Introduction

Welcome to my new blog! I'm a student at the University of Guelph, and am currently almost halfway done an undergraduate ecology degree. I've been interested in birds for as long as I can remember (quite literally, as possibly my earliest memory involves what were probably starlings in my backyard). In the past 3 years or so my horizons have broadly expanded to virtually everything identifiable in the field in Ontario, but especially dragonflies and damselflies (odes).

 A few people have urged me to start a blog, and I finally took the plunge, primarily because I finally bought a camera to document my sightings (but don't expect any particularly spectacular photos!). As the annual explosion of life we call spring is about to begin in earnest, with Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gulls and Robins already becoming widespread around Guelph this week, I thought now was the ideal time to start.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy! I'll leave off with a few photos of winter birds I found interesting from the past few weeks.

I accidentally flushed this Long-Eared Owl from some dense cedars while looking at a cottontail rabbit carcass in Mississauga. I'm not sure whether it killed the rabbit as it seems like a rather large prey item. I've dissected about 10 long-eared pellets and only found small rodent parts.

This Gadwall looked very out of place grazing with Canada Geese and Robins at the water treatment plant  north of Arkendo Park in Oakville. It was impossible to get a reasonable photo due to the lighting and the tall barbed wire fence around the plant. At least two Yellow-rumped Warblers successfully wintered here on insects hatched from the sewage plant.

Graceful in the water and in flight, but this Northern Pintail lost most of his charm when he waddled onto the ice at Humber Bay Park in Toronto looking for handouts.