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A Breezy start to 2022

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Winter has come and almost gone in no time at all. I can easily recount how many times I've endured the cold by traversing the frozen expanse of the Wetlands. An invitation to the inevitable frozen fingers that come from hovering over the shutter for just too long, holding out for that perfect photo of a black-capped chickadee on a fluffy cattail. Or one of the many white-chested nuthatches, creeping, scouring every inch of bark they could find. I resigned myself (for the most part) to birdwatching from the comfort and warmth of our home, where the bitter frozen fruit of one of our trees proved popular with a group of cedar waxwings. It was quite surprising to watch them swallow the frozen berries whole! A cast-iron frying pan acted as a watering hole for many of our neighbourhood birds when the temperature rose above zero, and it attracted a close relative of the white-breasted nuthatch. One that I tried and failed to photograph in the fall of last year, but a return of the red-br...
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At Odds with the Mink

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Hiding in plain sight may not be as crazy as it sounds.  I'd implemented all of my usual tactics to hide my presence to get closer to the hooded mergansers, but the mergansers seemed to know exactly where I was regardless of how sneaky or well hidden I was. Last year, when standing in shallow water, I'd noticed that the resident ducks, geese and the mink seemed to ignore me. So out I waded, being very careful not to get too close to the Canadian geese who were nesting on either side of me. They are very protective of their nests! After 30 minutes of sitting motionless on a fallen tree, boots dangling in the water, the wildlife around me started to accept me as something that was just there. A male European starling performed in song and display just above me. A male red-winged blackbird similarly took the time to sing as it searched for food around the edge of the water. Then the mink appeared out of nowhere, as it does, and that drew the attention of the hooded mergansers. The...
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Location: Borden Wetlands, Kitchener, ON N2E, Canada
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Hooded Mergansers

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How many hooded mergansers can you fit on a tree stump? It's, I'm sure, a question that has puzzled us all at some point. The answer is, of course, three. Three hooded mergansers can comfortably fit on a dead tree stump. The real question is, why on earth are ducks so interested in dead tree stumps? Hooded mergansers are fish eaters, after all. Their long serrated bill has a sharp hook at the end.  That bill has evolved with the need to grasp hold of fish who would prefer not to be captured.  Mergansers are just as adept at swimming under the water as they are flying through the air. And it was their repetitive flying that drew my attention to their fascination with trees. For no apparent reason, the mergansers, male and female, would take off, performing laps around the wetlands.  They would circle round and round. Then, curiously, the female would disappear among the stands of trees on the far side of the water. That presented me with lots of opportunities for photos of...
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