| A beautiful day for a walk in the park. |
Thursday June 26, 2014. Swan Lake Village area, Markham, Ontario |
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| Some interesting pictures taken during our walks around the park this week. Some of them are very good shots but some are not so great but included because they are of interesting birds of prey. |
| Swan Lake Park - June 21st, 2014 |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| This male Red-winged blackbird was on the grass beside the path near the village entrance to the park. He had just caught a dragonfly and is finding it a bit difficult to swallow. |
| Osprey |
| Caught this picture after it hit the water. It dove from a fair height above the lake and was completely submerged before it came back to the surface with a rather large fish it caught. |
| Osprey trying to fly out of the water with it's catch. |
| Osprey |
| The Osprey was on the far side of the lake when we were taking our pictures of it fishing. Cindy caught the best shot we could get of it flying. |
| Swan Lake Village - June 21st, 2014 |
| Peregrine Falcon |
| The Peregrine falcon is known as the fastest animal in the world and we have had a family of them nesting in and around the Village for years. However it is rare to actually see them and to be able to get a picture |
| Swan Lake Park - June 25th, 2014 |
| Mute Swans |
| Romeo, Juliet and the two cygnets obviously thought that this was a beautiful day for a walk in the park!. However this is dangerous for them as people, dogs and cyclists use the path. Cindy and I managed to get them back to the lake but anyone encountering them on the path should be very careful as both parents can get aggressive in defense of the cynets, if you get too close. |
| Swan Lake Park - June 26th, 2014 |
| Volunteers |
| Mark H. and David B. take a break while the Mute Swans and cygnets have their 5pm dinner. |
| Mute Swans - Cygnets |
| The two Cygnets at the adult feeding trough. |
| Romeo splashes, shakes and stretches in the sun. He looked very happy and if he hadn't been a mute Swan I'm sure we would have heard him honking. |
| Cygnets resting and enjoying the sun in safety with both parents guarding them at the landing. |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Nope the wind didn't get under his kilt but he was grooming himself when he took a break to check out the nosy photographers on the ground. |
| Star Wars meets Swan Lake?? |
| This unidentified object was seen flying over the field in the park. |
| Phantom |
| A couple were flying this over the park by remote control. It is a remote controlled 4 propeller platform with a remote controlled camera. These just started to be sold in camera stores this spring. They sell for anywhere from $500 to $2000 in camera stores. |
| After dinner the cygnets rest on the shore of the landing. |
| Great Blue Heron |
| While visiting the swans at the landing we saw a Great Blue Heron fly by heading towards the Island at the north end of the lake. Cindy and found a spot on the hill to get some good shots of this beautiful bird. |
| Osprey |
| While on the hill we saw an Osprey way up in the air over the far side of the lake. It is probably looking for large fish swimming close to the surface. |
| Great Blue Heron |
| When we came down the hill we walked a narrow path through some bushes and reeds to get a shot of the Great Blue Heron from the other side of the island. A much more difficult shot as we were shooting through the reeds on the shore and the trees on the island with a very narrow angle to get the shot. Cindy rose to the occasion and managed to get a good picture from this angle. |