Today I headed out to Claireville to take photos at the feeders just off the main trail/road.
The Old Bridge
I had to get some shots of the bridge. It’s one of the more interesting things to photograph here in Claireville. The shadows from the late day sun from vines and the other side give this photo a lot of character.
Posing
At the feeder, the nuthatches were flying back and forth getting their food for the day.
Grabbing a Snack
They are even willing to land on your hand if you have some seeds to share with them.
I had a lot of fun getting photos of the birds and always look forward to the cold temps when it’s okay to feed them like this. In summer they are too busy to be bothered with us and our seeds when there is so much more to eat.
Today I met my friend Nigel over at Claireville Conservation Area for a late afternoon walk. We found a couple of bird feeders nestled into some trees on a side path so we stopped to take a few photographs.
Chickadee
The Chickadees are always around the feeders so it was nice to be visited by the Red-breasted Nuthatch. We even got them to feed on our hands. It’s always a nice feeling when a bird trusts you enough to land on your hand.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
I think I took at least 100 photos here. There was so much activity and with them flitting in and out of the feeders, a lot of those images went straight to the trash. Luckily, I had a few keepers from the visit.
My friend Nigel and I went out for a hike at Lynde Shores today. The trails at Lynde Shores are full of wildlife, most likely because they have several feeders on one of their popular trails. The Chickadee trail is only 500m long. On most winter days, you can find wild turkeys, chickadees, nuthatches, squirrels and more on this trail.
Goose Stretch
Under the walking bridge by the parking lot, ducks and geese were congregating in the river below. I got lucky when this goose decided to wash his feathers and put on quite the display doing so.
Mourning Dove
Starting on the Chickadee Trail, we spotted this Mourning Dove sitting on one of the trail fences.
Caught Red-Handed
The feeders are quite popular, and you won’t just see birds here. This squirrel was taking advantage of the free food. Do you think he looks a little worried that we’ve discovered him inside the feeder?
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
We stopped a little further down the trail and decided to take out the seed Nigel brought with him to feed the chickadees. Little did we know that this Red-breasted Nuthatch preferred to be feed by hand. When we put the seed on a nearby bench, to be able to free our hands to photograph, he scolded us from a branch above us. It wasn’t until we put the seed in our hand that he stopped scolding us and came down to eat. Someone’s a little spoiled.
Red Squirrel
We continued hiking, eventually coming to LeVay’s Lane trail, which looped us back towards the parking lot. On LeVay’s trail, we found this cute red squirrel, who couldn’t decide if we were friends or foes. After overcoming some of its fear, it came a little closer, and we were able to get a few photos.
It’s the last day of our trip to Algonquin but the exploring isn’t done just yet. After breakfast we head out to Big Pines Trail for what we hoped would be a snowshoe but the melting snow didn’t make for good conditions.
Enjoying the View
After our hike on the Big Pines Trail we decided to do one more hike at Spruce Bog Trail. This trail is always a good spot for spotting birds and other wildlife.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
We were not disappointed as we were greeted by a nuthatch and a couple chickadees. A red squirrel also joined us and was more than happy to pose for our photos.
Posing for photos
As is traditional we stopped one last time at the Mew Lake campground to see if we could spot the Pine Marten again and we were lucky enough to have him come out of the forest and visit us.
Who are you?
Although hesitant he was more than happy to eat the seed that people have left behind. Another great trip to Algonquin comes to an end but we look forward to future trips here.
