Glen Grambo 🇨🇦

All the grackles, yes, there are still a boatload here, suddenly took off at once. That’s usually a clue. I looked around and this gorgeous female Merlin zipped through the yard! Merlin’s sure know how to end a grackle bath party!

Gracklepalooza is winding down, but it’s been a good one this year! While most are gone, there are still a few around though! This male Common Grackle was flying to the next tree over, and wanted to make sure we got a good look at his “common” colours🤣 #Birds 🪶

Back to mid July when I spent a few early mornings at a marsh with a Sora family. Dad had just caught a dragonfly nymph, sprinted back, and fed the babies. But two babies both grabbed the nymph and ran away with it together! Dad seems just as interested as I as to how this would turn out! #Birds 🪶

The days are getting much shorter and it’s now a race to get home before the sun sets. But this little female Downy Woodpecker arrived just in time to forage just before sunset! #Birds 🪶

A few of the fancy sparrows have started to come through on their trip south. This juvenile White-crowned sparrow hasn’t developed the black and white striped headgear of the adults yet, but it’s still fancy! It dropped in for a quick drink, and a bath in the creek! #Birds 🪶

So this photo contains zero birds, but in my defence, we were sitting outside waiting for birds. But the sun was almost setting and the backlit Snapdragons stole the show!

It’s #WorldShorebirdDay and this Greater Yellowlegs is celebrating with some interpretative dance! #Birds 🪶

It’s getting Fall like here, with cool evenings and almost chilly mornings. A few of the trees are starting to turn colour and this Blue Jay decided to fly in from one of the yellow ones! Blue Jays know they look great with yellow! #Birds 🪶

Gracklepalooza has been in full swing for a couple weeks now, and even though it has recently diminished a bit, the grackles are still here and looking fabulous! This male Grackle wanted to make sure we knew that he should NEVER have been called “Common” … and he’s quite mad about it! #Birds 🪶

We have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that migrate through in the Spring and Fall. We don’t see one every year, but occasionally one or two drop in for a very short visit. This year the yard is filled with flowers and this little female has been hanging around for a few days! #Birds 🪶

The Blue Jays have finished their summer moult and their feathers are all fresh and gorgeous! This Blue Jay decided to fly down to the creek for a drink and made sure we got a really good look at all those blues on its back and tail! #Birds 🪶

@michaeljklein.bsky.social Happy Birthday Mike! Hope Whiskers baked you a cake!

New sets of ducklings keep on appearing in this little marsh! This morning there was a female Blue-winged Teal hanging out along with about dozen ducklings! The ducklings were all dabbling among the algae mats and this little one is about to snatch an insect! #Birds 🪶

The Merlins are active and very interested in all the grackles that are visiting our yard. This Merlin dropped in earlier today to say hi and join the party! #Birds #photography 🪶

Migration is starting here and we’re hearing quite a few different voices. This Blue Jay was flying to a different tree and decided we needed to hear the melodic song of its people! #Birds 🪶

I think the Black-billed Magpies have gotten sick of hearing me gush over how gorgeous the Common Grackles are. This Junior Magpie flew in and posed on this branch as if to say “check this iridescence out”🤣 #Birds 🪶

The Soras are getting harder to see as the reeds have grown substantially in the marshes. But there still are some gaps, and this junior Sora decided to check out the shallows for some yummy aquatic invertebrates …. which are mostly dragonfly nymphs apparently! #Birds 🪶

Like many birds, the grackles have been moulting over the last few weeks. While he’s not quite finished moulting yet, this male Common Grackke was really showing off the colours today! #Birds 🪶

This is a small marsh, and the horned grebe kept all the ducks out … or so I thought. 3 weeks ago a Redhead female & babies appeared! And this weekend I saw the little babies again … but wait, only one duck has a bill like that! Hello little Northern Shoveler! And mom was there too! #Birds 🪶

Soras spend a lot of their time walking amongst reeds in shallow marshes. They have super long toes and legs to help with that. This junior Sora is about 1.5 months old and already knows the proper walking technique …. YOU SPREAD THE TOES! #Birds 🪶

Mornings are cool & Fall like right now, and it’s hard to believe that this image was taken only a month ago! Spring and early summer are frantic for parents & this female American Goldfinch was really loading up on the tiny cattail seeds. All the fluff makes a great beard though! #Birds 🪶

It was just after sunrise and the junior Merlin’s were already busy performing their aerial acrobatics and chatting about it … loudly! KEE KEE KEE! This young one was very proud of its feathers and wanted to show them all off! #Birds 🪶

Horned Grebe babies learn how to dive and hunt very quickly. In the marsh I’m watching, they seem to catch mostly leeches or dragonfly nymphs. This junior grebe has just surfaced with, and subdued, a dragonfly nymph that will soon go down the hatch! #Birds 🪶

Some of our evenings lately have been cool enough to produce some morning fog. Marshes are always magical places but the fog brings such a quiet beauty! As the sun came up, this female Redhead duck greeted it with an exuberant wing flap! #Birds 🪶

Less than a month ago, this little unit was a black ball of fluff with long legs and toes. Now this junior Sora is completely independent, can even jump/fly, and is VERY serious about hunting aquatic invertebrates and other insects! #Birds 🪶

KEE, KEE, KEE is the sound of our summer right now! There are 3 baby Merlin’s here that have fledged and are practicing aerial manoeuvres and hunting for themselves. They are also YELLING about it! This juvenile Merlin had just chased a grackle and then zoomed past telling us all about it! #Birds 🪶

Early morning on the marsh and Grebe is already dressed and wearing the latest in aquatic plant fashion! This Horned Grebe has babies to feed and has just finished diving among the plants to look for food! #Birds 🪶

This little one first visited our yard a couple weeks ago. Dad brought Junior in and showed him various trees etc. Now this baby Hairy Woodpecker is here multiple times a day and he/she tests ALL the trees and branches! Tap, tap, tap … baby Hairy is learning the ropes!

They are now fending for themselves and are exploring all the reed beds in the marsh. This baby Sora is a few weeks old and is very serious about hunting! They prefer early mornings and this one was slowly checking all the spots for breakfast snacks!

A great thing about marshes are the concerts. Mostly it’s the birds and they perform best in the spring, but occasionally the mammals get involved too. He was shy, and stayed in the reeds, but today Muskrat played a few tunes on his recorder! Or maybe he was eating a reed. Hard to know🤣 #Mammals

Hunting! This goes back a week when the adult Soras were still actively feeding their babies. It was early in the morning, and this male Sora was taking a slow walk through the reeds looking for bugs and aquatic invertebrates to feed his babies.

I saw a female redhead duck chased by grebe from this marsh 3 times this year, but I never heard or saw her land. Turns out Redhead ducks are stealth nesters! And the female does it all! I saw movement on the edge of a reed bed and after a while, they all piled out! There’s always one mom! #Birds 🪶

There have been at least two Sora chicks hanging together in the same little reed bed. A week ago, they were all black. This is one of those chicks today, 7 days later. They are now all brown and have lost the red knot on their beak they are hatched with. They are now feeding themselves. #Birds 🪶

This was 7 days ago. This young Sora chick was probably only a few days old and already out exploring the reeds and looking for food. At this stage, the parents were still feeding it. I will post another image shortly, taken today, 7 days later, of what I believe is the same chick. #Birds 🪶

It’s stripy baby season in many of our marshes! This Horned Grebe spends most off his time running off interlopers in his marsh, but when his chicks hatch they get his full attention. One adult sits on the remaining eggs and the other feeds the babies that have hatched. More in alt text. #Birds 🪶

The dragonflies and damselflies seem to be the favourite bird snack this year, and the Soras are getting in on it too! This male Sora was foraging around the marsh edge and as soon as he filled his beak with snacks, he usually ran back to his chicks to feed them. But this time, he flew! #Birds 🪶

Soras hatch their eggs over a period of time so there are chicks of varying ages running around. Thanks for the info Janet! This chick was doing what Soras do best, forage in the reeds! Its brown feathers show it’s a bit older than the mostly black ones. And the red on its beak is gone. #Birds 🪶

This is one one of the youngest chicks from a few days ago. Sora chicks are pretty much all black when they first hatch and then become more brown throughout the summer. The male Sora had just popped out of the reeds and baby was instantly right by his side posing identically! #Birds 🪶

“ excuse me sir, you have a little somethin’ somethin’ on your beak you might want to wipe off” So many birds are very busy right now catching insects to feed their babies. This American Robin had caught so many Damselflies and/or dragonflies that they barely all fit in his beak! #Birds 🪶

This time of year, adult Soras spend a lot of time finding food for their babies.They love aquatic invertebrates. They see them from above and then snatch them with their beak. But when the big juicy ones are a bit deeper, there’s nothing to do but throw dignity to the wind and go ALL IN! #Birds 🪶

We temporarily interrupt the Sora posts for an important public service announcement - “Baby Downy Woodpeckers are adorable!” All baby downy woodpeckers, and Hairy’s, have red on their heads. As they grow older, females lose the red and the males have it move to the back of their head. #Birds 🪶

Most of the Sora feedings seem to happen deep in the cover of the reeds. But this time, mom, I think, decided to distribute the snacks out in the open! #Birds 🪶

The adult Soras are very busy right now. The little babies can, and do, find some food themselves already, but the adults still provide a lot. Dad was hunting the marsh edge and caught a bug. He needed to cross an open bit of water and it’s either run, swim or fly … he chose flying! #Birds 🪶

They enjoy being buried in the reeds but sometimes there are small gaps! It looks like school is in for these chicks as they soak up all of dad’s Sora wisdom! What these baby Soras were really hoping for were snacks! No snacks this time, it really might have been a teaching moment! #Birds 🪶

A couple days ago, they were deep in the reeds, like moving shadows with a hint of orange. But this morning one decided to explore and popped out of the reeds for just a bit. This is a baby Sora, and as it dashed to another reed clump, those little wings helped for balance! #Birds 🪶

Every morning, before going about their business, Soras check themselves in the mirror to make sure all the feathers are in good shape. Or it’s also possible that this Sora was hunting aquatic invertebrates which they love to eat! Either way, you look fabulous little Sora! More in the Alt. #Birds 🪶

Redhead ducks dive under the water to feed, and like other diving birds, they need a run before they get airborne. This female Redhead had just landed in the marsh and, you guessed it, the horned grebe enforcer had issues! She is running at top speed here as she gets ready to lift off! #Birds 🪶

Initially, this jackrabbit was in the long grass with just its ears sticking up into the light. But not for long. This White-tailed Jackrabbit had important bunny business to attend to elsewhere! #Mammals