Borden Wetlands

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...

I feel the need to preface this post with a warning; if you are in the slightest squeamish, then perhaps this post is not for you. It might be better to skip forward to the next post, which will be very pleasant and all about my observations of hooded mergansers. If you are not squeamish, then let's proceed where I left off with the previous post. The return of the red-tailed hawks provided a welcome target for my lens.  These predators are so well adapted to their environment. They are powerful yet graceful, fierce and yet can be incredibly patient. The thought did occur to me the next day, as I watched one of the two red-tailed hawks, that I had never observed the hawks with a kill.  I mean, sure, I had seen many failed attempts but never actually catching anything. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when the red-tailed hawk swooped up to a perch directly to my left with, unfortunately, the sun behind it. The red-tailed hawk focused on the mallards, who had already es...

The lone northern flicker, pictured in the previous post, was indeed a sign that the seasons are moving forward. With warmer weather, the snow and ice had begun to melt. The warmer temperatures gave pleasant relief after the harshness of winter, but the Wetlands remained frozen.  Canada geese arrived in numbers. The geese paired up and the males stoutly defended what would be their nesting areas. The geese appeared determined to wait for the ice to thaw. Webbed feet are not well adapted for use on a sheet of ice. The geese's small talons provided little traction. Disputes between the pairs of geese were commonplace and usually resolved with a deal of posturing and honking. When resolve could not be found from the usual bluffing, things became physical and what followed appeared to be quite barbaric in nature. At first glance, these two warring geese appeared to be locked beak to beak, attempting to cause physical harm to their opponent, but on closer inspection of the photos, it be...