So I've Found a Few Meager Birds for Thanksgiving Week-end

On Friday morning I checked out the Lindsay Sewage Lagoons, and despite the windy conditions, I had a few surprises- BIRDS!!

As well, I finally met Bob Hartley in person, a local birder from the Omemee area who has the courage to drive around all of the lagoon cells in his vehicle, not for the faint of heart... Ann, can you even imagine??!!!

For starters, I saw numerous Bonaparte's Gulls...

...as well as dozens of Lesser Scaup, my first for the season:

I inadvertently flushed some Green-winged Teal:

...and a kettle of migrating Turkey Vultures fascinated me as they took their time to pass overhead, here's four of approximately eighteen:

In the hedgerows that bordered the lagoons a female Downy Woodpecker was sunning herself:

From there I went to Ken Reid Conservation Area, as it had been quite a while since my last visit. The fall version of it was quite wonderful, and I had no expectations whatsoever on the bird front:

I decided to check out the Victoria Rail Trail section first, and the marsh at this time of year was beautiful, even if there were no more Black Terns skimming the surface of the water by the bridge:

But lo and behold, in the hedgerows on the far side of the bridge I- wait for it- FOUND A BIRD.

A Palm Warbler, confirmed by its vigorous tail-pumping, bright yellow undertail coverts, distinct supercilium and a strong eye line. But most importantly, it was a BIRD!!!! I went insane with my camera.

He/she was so cooperative that I was able to photograph him/her both coming and going on the trail. What a star, and a BIRD, no less!!!

Then I was brought back down to planet Earth with these Canada Geese coming in for a landing in the marsh:

I wrapped up my Ken Reid visit by walking through the incredible cedar forest trail that to this day remains one of my favourites, which Doug can attest to, even if it was in four feet of snow a few winters ago:

As for my mandatory sunrise/sunset pics, today's chilly temps of below freezing looked like this on the lake early this morning:

One of my cottage neighbours tells me that when there's mist on the lake in the morning, it's Mother Nature sucking the warmth out of the lake... Based on the water temperature when out kayaking for the past few days, I would agree with that statement! And I even saw a Common Loon today when out paddling with Laura, I almost rolled my kayak!!!

Tonight's sunset, the first decent one in a few nights, looked like this with choppy waters, that have since subsided:

And once again, I am now officially out of synch with my blog, as I do my best to make a mundane Yellow-rump into something much more exciting, at a new spot I checked out on Thursday, after totally tanking under ideal conditions at the Cranberry Marsh Raptor Watch. Stay tuned.