WARBLERS AT THE WINDOW

Late Spring and few insect equal -

Cape May Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

30 DAYS ARE UP

Ruby-throated Hummingbird
May 19, 2014

Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Archilochus colubris

Family: Trochilidae
Not seen before the Pleistocene

WHITE PELICAN

ORDER: Pelecaniformes

FAMILY: Pelecanidae

Pelecanus erythrorhynchus

White Pelican Nipigon River, May 10, 2014



May 10, 2014

White Pelican in the company of a Double Crested Cormorant
Nipigon River, May 10, 2014

MORPHS OF THE RUFFED GROUSE

May 9, 2014

Gray Morph

Head shaking

Running

Red Morph

ORDER: Galliforms

FAMILY: Tetraonidae

Tetraonidae include Grouse and Ptarmigan  and goes back to the Miocene Epoch.

They are ground nesters and lay between 6 and 15 eggs.

SPECIES: Bonasa umbellus

If you have the Reader's Digest book Birds of Canada you will note on page 186 that they put the FAMILY as Phasianidae which includes Quails and Pheasants .  Phasianidae lack neck sacs.
Phasianidae goes back to the Oligocene which is previous to the Miocene.  The Miocene saw the increase in grasslands with drier colder climate. The confusion comes from the inclusion of the European Partridge in the Quails and Pheasants list.

Time-wise you are looking at the Miocene Epoch stretching 23.8 to 5.3 million years ago... that takes in the Proconsul primate from 23 to 15 million years ago. Homo erectus (upright man) comes in at 1.8 million years ago.

Rick Potts has a theory, " hominids evolved when they were challenged to adapt to highly variable, unstable, inconsistent environments." (He is a Smithsonian Institution paleoanthropologist)

What you see in the mirror today is not what you would have seen those millions of years ago.

What would a Ruffed Grouse have looked like?

COCK OF THE WALK

RUFFED GROUSE MAY 6, 2014

The feathers behind the black ruff also puff during display.
 

Tail feather detail.

Fan tail base feather detail.

A LYNX BEFORE BREAKFAST

May 4, 2014

In the early light of morning it was hard to notice.

Lynx

The Ruffed Grouse was frozen in place.

Ruffed Grouse

It was obvious the Lynx was occupied.

One less Red Squirrel

the next arrivals on the scene were the Doe and her two fawns from last year. The fawns always liked to scamper in first. However, once within twenty feet of the Lynx they came to an abrupt stop, took a brief look and made a swift turn to get back behind their Mama.

The fawns retreated to the far side of the lawn and watched.

The doe stood her ground and stamped he foreleg repeatedly.
 Note her tail is held straight back,
not raised and flared as they do for dogs and man.
Her ears swung back in a menacing fashion, too.

After eating the Lynx rose and turned and faced the deer.

The deer stood her ground and continued to stomp.

Lots of backward looks. lots of tail switching.

Ear flexing came with every stomp from the deer.

Still casting mean looks.

Even I became a recipient of that look.

Leaving.

When it got to the edge of the road it sat for a moment behind a tree stump.
A few strides from here and it was back over the snow bank and into the bush.