A stop in Algonquin

Had a chance to stop in at the visitor center in Algonquin park over the weekend. Lots of Evening Grosbeaks at the feeders put on a good show. I was able to get quite a few photos of these birds, if you want to see some more check them out here.

Ducks!

On Saturday I had a bit of time so I decided to go an have a look around for ducks on open water around my place. There were quite a few Goldeneye around doing there mating rituals bu they were pretty far off. I did find two hooded mergansers that were fairly close to shore:

With the snow that we got on Sunday I couldn't resist going to Bond Head in Newcastle. Much of the shore line of lake Ontario has frozen up, but here there is still a bit of open water were many ducks like to congregate. With no where else really to go they are pretty tolerant of people. I have been there a couple of times this winter and everytime there is a different mix of species of ducks. This time is was mainly Greater Scaup with some of the usually other ducks like Mallards, Goldeneye and Long-tailed Ducks there was also a couple female Hooded Mergansers. But the hightlight for me was a white-winged Scoter and a Redhead. I have seen these two species before but they are usually far out in the water, so it was nice to finally see them up close.

see more photos here