I don't always see eye to eye with the creatures who swing by our backyard but I did with this one. White-tailed Deer.

 

Spent some quality time with this perky little beauty. Horned Grebe (non-breeding)

 

A big boy on the beach. Canvasback.

 

No peeking, kids. 🎄🎁 . . White-tailed Deer

 

Sometimes I wonder if Northern Cardinals wish they were Southern Cardinals.

 

I'm just short for my weight. - Red-bellied Woodpecker.

 

Awkward yet elegant, a Trumpeter Swan cygnet.

 

Never let a few flurries keep you from wetting a line/beak, I always say. Great Blue Heron

 

By now, the Ospreys are back in Florida and wherever else they spend the winter but here's a sequence of one catching a fish then taking off. Amazing how, in the first photo, he's not even looking at his target - that's how confident he is in his fishing ability. This was shot this past September.

 

This sweetheart decided to get out of the rain and relax on our neighbour's front porch loveseat.

 

Pretty decent view out the right window, I imagine.

 

Some girls just have a glow about them. A Northern Cardinal.

 

We heard this Pileated Woodpecker savaging the tree long before we saw him. Luckily, we waited long enough to catch a glimpse of him before a squirrel ruined it for everyone by chasing him away.

 

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet gazing at the top of the canopy where it spends 99% of its life.

 

A two-fisting Muskrat.

 

Some ducks and a Great Blue Heron through the fog.

 

How about that orange eye on the juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron?

 

Speaking of birds who don't mind encroaching on your personal space, here's a Blue Jay up close and personal.

 

Usually I sit on the edge of a pond yearning for a duck to drift a bit closer. But with this young Wood Duck, sheesh, I was hoping he would give me a little space so I could fit a bit of his body in the frame.

 

The Falls.

 

Purple Finch. 💜 (A male this time).

 

Not much purple evident on the female Purple Finch but she's a beauty, regardless. 💜💜

 

Cool Top Gun move.

 

The Cooper's Hawk who visited the backyard yesterday. There is now one less vole scurrying around back there today.

 

Didn't find any wildlife at Algonquin Park but they sure have nice ponds to look at.

 

I'm a fairly patient guy when it comes to waiting for a bird to do something interesting like stab a minnow or preen a feather. But after staring at this pose for half an hour without so much as a twitch, I had to cut my losses and move on. #lifestooshort . Green Heron