April 14 2016. Valley Inn, Burlington ON. My headliner today, and for perhaps the umpteenth time, is the Osprey. I’m keenly aware that some species make it as My Bird of the Day more often than others; I can’t help it, they just pack enough style, class and poise to make them special. The many ho-hum, run-of-the-mill species: Lesser Scaup, Mallard, Ring-billed Gull and the like well, they’re nice too, I’m sure their mothers love them, but…
Today on errands and just for the fun of it I went out of my way to see what was around. When you make an effort there’s always plenty to be found, the expected and the unexpected.
Along the shore of Lake Ontario were large groups of resting Red-necked Grebes, they are probably on their way from wintering along the Atlantic coast to much further north and west to breed in the lakes and ponds of the prairie provinces, Yukon Territory and Alaska.
In my favourite valley were: Pied-billed Grebes (always notable), three or four Wood Ducks, a Caspian Tern a pair of obviously courting Belted Kingfishers and a pair of mellow Trumpeter Swans apparently past the courting stage.
But it was a group of Ospreys that made the day. They have recently returned from wherever they found winter to be hospitable and are very likely to breed around here. I watched four of them quartering a wide shallow inlet looking for fish. It must have been a good day for them as I saw several successful plunges. The series of photos on the gallery below lack crisp focus, my camera is good but it doesn’t track moving targets terribly well. We think we’re so clever with our industrial technological society but just take a look at what an Osprey can do as a matter of routine: fly circuits, hover, plunge, capture a submerged fish, and carry it aerodynamically head first. Bird of the Day.
