It was gorgeous today. 15 degrees Celsius and no wind. It was super sunny, and there were were also no clouds in the sky to be seen!
Walking down to the lake, I felt lucky.
Today I had the pleasure of seeing three Horned Grebes! All of which were within 3 feet of the shore at one point! Anyways, I saw two breeding individuals and a non-breeding individual. It's neat that I saw both on the same day.
As I was walking along a beach on Lake Ontario with hundreds of people, I found my first Horned Grebe of the day! It was a non-breeding individual that was swimming and diving within 5 feet of the shore! A mother with two toddlers were about 6 feet away from it at one point, and it wasn't even phased by them!
Then I went over to Ashbridge's Bay, and in the bay, there was a pair of Horned Grebes in full breeding plumage! Soooo beautiful!!! I was able to get some great shots off, and they stayed within 20 feet of me for 15 or so minutes, diving happily. 
I think I've used up all my birding luck for the year!
Here's what I saw:
2 Mute Swan
5 Common Goldeneye
2 Lesser Scaup
15 Greater Scaup
1 Common Merganser
10 Red-breasted Merganser
2 American Black Duck
2 Gadwall
4 Canada Goose
4 White-winged Scoter
5 Redhead
3 Horned Grebe
10 Bufflehead
5 Long-tailed Duck
80 Ring-billed Gull
10 Herring Gull
5 Iceland Gull
1 Red-tailed Hawk
4 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 Killdeer
10 Song-Sparrow
10 American Tree Sparrow
4 American Robin
1 Dark-eyed junco
2 Northern Cardinal
1 American Goldfinch
1 While-breasted Nuthatch
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Common Grackle
2 Mourning Dove
5 Red-winged Blackbird
Here are some shots!
This was the first Horned Grebe I saw - it was actively diving off the heavily populated beach!
Then I found a pair in the bay that were super close to shore! Absolutely stunning breeding individuals.
Iceland Gulls. These are my favourite gulls... they are quite rare elsewhere but are super common here!
American Robin
Common Grackle
FOY Golden-crowned Kinglet!
Song Sparrow - my all-time best shot of one!
Long-tailed Duck
Common Mergansers
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-tailed Hawk flyover - this was in my yard right after I got home.
Comments appreciated!
Happy birding!
-Owen
Hi Owen, nice shots.
ReplyDeleteI went to Etobicoke last week-end (Colonel Sam Smith Park) and saw plenty of Horned Grebes and Red-necked Grebes (and a big coyote actually!). The previous week-end I went to the Scarborough Bluffs and saw a Pied-billed Grebe. So you might see some at Ashbridges Bay one of those days... Have fun.
French Girl in TO
PS: and I saw the snowy owl at Ashbridges Bay last month. Thanks again for the tip !