Monarch Butterfly
Received August 30, 2019
Almonte, August 2019. Photo by Michel Gauthier.
Each fall millions of monarch butterflies migrate to overwintering sites in Mexico and to a scattering of locations along the coast of California. In the spring monarchs return to breeding areas and the cycle starts again: a two-way migration that is one of the most spectacular on the planet.
Stretching chick, loons on Clayton & Taylor Lake
Received July 1, 2019
“It appears that most loons on Clayton and Taylor lakes are still nesting as of 2019-06-30. There was one family with a single chick that was stretching its leg. Up until now I had never seen a chick stretching its leg and at one point it was stretching both of them at the same time.” More information.
~Howard Robinson

Loon Chick stretching, Clayton Lake, June 2019. photo H. Robinson

Nesting Common Loon, June 2019. photo H. Robinson
Green heron calling from tree-top in Almonte garden near Mississippi River
Received July 1, 2019
“A “strange” sound alerted me to a bird sitting high up atop a locust tree in our garden a few blocks from the Mississippi River. It took examination of these photos to identify the bird as a green heron. And a search of sounds documented for this bird, revealed that what I probably heard was the bird calling for a mate.” More information.
~ Pauline Donaldson

Green Heron, Almonte, ON June 4, 2019. photo P. Donaldson

Green Heron, Almonte, ON June 4, 2019. photo 2 P. Donaldson

Green Heron, Almonte, ON June 4, 2019. photo 3 P. Donaldson
Spring bird sightings
May 5, 2019: Juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak. More information.

photo L. Balthazar
May 7, 2019: First Oriole, Sheridan Rapids More information.
May 9, 2019: White-crowned Sparrow More information.

photo L. Balthazar
May 9, 2019: Female Purple Finch. More information

photo L. Balthazar
May 9,2019: Rose-breasted Grosbeak. More information.

photo Lise Balthazar
May 11, 2019: Juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak

photo L. Balthazar
May 11, 2019: Ruby-throated Hummingbird. More Information.

photo by Lise Balthazar
May 11, 2019: Song Sparrow. More information.

photo by Lise Balthazar
May 13, 2019: Oriole at bird bath.

photo by Lise Balthazar
April 16, 2019: Male Hooded-Merganser, Mississippi River. More information

photo N. Capitanio
Female Hooded Merganser.
April 11, 2019: Trumpter Swan, Fallbrook Ontario. More information.

photo N. Capitanio
The colours of winter
These photographs of birds during January 2019 in Sheridan Rapids, Ontario are by Lise Balthazar, sent in on January 29.

Evening Grosbeak, photo Lise Balthazar

Pine Grosbeak. photo Lise Balthazar

Redpolls, photo Lise Balthazar
A Red-bellied Woodpecker
January 12, 2019. A Red-bellied Woodpecker was observed locally in the Halpenny area. Photos and report sent in by Gerard Rumleskie. This is quite a rare sighting for our area, with only one of these birds seen on the Carleton Place Christmas Bird Count this year, and that was a record for the count. Thank you for sending in this sighting! More information.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, Jan 2019, Halpenny, ON photo Gerard Rumleskie

Red-bellied Woodpecker, Halpenny, ON. photo courtesy G. Rumleskie