| A beautiful day for a walk in the park. |
Sunday April 07, 2013. Swan Lake Village area, Markham, Ontario |
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| The ice is almost completely gone from the lake in only 3 days and already some of the migrating birds are using the lake. |
| Swan Lake Park |
| Hooded Merganser |
| Warmest day of the year so far with temperatures reaching 18 centigrade but a very strong cold wind made it feel more like freezing. This very fuzzy picture was a small part of a much larger picture I've blown up. The birds you can see are two females (left) and one male (right) Hooded Merganser. These small ducks hunt fish and crayfish beneath the surface. The females have a redish color to their head and crest. |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| There were a couple of dozen Ringed-billed Gulls fishing on the lake. They seemed to be catching a lot of small fish though for a gull it sure is a mouthfull. |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Nice shot of a Ring-billed Gull flying over the lake and keeping an eye out for any fish that might come close to the surface. |
| Hooded Merganser |
| A little bit clearer picture of a Hooded Merganser male. |
| The last of the ice |
| Two Ring-billed Gulls stand on the last patch of ice still on the lake on the south shore near Amica. |
| Reesor's Pond |
| Common Merganser |
| I popped down to a small pond a few minutes away from Swan Lake and found a male (left) and a female (right) Common Merganser sunning on a spit of land. These ducks were very far away. The common Merganser is a large diving duck that like the loon hunts fish underwater. |