Changing Colours

The first signs of frost in the mornings heralded a change of colours in the trees and bushes. 

The sun no longer burned but provided a pleasant warmth, and thank goodness, there were next to no mosquitoes. I have to say that fall is undoubtedly my favourite time of the year.

Warblers had been making their return journey south for their winter. Feeding on the insects that were plentiful on the sunbathed bushes that edge the Wetlands. And that is where this common yellowthroat was found.


I also came across a blue-headed vireo that did not seem perturbed at all by what it had found. 

A stinkbug!

A female magnolia warbler.

And a yellow-rumped warbler of which there were many.

They tended to congregate with these white-throated sparrows.

Warblers are currently still moving southward through Ontario. This is a black-throated blue warbler from a few days ago.

Golden-crowned kinglets were also working through the woodland.

Passing through the Wetlands was a new bird for me. This is a female.

And this a male. They're attracted to wet, marshy habitats. They're rusty blackbirds, and they were working their way over the fallen logs resting in the water, looking under leaves and lilypads for insects.

Also attracted to this wet habitat are swamp sparrows.

Eastern Phoebes have been ever-present. I still see them every morning. This is a juvenile.


This blue-gray gnatcatcher is a small, fast-moving bird that I was fortunate to catch on camera.

And a bird that I so wanted to get a closer photo of, but I've unfortunately missed my chance this year. It's another new bird for me. A yellow-bellied sapsucker.

They were intermixed with northern flickers, and quite hard to tell apart at a distance. Up close though, there is no mistaking the brightly coloured northern flickers with their polka-dotted bellies.


While on the topic of woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers are often heard from the woodland surrounding the wetlands.

I'd often catch a glimpse of them flying from tree to tree.


If you're able to get close enough, then you'll see just how bright the red of their crest is. I observed a group of three pileated woodpeckers this morning as they looped their way through the woodland.


From the largest woodpecker in Canada to the smallest, a downy woodpecker.

Not wanting to leave anyone out, there are also red-bellied woodpeckers that frequent the wetlands.

There are so many dead trees left standing in the waterlogged ground, providing a source of food and nesting locations, that it's not surprising there are so many woodpeckers here.


The wetlands are probably most associated with ducks and geese though, and there are plenty of them flying in and out all of the time.

The mallards are actually mating at this time. A welcome thought of spring, with all of the cute baby ducks, to keep us going through the winter months.

On the odd occasion, the wetlands will throw up a surprise duck, and there are non more vibrantly coloured than these wood ducks. They are so difficult to get close enough to, but I'd found the perfect tree stump to hide behind for this photo. 

The tree stump was the exact match for my height and width and one which would provide useful again... to be continued.

Copyright © scottswildencounters.blogspot.com 2020 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.

Location: Borden Wetlands, Kitchener, ON N2E, Canada

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