whooping Cranes were spotted by a landowner at Osler, Saskatchewan this week ,so I traveled out there early yesterday morning and was happy to see them.
The last time I saw these rare Cranes was in the Spring and there were only three.
I hope this is a good indication that the population is on the rise...

Brown Thrasher

These were taken last week along the river. I wanted to get some shots of this bird foraging in the leaf litter as they blend in rather nicely with the Fall colors.
I had to be very still and patient to get these shots, as any movement would have scared him off...

A Merlin and two Blackbirds

Here are some recent photos from a drive out in the country.

Merlin :



Brewer's Blackbird (female) :



Rusty Blackbird ( female ):