| A beautiful day for a walk in the park. |
Saturday August 09, 2014. Swan Lake Village area, Markham, Ontario |
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| Some unusual and interesting pictures Pictures from my walks around Swan Lake Park and Village Aug 5th to Aug 9th 2014. The fishing in Swan Lake is apparently very good currently as I've seen Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons, Caspian Terns and Double-crested Cormorants fishing in the lake while walking the paths in the park. |
| Swan Lake Village - Aug 5th, 2014 |
| American Goldfinch |
| This male American Goldfinch landed on the tree behind our deck. He has puffed himself up and raised the feathers on his head forming a black mask. |
| Swan Lake Park - Aug 5th, 2014 |
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
| While walking up the hill in the forested area of the park I saw a flash of bright red. When I focused on the spot where I had seen it the Parent flew off. However it's very young juvenile stayed in the tree. Although you can't see it in this picture the distinctive red/rose colored feathers have started to apear on it's breast. |
| Midland Painted Turtle |
| When we reached the bridge the north-west corner of the lake we saw 21 of these turtles enjoying the warm sunny day on logs at the north end of the inlet. |
| Swan Lake Village - Aug 5th, 2014 |
| American Goldfinch |
| Picture of a beautiful male Goldfinch at our feeder. |
| Female American Goldfinch at the feeder. |
| Swan Lake Park - Aug 6th, 2014 |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| While walking along the path after feeding the swans I saw this Cedar Waxwing on a branch high above the path. |
| Song Sparrow |
| Lately I've seen and heard a number of song sparrows in the trees and tall grasses around the swan feeding station. |
| Mute Swan |
| After the noon feeding Romeo, Juliet and the two cygnets seemed very happy and energetic. The warm sunny weather had them swimming fast, splashing, bathing and just enjoying themselves. This Cygnet was having a lot of fun splashing and turning circles. |
| Another Cygnet racing through the water towards where I was standing on the landing below the Swan Club. |
| Cygnet having fun dunking in the water and splashing. |
| Juliet having a bath and shower by splashing the water over herself. |
| Mute Swan |
| During the evening feeding Cindy and I noticed these blue tubes on a Cygnet's left side, near it's wing. I had no idea what this was and so I asked Doc Sal what these were. His reply "Good close up of a budding major feather erupting.." |
| Grove Snail |
| You will find these snails on plants along the path and often you will find them on the path though it is more common to find empty shells. |
| Swan Lake Village - Aug 6th, 2014 |
| Lily |
| Walking back from the park we like to stop by Doug A.'s garden to take pictures of the beautiful flowers. |
| Lily |
| Swan Lake Park - Aug 7th, 2014 |
| Mute Swan / Great Blue Heron |
| As I watched from the Pier on the lake I noticed an interesting confrontation between the Swans and a Great Blue Heron. The Swan's were swimming west along the North Shore just west of the feeding station. They spotted a Great Blue Heron on the shore and slowly moved towards it, surrounding it but not showing any hostile behaviour. The Swan's are very protective of the Cygnets this year due to the larger variety of predators in the area. They slowly moved closer still and seemed to be staring at it. |
| They got so close that the Great Blue Heron grew very nervous and decided to fly away. |
| Great Blue Heron |
| It only flew a short distance east along the shore and then landed on a log. |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron |
| It is always difficult to identify Juvenile birds but yellow on underside of the bill and the yellow patch in front of the eye match those of a Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron. This one was sitting on a fallen branch lying on the waters at the back of Turtle Inlet. Picture taken from the bridge at the North West end of the lake. |
| Robin |
| This young robin, in the midlle of changing from a juvenile to an adult, was sitting on a low branch along the path on the north side of the north pond. |
| Eastern Cottontail Rabbit |
| While walking back we found this cute rabbit beside our path. |
| Swan Lake Park - Aug 8th, 2014 |
| Great Blue Heron |
| While walking down the hill to the point I caught sight of a Great Blue Heron flying across the middle of the lake headed for the north shore. |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron |
| Again I found a Black-crowned Night-Heron at the back of Turtle Inlet. However this time it was an adult. This photo was taken from the bridge. |
| Swan Lake Park - Aug 9th, 2014 |
| Mute Swan |
| A few days later the Cygnets "budding major feather erupting" is continuing to 'erupt' with more of the feather showing. |
| Caspian Tern |
| The Caspian Tern was hovering over the lake while deciding if a tasty meal lay beneath it's waters. The picture was taken as it changed it's flight from a hover to a dive after decideding it was worth diving after. |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| While walking along the path after feeding the Swans I again found a Cedar Waxwing sitting in the branches high above the path. |