Saturday, April 22, 2023

Feathered Neighbors

Some bird photos from the last while.

We get three kinds of mergansers here. The hooded are the flashiest. Here are a male and a female.

Hooded Merganser (male)

Hooded Merganser (female)

The Red-breasted Mergansers are less common. They're only here during the winter.

Red-breated merganser (male)

In Saskatchewan, Great Blue Herons were uncommon. It was a special occasion to see and photograph one. Here, we see them all the time but they are still impressive big birds, with a prehistoric feel to them. (This shot was last week's print.) They are very focused when they're hunting.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Black Oystercatchers are striking with their bright orange beak and eyes, and their noisy call.

Black Oystercatcher

It's amazing that the Anna's Hummingbirds survive the winter here. Such tiny birds that need to feed constantly. There aren't many flowers in the winter so they survive on all the hummingbird feeders people put out.

Anna's hummingbird

One of the pleasures of our home near the water is watching the gulls soar in the wind. Of course, when they're pulling garbage out of the bins they're not so attractive! This juvenile had been given (or taken) this crab from an adult, presumably its parent. It seemed unsure exactly how to handle it, but eventually it just swallowed it whole! With the sharp shell and claws, that must have been an uncomfortable swallow.

gull with crab

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