Downy Woodpecker

Here are 2 shots of the male Downy Woodpecker from Pike Lake recently :

Red Squirrel

Here are some more Squirrels from Pike Lake. I was really happy with these photos , as I really wanted to get a shot of these guys among the Fall leaves.

Click to see full size :

Feeding the Wildlife at Pike Lake

In a previous post, I mentioned my wife and I went to Pike Lake last Sunday and had a wonderful afternoon feeding the wildlife there.
Its always a thrill to have a wild bird perch on your hand and take food.
The Red Squirrel and Downy Woodpecker were either very hungry, or just very friendly, as this is the first time I've seen either so tame before.
In fact I've never seen a Woodpecker feed from anyone's hand before, until now.
The Red Squirrel actually sat on my wife's foot at one point , happily eating peanuts without a care in the world while she petted him.

Here are some photos ( As usual click to see them full size )

Downy Woodpecker :







White-breasted Nuthatch :





Red Squirrel :

River Walk This Morning

It was a chilly -5º this morning when I left the house and the sky quickly turned overcast.
I decided to hike over to the weir to see what was at the river and then made my way back through Cosmopolitan Park.

Here is what I saw :

Common Goldeneye - 9 south of the CN Bridge , and another 15 north up the river.
American Coot - 1 near Goose Island
Mallard - 45+
Canada Goose - 175
Cackling Goose - 12
Black-billed Magpie - 7
Blue Jay - 1
Ring-billed Gull - 30 on a sandbar south of Goose Island
Northern Shrike - 1 feeding juvenile at Cosmopolitan Park.
Great Horned Owl - 1 just north of the railway bridge
Hairy Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Common Redpoll - 30+
Black-capped Chickadee - 11
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
House Finch - 4
House Sparrow - 15

Snowshoe Hare - 1 pure white rabbit at Cosmo Park
Muskrat - 1 swimming on the river


Here are 3 photos taken today. Unfortunately, they suffer from poor light, and obstructive branches, but I was extremely happy to find both of these species ,as they are both new finds for me along the river on my usual route :

Northern Shrike - This 1st winter bird was busy eating its meal when I found him..





Great Horned Owl - I spotted this Owl from quite a distance away and got off this shot before it decided to fly onto the west side of the river..

White-breasted Nuthatch

Last weekend my wife and I spent a couple of hours at Pike Lake.
This is a great place not too far from town, where you can find White-breasted Nuthatches.
They are quite tame, and will sometimes come down to your outstretched hand to take food, along with the even tamer Black-capped Chickadees that are always present.
I got some photos of them feeding from my wife's hand which I will post soon.

For now , here are some photos I got of this handsome bird
( click to enlarge ):







This is what a Nuthatch will do when a Chickadee gets too close :

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Well , last year a Northern Cardinal showed up in a city yard and delighted local nature enthusiasts.
The year before that, a Curve-billed Thrasher was way off course and hung around a yard in Dalmeny, not too far from town.
Taking the prize for the biggest surprise of 2008 ( at least so far ) has to go to a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that was spotted on a Saskatoon Nature Society field trip yesterday at Blackstrap Lake.
The only previous record of this species in the Saskatoon area was way back on the 20th September 1980.

More commonly found in south-central United States and northeastern Mexico , this bird is also the state bird of Oklahoma.

So, of course, upon hearing about this sighting , myself and 5 friends were not disappointed when, despite the overcast and rainy conditions, the bird was still in the same spot as yesterday!

Here are the best shots I could get of it this morning. I really had to crank up the cameras ISO sensitivity just to get a decent shuttter speed because of how poor the light was. ( Click to enlarge )

Golden-crowned Kinglet & more

This afternoon I spent an enjoyable couple of hours at the old Sanatorium site and Holiday Park.
Almost as soon as I arrived, while I was speaking to the friendly owner of the Bowerman House, I heard the distinctive 3 note call of a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
I soon found a pair of them foraging in a thick stand of shrubs and then watched as they flew high to the lofty branches of one of the many spruce trees at the park.
The Northern Cardinal that visited this area last year apparently left in March , so hopefully it made its way south with no problems.

Other birds seen at the park :

Common Merganser - one actively diving bird on the river
Mallard - 10 on the river
Canada Goose - 12 on the river
Ring-billed Gull - 5 flying over the river
Dark-eyed Junco - 6
Black-capped Chickadee - 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 4
White-breasted Nuthatch - 4
House Finch - 20+ feeding on choke cherries near the house
Blue Jay - 4
Black-billed Magpie - 3
Common Raven - 1 heard
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Northern Flicker - 4

Here are some photos ( click to enlarge )

Golden-crowned Kinglet



Dark-eyed Junco



Black-billed Magpie