Plants & Birds

Tulip
Anual
Mourning Dove
Mourning Dove

Today I decided to do a blog only on plants but I could'nt resist to take some pictures of birds. I took a variety of pictures but only posted four of them.

Destroyed Garden?

When we had just arrived home from our shopping I spoted two adult male robins territorial fighting. But this was severe fighting because they were slapping and puting each other to the ground! Usually birds sing to fight not physicaly. My little brother Jesse had witnessed the fight too, and was very excited to see it.
Here is our pond. I just posted it for my grandparents to tell me if they think it is doing well.

This morning when I had just awoken I noticed that my garden was destroyed!! I think it was that nasty racoon that did it or maybe that big crow that comes in our backyard. I only managed to get a picture of some of it. Most of the seed was on the ground, weeds, crushed plants and a broken birdbath!!! LETS VOTE! In the comments tell me if you think it was the nasty racoon or the big crow.
As we were shopping my dad picked out some English Moss for the pond.

AND THAT WAS MY EXCITING SUNDAY!!!

AND THAT WAS MY EXCITING SUNDAY!!!

Point Pelee National Park Trip

my dad and I

Jesse and I on a birding trail

my dad, Jesse and I skipping rocks by Lake Erie

Scarlet Tanager in leafy forest

me sliding on a water slide

Great Blue Heron watching for prey

Adult female Yellow Warbler perched

typical adult male Red-winged Blackbird in display posture

Jesse and I

Does anyone know what this bird is above? Barn Swallow (above)
Great-crested Flycatcher (above)
Baltimore Oriole (above)
Red-winged Blackbirds (above)

We left Saturday morning to go to Point Pelee. It took us 4 hours to get there. When we got there we went straight to the park. The very first bird that I saw was a Great-crested Flycatcher. There were Red-winged Blackbirds by the dozens. One of the things when did when we got there was go right to the point and that is where we saw the unrecognizable bird. We saw Red-winged Blackbirds in territoril display posture. On that day we walked on trails for hours. And saw over fourty diffrent species of birds.

That night we stayed in a hotel that had a really cool pool, water slide and games.

The next day when we went back to the park we saw a...

SCARLET TANAGER!!!

And that is the bird I really wanted to see. We stayed at the park all day, and my mom saw an Indigo Bunting. I had a great time and I`m glad my mom and dad took me.

Busy Birding (pictures)

This Brown-headed Cowbird was very tame and let me take a good picture of it (the one below). It was eating out of my wood hopper feeder, but made a big mess underneath

of seed. As it threw the seed it didn't want on the ground but also knocked some of its preferred seed. It later realised this and ate it.

If you look carefully, you will see that its beak is slightly wavy and crocked. It has that because it is a seed-eater. Also it has black incrediscence body with a dark brown head. Pointy wings, long tail and scaly feet.




Here is two Brown-headed Cowbirds, a House Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow. They were eating the seed I put out for them.
Jesse my little brother wanted me to take a picture of him on the trampoline and I got a fairly good picture of him jumping on the trampoline.

Here is a Common Grackle looking mysteriously at me. It was just about to eat out of the wood hopper feeder. I wonder why the birds prefer the wood hopper feeder than the plastic one?
Here, also is a Common Grackle but it is bathing in our pond.


I would like to know if this is a House Finch or a Purple Finch. Can mon@rch tell me please?

Pictures

American Robins

Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Commn Grackle

Point Pelee National Park

Point Pelee National Park is an excellent place to go birding, especially in mid-May. Last time I went there I saw over 25 species of birds there including the Tree Swallows, Bald Eagles and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Which are all very colorful birds. Point Pelee is the most southern mainland in Ontario. I think I will see more birds this time at Point Pelee maybe even more than 50 species of birds! I think I will even make that my goal! The tip of Point Pelee is very dangerous and is almost surrounded by water. Even though the water may look calm, it is very rapid moving. Despite the appearance of the tip it is a wonderful place to go birding. I might consider volunteering in the birding competition. Unless it has changed.

When you first arrive at Point Pelee there will be a very long drive to get to the park, then you go through the gates on the left. Next you have to pay for visiting and go to the bird place which will give a check list of birds. Then you can begin birdwatching. Remember, always report your sightings to the computer in the bird place.

Birding In My Backyard

Me fixing nest box
My Hopper Feeder

After school I went outside to bird watch, there was many birds including the Brown-headed Cowbird. Which ornithologists call a "nest parasite" because they lay their eggs in other birds nest's. The cowbirds I saw were eating out of my hopper feeder. Then I went over to our sand box and saw, what I thought was a baby bird out of our nest. I checked our nest and all the baby birds were gone! So I figured that must be one of the robins from that nest. The baby bird sounded awful. It sounded like PUKT, ChiiirPP, Piut, put, put!!!. But it wasn't its fault, it was just practicing robin songs.

Yesterday, I was sitting down and a House Sparrow was perched on a tree inches away from me! I thought it was very exciting and I also saw grackles.

Anyway, back to what happened today. Brown-headed Cowbirds do kill other birds don't they? In a way? If you know please tell me because I'm getting tired of chasing the cowbirds out of our yard.

The bee population is going WAAAAY UP! There's even a bee by the window I'm typing by. But not to worry because these don't sting often. Unlike last years bees because I got stung last year. The bees this year also seem bigger than the ones I saw last year. Anyone know why?

Back to the birds; we had many grackles doing territorial fights which looked impressive because they look so much bigger than there normal size. Like the one I showed you with the funny story. Ha, ha! And there was a dove sleeping on the platform feeder on the birdseed. I always wondered where birds slept but I never expected this.

In two weeks my family and I are going to Point Pelee National Park and here is the park's website: www.pointpelee.ca . Since we are going there in mid-May its supposed to be the best place in North America to go birding!!!

Anyway, its my bed-time so bye!

Very Exciting Birding

When we arrived at Lynde Conservation Area we saw many different types of waterfowl including the Canada Goose.
Half way threw Lynde Conservation Area there was an adult male Downy Woodpecker. It almost landed on Jesse's hand but Jesse quickly pulled his hand away.

This morning we went to Thickson Wildlife Reserve, it had many species of birds including the RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET!!! I was very amazed when I saw it, my mom couldn't take any pictures of it because it was moving very quickly. Then we went to a grassland at that reserve. There I saw Tree Swallows hawking insects. Which was very exciting also. After that we went to the marsh, it had Red-winged Blackbirds, Northern Cardinals and American Robins. Of course the cardinals and robins were beside the marsh not in it. As we headed back to the grassland I heard a mysterious peeping sound, it was coming from in the grass. I didn't see the bird or the nest so I didn't walk in that area. Then the Tree Swallows came again, and I new bird. A flycatcher. I think it was a Great-crested Flycatcher but I wasn't sure. Although it looked a little bit like a robin. Then I heard a Hairy Woodpecker but didn't see it. We then walked further into the woods beside the grassland and my mom heard a cardinal. After that we went to a mini lake in the reserve. I saw some Golden-crowned Kinglets there. And a Great Blue Heron hunting. It was very camouflage. In fact, it was so camouflaged that the busy courting Canada Geese didn't see it. Then a Mallard or Mallard Duck flew very close to us. Soon we had to start heading back. On our way back we went to Thickson Point. It had a HUGE lake by it and it had a bird that looked to be a Shearwater, or a very unusual duck. But then we had to get in the van to go to Lynde Conservation Area. On the way there I studied my bird book.

When we finally got there it started raining. But not to worry because it's the best time to go birding. We saw many waterfowl including the Canada Goose. Then we went to feed the chickadees and we also saw White-throated Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds and Blue Jays. Then we saw a Downy Woodpecker trying to land on Jesse's hand because he had cereal on his hand.

I just figured something out its a code thing; I will repeat what I said in code: I just figured something ouut its a code.A

Anyway, I have go now so bye.

Backyard Birding

Northern Cardinal singing.

American Robin and Common Grackle fighting.
White-throated Sparrow eating by my birdfeeder.

This evening after school I had no homework, so, I got to birdwatch. I saw many birds including a new one in my backyard. The White-throated Sparrow! It was very tame or at least it seemed to be. I took lots of pictures of it but I only show my best ones on my blog.

Here is a story I made up, and I sent it to my cousin Ruth this morning. I think it will make you laugh. This story is writen about my second picture on this post.

American Robin says: Hey, Mr. Fluffy Pants, get out of here! Common Grackle says: No, Mr. Grumpy Gibbles! American Robin says: Take that and that and that!!! Common Grackle says: Alright, alright can I at least get one of your eggs. PLEASE! American Robin says: NO! Common Grackle says: Just one tiny egg. American Robin says: No! AND BE OFF WITH YOU!

Anyone think that was funny? Tell me if you thought so.

Now back to my biring today>>>>>>>>>>> I saw the goldfinches and heard the cardinals today. My mom took the picture of the cardinal singing I took the rest. I was going to put the picture of a goldfinch on my blog but for some reason it didn't work. Anyway, the bird of today is the Northern Cardinal. And there's a very pretty picture on my calendar today. Of course, its the cardinal.

That reminds me of another pretty bird or a bird that people only think is pretty. THE BLUE JAY. I was researching about birds this morning before school. And I found this website about Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Blue Jays. It said that Blue Jays appear to be blue but the sun makes them look blue. They are actually gray.

Anyway, I have to go for supper so bye until tomorrow.

American Robin

American Robin singing
American Robin perched

American Robins have always fascinated me. About how they sing their lovely song or how they catch worms. We even have robins nest in our yard. The pictures above were hard to take because they were males. Males are usually more timid then the females. So, that makes the pictures so hard to take. In fact, I think robins are our most common bird, so why do we ignore them so much? Because they are so common? I don't think we should. We need to stop putting poison on our lawns. When we put poison in our yards the worms eat the poison and the robins eat the worms. The robin then dies and a whole generation of birds is lost. Even when we put fertilizer in our lawns it can make the robins sick. Which a bird lover would not want. Why should you do this? Because, robins control our pest problems, because robins bring children into nature, because robins help our lawns!

Now that I have you interested in robins I will tell you how to provide food, water, shelter and a place to breed. Which is all a robin needs. ***note: when you help robins you help bluebirds too***

First make your lawn a little bigger if you can and provide a birdbath with a drip system. Then provide shelter like trees and shrubs. And your done, that's all you have to do! Isn't that easy. Why then don't a lot of us do that when its so easy!!! If its because we don't know how to do this its a different story, but if we do know then why don't we ? Trust me if you do this you are guaranteed to have robins in a month or so.

Now that we're aware of this why don't we get to know our robins. If you wish, read along.

American Robin

turdus migratorous

Identification; adult: orange belly dark back with yellow beak, juvenile: heavily streaked on belly.

Feeding: robins run on lawns to catch worms and hawk insects in the air.

Nesting: makes messy or clean nest out of mud, sticks and similar things. Makes nest on tree or building.

Song: tut, tut, tut or pup, pup, pup. Chirping. Loud plurrii, kiwii.

I hope you will enjoy robins even more after reading this post.

Toronto Zoo

Ostrich running

Stork's nest



Jesse, my mom and me sitting on a model hippo.

Yesterday, we went to the Toronto Zoo. When we arrived there, the parking lot was full, so we had to go to the next parking lot and it was almost full. (Maybe it had something to do with it being very hot out) We parked there and we had to go for a 15 minute walk to get the zoo. When we got to the zoo, IT WAS THE BIGGEST CROWD!! My dad thought it was funny, how could it be funny? To make the trip seem even harder Jesse, my little brother was walking way ahead of us. When we got him back we were in the middle of the crowd. I decided to go to the African Savanna. There the crowd got smaller. All of a sudden, people started yelling CONNOR! We figured that couldn't be good. Somebody was lost in a crowd. He was only three years old! We asked how we could help.

Wait a minute I thought this was about nature not search and rescue. Oh well, it is.

Anyway, they replied he was wearing blue and white stripes with buzz light-year on his shirt. My dad looked in the washroom and we looked around the zoo. Connor's mom found the staff and asked them to help. Soon, three year old Connor was found. He was smiling. His mom was so happy to have him back.

On our way from the crowd we saw a Stork's nest, Zebras, an Ostrich, baboons and lots of Canada Geese. The stork's nest was built on high rocks and out of thick branches. I thought the Stork nests were supposed to be either on the ground or high in trees.

The Zebras were running around. They were called Grevery's Zebras. There mane was long and thick. (Unlike Mountain Zebras).

The Ostrich did not want to get its picture taken. So it was running very fast away from the flashing cameras. Then a kid yelled look at the big bird! I thought well it is the biggest bird in the world. Eleven meters tall to be exact.

The baboons were climbing the wall and ignoring all the birds in their cage. Including Canada Geese and Savanna Sparrows.

After that we went to the Hyena cage. They were very fierce looking and running in circles in their cage. I think they were thinking about food... NO WAY I"M GOING IN THAT CAGE!!!

After that we went over to the giraffe cage. A baby giraffe was chasing a Canada Goose. The goose started flying and the giraffe almost fell over. No, I'm not kidding. It chased it a bit more and the giraffe can run surprisingly fast. Like 12miles per hour.

Anyway we had to start heading back. On the way back we saw everything we saw before so I'm not going to say it all over again.

We had a great day and after we went to the zoo we went for super.

Saturday Clean-up

Today, my family is cleaning up our yard. As we were working, I saw a dove and I felt like I was talking to it. First a Adult male Mourning Dove went ho ho how ho. I replied ho ho how ho. Then it replied ho hood ho. We did this over and over until that dove flew to my neighbours house. Then I noticed a robin siting on its nest ( last time I looked there were 2 eggs, but there could be more now). It FREAKED out when I came in the backyard. When we took a small break from cleaning up my dad noticed holes in the ground. He said that Song Sparrows problably did it. Then I told him that the holes in the trees were from the Brown Creeper that visited us earlier. After that very short break I played hockey with my brother and mom. While my dad raked the lawn. Our neighbours wanted to play hockey after they came back home but the couldn't. Boo who! I don't think they cried though.

Hopefully, tomorrow after church my family and I are going to the Toronto Zoo. Maybe even some of our friends could come with us. I'm probably going to bring my TriPod there. Last time we went there I saw some owls. They seemed to be tame but I know they aren't!! There is a yappy dog at our neighbours and its distracting me from writing so I have to go now... YAPP, YAPP, YAPP!

Church

Today, at church I was learning about the book of Judges in the Bible. We had several quizzes and I got most of them wrong! Boo-whoo. At Sunday school Josiah was very funny but it was distracting also. Anyway, despite the distracting I had a good time and I got some pictures to color. But I left them at church. At the end me and my friends played Star Wars 4 or something like that. They killed me in a fake way.... with a fake sword.

-Birds-

I didn't see too many birds but I wasn't really birdwatching.

My dad is setting up the trampoline. Or WAS. Now he had to stop because it's raining so he is setting up the net now. (road hockey net). We will play road hockey when it stops raining or if it does. The bird of today is the Black-browned Albatross. The chick looks hilarious, or at least the one I see on my calendar.

-Owls-

My mom is starting to get very curious and interested in owls. Although, they are a little scary to my mom. I think she only means the Barn Owl and Great Horned Owl. But she finds the Australian Barred Owl more scary. Not to me!

-Field guides-

If any of you are just beginning birdwatching or want to, I recommend you buying the stokes field guides. If you are a intermediate birdwatcher I recommend you buying the Sibley guide to birds. If you are a advanced birdwatcher I recommend you buying Kenn Kaufman's advanced birding book.

I am glad that mon@rch is reading my blog because his blog is amazing or at least to me.

Now the rain has ended for now so I'm going to play road hockey.

Lynde's Conservation Area #2 (pictures)

Me holding a chickadee
Two chickadees eating
out of my hand Red-winged Blackbird
wet Mute Swan

Lynde's Conservation Area

Today I got up early in the morning and woke my dad up. Unfortunately, my little brother woke up also and my mom was not very happy about that. So, my dad got Jesse back to sleep and we got ready to go to Lynde's Conservation Area. As we got ready I smelt a skunk! And I disliked it. It was almost as bad as the smell of rice chips. And I really DON"T LIKE THE SMELL OF RICE CHIPS!!! Guess what... MY MOM JUST BROUGHT RICE CHIPS INTO THE ROOM and I"M not KIDDING.

Anyway, when we finally got there it was much better than smelling skunks and RICE CHIPS. Yes, I said that to you mom. OK but the birds there were amazing. For example the Bufflehead and the Mute Swan. Well, the Mute Swan is colorful but extremely aggressive. That reminded me of the time a Mute Swan almost wrecked my shoe. But, surprisingly the Mute Swan I saw there was not so aggressive at all.

Once we walked into the forest part of the conservation area the chickadees were begging us for the cereal I was carrying. So, once again I fed them and they followed me everywhere, even into the Blue Jay territory (chickadees are often scared of Blue Jays). After the chickadees left us alone we went to the marsh nearby. There, we saw many Red-winged Blackbirds, Mallards, Buffleheads, Mute Swans and Canada Geese. Oh, we also saw some Common Grackles in the forest.

We saw many other birds but if I listed them all it would take forever.

Thanks dad for taking me there, it was fun!
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For some reason I can't get my pictures on this post, but I will post something right after this one called Lynde's Conservation Area #2 ( pictures)
Hopefully it will work>

Lower Population?

After school there was a surprisingly low amounts of birds. It had just rained so why was there not a lot of birds??? Anyway, the few birds that I did see were pairs of America Robins and my mom saw a variant adult male Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco. Anybody know why a scientists named that bird such a long name? Well, back to the low amount of birds. Even this morning, when it was raining I didn't see a lot of birds. Do you think it was because of the wind?

The bird of today is the Guira Cuckoo or the Guira Guira. Of course when I type it in italics its the scientific name. Put your hand up or just tell me if you've seen that bird. Problably not, because they only live on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!

I'm hoping tomorrow that my dad will take me to Lindoln's Conservation Area. I am hoping that because the last time we went there we saw many waterfowl, marshbirds and forest birds. For example the Mallard, Red-winged Blackbird and Blue Jay.

Today was a good day at school but I have a lot of homework. I will have to do that tomorrow because tonight is family night. (Family night is usually on a Friday night and its a time we do something special). This family night is on a Friday, and we are watching Happy Feet and eating pizza. And now a joke!
Nock nock
Whoes there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad I'm not always talking about birds
ha ha ha ha

Second Marsh Wildlife Area

Very early this morning, before I went to school my dad and I went to Second Marsh Willife Area. At first we saw a Brown Creeper creeping up some trees the old Brown Creeper fashioned way. They do this by flying to the base of one tree and creeping circularly up it and repeating this over and over. Then I started hearing Wood Ducks flying, all of a sudden some Canada Geese flew over and then the Black-capped Chickadees were interested with the cereal I was carrying. So I feed them it and...THEY LOVED IT!!! Infact they loved it so much that they followed me to the van!

Then it happend, we saw beautiful Wood Ducks courting. My dad told me that they were courting. There was chasing and flaping and all this excitment. There was so much noise that it scared the Red-winged Blackbirds into the trees. The chickadees were still there. But soon it would be time for school so we started heading back. On the way back my dad and I saw the Brown Creeper again and a few VERY NOISY Common Grackles. I think they were males. Of course, the Black-capped Chickadees were still begging for food and my dad was getting anxious to get me to school, but we found out we still had some time. And then...

THE CHICKADEE HURT ME wa! wa! wa! no I didn't cry but it HURT!

My dad and I had a good time there and I wasn't late for school...... And now a joke!


Between you and me (not Leah Holmes) she loves the smell of SKUNKS!!!

Put your hand up if you think thats weird. My hand is up and... I hope Leah Holmes does'nt see this blog post :-) :-