Another Day in the Kawarthas- Tuesday, March 8th

Ann and I returned to our second home  the Kawarthas on Tuesday for what was an exciting day of hydroplaning on muddy country back roads. If I'm going to get stranded, I would certainly prefer it to be in snow versus mud!!!

On our way north we saw Red-tailed Hawks and coyotes, but certainly our first and best BOTD was an amazing adult Bald Eagle perched in a tree. Ann did a much better job of capturing the moment, so please check out her blog here:

http://naturephotosbyann.blogspot.com/2011/03/bald-eagle-ring-necked-duck-white.html#comments

We were able to re-locate it again later on and had excellent views as it warmed itself in the sunshine, it's always a joy to see these majestic birds, especially in Ontario!

Other highlights from our day included our first year male White-winged Scoter from the week before:

For once the "white-wing" descriptor matches the actual sea duck!

...preening on the water:

We were very pleased to see him briefly fly this time along the surface of the water, as well as dive for food. He also did his best penguin pose, a behaviour that I've seen before with this species on Lake Ontario, where he raised himself up out of the water, but tightly held his wings close to his body:

The male Ring-necked Duck posed for an even better shot (at last!!!) of that elusive cinnamon ring, my next challenge will be to actually see it in the field:

A pair of untagged but banded Trumpeter Swans came in close to investigate us, one of them checked me out between mouthfuls of snow:

Its long, straight bill gives it quite the elegant look:

As we explored the area further and then some, I had first-hand confirmation of Ann being navigationally-challenged, but we managed to find our way home in the end, after seeing Wild Turkeys and a lone Deer in a field. And yes, it is true that I took the map book away from her, it was more advantageous for her to look for birds rather than road signs. Who knows where we'll end up on our next road trip!