Tag: American White Pelican

Friendly Friday: Day Trip.

David M6 Comments

This is my contribution to the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge: Day Trip.

There was a couple of bird photography locations in Saskatchewan, Canada that I used to spend the day at, Little Quill Lake and the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area. Here’s a selection of photos from the two areas.

A frozen marsh at dusk, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.

Frozen marsh at dusk.

Striped Skunk in the spring, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.

Unexpected encounter.

A frozen section of Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan in winter.

A frozen Last Mountain Lake.

Snow Geese on autumn migration, Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan.

A gathering of Snow Geese.

A Marbled Godwit preening in the spring, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.

Preening Marbled Godwit.

American White Pelicans in the summer, Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan.

Feeding party of American White Pelicans.

Sandhill Cranes flying to roost at sunset in the autumn, Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.

Living sky.

CFFC: 5+ Items.

David M8 Comments

This is my contribution to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: 5+ Items.

As the challenge is 5+ I decided to go with a selection of six photos.

5+ young Eurasian Blue Tits.

Almost ready to leave the nestbox.

 

5+ tree trunks.

Tree trunks in the autumn.

 

5+ Common Merganser ducklings.

Ducks in a row.

 

5+ Borage seeds.

Borage plant seeds.

 

5+ red berries.

A group of red berries.

 

5+ American White Pelicans.

Feeding party of American White Pelicans.

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors.

David M11 Comments

This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors.

As someone who is primarily an outdoor photographer I had plenty of photos to pick from but I needed a theme to follow. So I decided to go with as wide a variety of subject matter as possible and to start in the 1970s and end this summer.

One of my earliest photos. The negative for the first version got lost or damaged so I reshot the scene next time there was snow. Trees in snow, Hatherton, Cheshire, England in the mid 1970s.

trees in snow, Hatherton, Cheshire, England.

Entering the start/finish straight at around midnight at the Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle endurance race. Le Mans, France in April 1982.

Night racing

Light beam on a hillside at Loch Arkaig, Scotland in the autumn of 1985.

Sunset light beam.

A Red Fox in a hay field taken in Faddiley, Cheshire, England in the late 1980s.

Hunting Red Fox.

A Borage flower bud photographed in Nantwich, Cheshire, England in the mid 1990s.

Borage plant.

An American White Pelican at Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada in the late 1990s.

breeding adult American White Pelican

Waves and rocks at sunrise on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada in the early 2000s.

Rocks and waves.

Canada Day fireworks from the dock at Colpoy’s Bay. The fireworks are in the town of Wiarton a couple of miles away across the bay. Taken on Canada Day last year.

Fireworks for Canada Day.

Colpoy’s Bay and the Niagara Escarpment at sunrise this summer.

Colpoy's Bay at sunrise.

Friendly Friday: Ebb and Flow.

David M6 Comments

The latest Friendly Friday Photo Challenge is Ebb and Flow. It got me thinking about some of the locations I have photographed birds over the years.

A couple of locations in Saskatchewan stood out, in particular Last Mountain Lake, especially the National Wildlife Area that surrounds the northern end of the lake. Bird numbers would vary massively over the year.

In the spring the area is a stopover location for species such as this Killdeer. Some will stay in the area to breed while others will carry on north after feeding and resting.

Stretching Killdeer.

 

In the summer the area is a breeding location for species such as American White Pelicans. These birds are feeding in a channel where a marsh drains into a section of the lake.

Feeding party of American White Pelicans.

 

In the autumn the area is a major stopover location for Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes on autumn migration. This is a section of a Snow Geese flock, the birds can number in the thousands.

A gathering of Snow Geese.

 

In the winter the lake is frozen and partially snow covered. There are no water birds left in the area although you may see the occasional flock of Snow Buntings. It is however still a good location for sunsets.

A frozen Last Mountain Lake.

Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: White.

David M6 Comments

My contribution to the Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: White.

Now I will admit that my first thought was snow but after a winter that dragged on for what seemed like 6 months I didn’t want to think about snow.

So I decided to go with a selection of photos of bird species that are mostly white, the first two have white in their common English name.

White-breasted Nuthatch, Saskatchewan, Canada.

White-breasted Nuthatch

American White Pelican, Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Breeding adult American White Pelican

Caspian Tern with fish on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.

Caspian Tern with catch.

Black-headed Gulls in winter, Cheshire, England.

Winter plumage Black-headed Gulls.

Snow Geese on autumn migration, Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada.

A gathering of Snow Geese.

Whooper Swan portrait, Lancashire, England.

Portrait of a Whooper Swan.

For the Love Of…..

David M10 Comments

Bird Photography.

This week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is For The Love Of..….

After rejecting the first couple of ideas for the challenge I thought about some of the various situations I have been in photographing birds.

A young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the rain in Ontario, Canada. The camera and lens was covered to keep the rain off but the photographer wasn’t.

In the rain.

A male Common Kingfisher photographed from a small, cramped and hot canvas hide (blind) in Cheshire, England.

Male Common Kingfisher.

A Bohemian Waxwing photographed at -30°C in Saskatchewan, Canada.

A Bohemian Waxwing at -30°C.

An American White Pelican with a large fish in its pouch. Photographed while sitting in the water to keep cool on a hot and very humid day in Saskatchewan, Canada.

American White Pelican with fish.

A female Common Merganser with a youngster on her back. Taken in Ontario, Canada while being swarmed and bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes.

Hitching a ride.

A male White-breasted Nuthatch photographed in Saskatchewan, Canada. Another -30°C day with some light snow falling this time.

White-breasted Nuthatch

A portrait of a female Wilson’s Phalarope taken while lying in sand mixed with wildfowl poop on the shoreline of a section of Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Female Wilson's Phalarope.

Delicious.

David M18 Comments

The new Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Delicious.

My initial idea was for the various caterpillars, spiders and assorted other insects being fed to young birds by their parents.

Then it occurred to me just how many shots of birds and mammals feeding I had in my archives. So I decided to expand on the original idea with a selection of six different feeding behaviours.

First, an American Red Squirrel feeding on seed in the grass in Ontario, Canada.

Feeding American Red Squirrel.

An adult Eurasian Blue Tit feeding young with a green caterpillar in Cheshire, England.

Feeding the young.

A Bohemian Waxwing eating a berry at -30°C in Saskatchewan, Canada.

A Bohemian Waxwing at -30°C.

A Black-throated Blue Warbler pretending it’s an Oriole by feeding on the grape jelly in an Oriole feeder in Ontario, Canada.

Male Black-throated Blue Warbler.

An American White Pelican with a large fish in its pouch in Saskatchewan, Canada.

American White Pelican with fish.

Finally, an adult Great Crested Grebe feeding one of its own breast feathers to its young in Cheshire, England.

Adult Great Crested Grebe with young.