Royal Botanical Gardens. Hendrie Valley, Burlington. ON. August 5 2022. These are often days of steamy weather but after a night of cleansing thunderstorms it was measurably cooler today, so, I visited the valley again. Well, it’s close, not too heavily peopled and always delivers something interesting bird-wise.
It was warmer and moister in the shelter of the valley, I was soon sweating but still enjoying the green closeness of it all. No-one else around, and no birds either until I came upon this Song Sparrow cooling off at the creek-edge.
The Green Heron of my last post was back in the same pond and I found a shady spot from which to photograph it. It seemed to be enjoying a well fed, low stress day in the sun, mostly preening, sometimes watching other birds overhead and every now and then inspecting odds and ends on the Duckweed.
Before leaving to head back to my car (in the shade), I stopped at a favourite lookout platform and was wowed by a female Baltimore Oriole picking seeds from the inflorescence, or panicle, of Wild Rice. She just made a great picture framed by a starburst of rice stalks. Her easy beauty and proportions, especially without the gaudy distractions of a male’s plumage, makes her naturally graceful; for that reason she was My Bird of the Day.
Lovely shot Peter. I’m still hearing the orioles in the treetops, but they don’t seem to be visiting orange halves anymore.
Thanks Nancy. I have just amended the last sentence, enlarging a bit upon what made her so eye-catching. It now reads, ” Her easy beauty and proportions, especially without the gaudy distractions of a male’s plumage, makes her naturally graceful; for that reason she was My Bird of the Day.”
I like that!
Very elegant bird but I’m curious about their presence in our backyard when all the others left in mid-July. I’ve never seen this before.
They’re going through a jar of grape jelly every 2 days.
Is this unusual to stay so late?
It’s not unusual or too late. They are all still around and don’t leave here around early-mid-September. What does happen though is that the males (in particular) become quieter and much less obvious by mid-June once they have secured a mate and nest site. Then there’s no value in being conspicuous.