Red-breasted Mergansers sidling through a spectacular Steel City sunrise.

 

Red-breasted Merganser trying to woo anyone who'll listen.

 

Finger lickin' good.

 

Look at me, I'm a cowboy.

 

Cooper's Hawk female with a robin. Tough to watch a cute bird get torn apart but birds of prey need to consume protein to survive. Medium-sized birds, small mammals and even reptiles make up the bulk of the Cooper Hawk's diet.

 

What a talented daughter I have and what an amazing birthday gift to see one of my favourite photos transformed so beautifully into a painting. Can't wait to see it in person.

 

Hooded Merganser with a delectable morsel she dredged up from the deep.

 

American Tree Sparrow

 

Red-breasted Mergansers gliding through the morning glow.

 

American Kestrel and his intimidating stare.

 

Meet the Gadwalls.

Royal Botanical Gardens.
 

The House Finch. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that's not a very flashy name for such a brilliant bird.

Royal Botanical Gardens Arboretum.
 

Hooded Mergansers.

 

Northern Shovelers.

 

Red-tailed Hawk. We made each other go a bit cross-eyed.

 

Eastern Coyote, stealthily slipping through the snow. Searching for squirrels, I suspect.

The Back 40

Eastern Bluebird. The males in their spring breeding plumage are quite the treat.

 

Mute Swans

 

Red-breasted Merganser with the striking red eyes. His hair is a pretty good indicator of which way the wind is blowing. Not sure what's going on with that tongue, though.

 

Bald Eagle heading back to the nest with some light building material.

 Ayr, ON.

An immense and intense immature Bald Eagle prepping for takeoff.

 

American Wigeons with a Belted Kingfisher photobombing on through.

 

Mallard cruising through a light drizzle with her prominent purple patch on display.

 

Some interesting behaviour by this Red-tailed Hawk that I've never seen before but I think it might be related to temperature regulation. I had just missed getting a shot of her leaving the water, where she was either drinking or bathing, but she flew quite close to me to dry off. Then she started repeatedly opening her mouth and ruffling her neck feathers in, what I believe, was a thermoregulatory response to the sudden increase in air temperature in our region. It was close to 20C (68F), a stark change from the recent sub-zero temperatures and, combined with the cooling dip/drink, it seems like a plausible explanation. You can see her cute little tongue in the second photo.

 

Our beautiful backyard neighbour, the photogenic Eastern Coyote.

 

Hooded Merganser picking the lint out.

 

Here's a multi-photo post showing the tribulations of being a Bald Eagle mom. After robbing a gull of its fish, she called the kids for breakfast. At first, after they arrived, everything was calm but, in short order, the young ones started behaving rudely, pestering their mother and trying to steal breakfast before it was their turn. After a few minutes of this, she decided to eat most of the fish herself then took off, leaving the kids to squabble over the remaining morsel. (Apologies for maybe taking a bit too much artistic licence to make the story fit the photos but, bottom line, it was cool to watch.)