I’ve come back from visiting family in Ottawa, and as per usual I photographed many wonderful birds. Most were taken around Mud Lake, a spot I discovered last year and continues to serve me well, while a few were either from my parents’ backyard (the default if I was feeling lazy or the weather was bad) or the Central Experimental Farm arboretum.
Big and Red
Cardinals were one of the obvious birds I wanted to shoot out east, since we don’t get them here and they are so very gorgeous. They are also fairly shy and usually keep their distance, but I lucked into these somewhat bolder birbs separately on my last outing to Mud Lake, just a couple days before flying back.
Upside down weirdos
I’ve seen these weird beautiful birds on and off in Ottawa; these amazing photos were taken at Mud Lake. I love their upside-down-ness, their black beady eyes, their richly patterned wings and their almost-upturned beaks.
Monochromatic
It’s a Dark-eyed Junco, same as what we get here, just a different regional subspecies that sadly I’ve never seen out west.
(Wish I’d gotten a better shot but they are shy little guys, nothing like the brash and outgoing chickadees.)
Waddling and wattling
If you’d asked me what were the odds of running into a roving gang of Wild Turkeys once, let alone twice, I probably would have answered “low”. But there they were, wandering the Mud Lake trails, and apparently they’re A Thing in that region of Ottawa. We live and learn!
Orange on orange
On Christmas Day I didn’t have time for a full outing to Mud Lake, instead ducking out for a quick wander of the Arboretum along Dow’s Lake. Part of me was hoping for Blue Jays — I’d seen them around there in years past, but alas, there was no blue to be found that day. Instead I found a profusion of orange! A bunch of robins munching on some dried berries across a bunch of trees, switching back and forth en masse as the mood struck them.
Masked marvels
Oh, and there were a couple of these guys too, hanging out with the robins! I’d caught a glimpse of them last year near Mud Lake, so it looks like they’re able to tough out the winters.
Look into my eyes
This Barred Owl was just hanging out in my parents’ backyard, then flew off before I could get a good photo. Fortunately, it had only moved a couple backyards down to a less exposed perch that protected it pretty well from the sun and the protesting crows.
(Apparently Barred Owls are more tolerant of daylight than most other owls, but even with the cloud cover it couldn’t have been fun.)
After a while it spied a Douglas Squirrel in our yard. Unfortunately for the owl, the squirrel was already on alert and had the edge in mobility; turns out it’s too hard to maneuver between trees with those great big wings. The hungry owl stopped very close to me to consider its next moves. It decided first on a bit of preening, then back to shade and cover.
Peck peck peck
A handsome Downy Woodpecker male doing what they do best on the Mud Lake trees!
Dee-dee-dee
Apparently these tough little survivors don’t even migrate in winter, and Ottawa isn’t even close to the northern edge of their range.
They were in our backyard, in our neighbourhood streets, and all over the Mud Lake trails. As soon as I stopped for a minute I was pretty much guaranteed to hear their staccato calls or the soft whirring of their wings as they zoomed around me, either curious or eager to beg for seeds.
Yellow(ish) birbs
Sure, they’re a bit dull now, but goldfinches only rival cardinals’ brilliance in the spring and summer. That said, they’re still hella cute and a lot more numerous than in Vancouver! Wish I could have gotten better shots, but I had to settle for zooming in on the neighbours’ feeder.
The third primary colour
This was the best Blue Jay photo I got this season. I mean, it’s not bad… I was hoping it would stay a little bit longer at that seed cache and let me get close, but a second jay showed up, and it looked like this one decided the trail wasn’t big enough for the both of them and chased it off.
Oh well. There’s always next year!