| A beautiful day for a walk in the park. |
Sunday April 26, 2015. Swan Lake Village area, Markham, Ontario |
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| Walking around the park is great excercise and this is the best time of the year to see the birds as the air is very clear and the trees are bare of leaves. The cold weather seems to be affecting the migrating birds as a few species have been staying on the lake longer than usual. |
| Swan Lake Park - April 19th, 2015 |
| Mute Swans |
| Romeo and Juliet continue to go through the mating ritual. Here they are rapidly dunking their heads beside each other. |
| Note the Inflated upper neck and the heavy necking going on. |
| Mute Swans |
| Juliet having a bath and plunging her head into the water. |
| More fun in the Sun having her bath. |
| Red-Winged Blackbird |
| Beside the path near the landing. |
| Common Grackle |
| Beside the path near the landing. Always interesting seeing how the sunlight changes the colors and appearance of the feathers. |
| Mute Swans |
| Romeo and Juliet heading out to explore the lake. |
| Swan Lake Park - April 20th, 2015 |
| Bufflehead Duck |
| Two males (left) and two females (right) stopping on the lake before heading north. |
| Mute Swan |
| Romeo on Goose patrol duty near the nest and feeder. |
| Swan Lake Park - April 25th, 2015 |
| Pussy Willow |
| "Before the male catkins of these species come into full flower they are covered in fine, greyish fur, leading to a fancied likeness to tiny cats, also known as 'pussies'. The catkins appear long before the leaves, and are one of the earliest signs of spring. At other times of year trees of most of these species are usually known by their ordinary names." Wikipedia |
| Mute Swan |
| Not sure but I think this is Romeo sitting on the nest. |
| Common Grackle |
| Beside the path near the feeder. Again changes in light can change the appearance and colors of the bird. |
| Common Grackle |
| This male is trying to attact a female sitting above him on a branch. |
| Trumpeter Swan |
| On the path down from the hill towards the point. Took these pictures of the Trumpeter Swans feeding between the large Island and the shore. This Swan displays the slightly brownish/grayish feathers of an immature adult. |
| A second Trumpeter Swan showing the white feathers of a mature breeding adult |
| Hopefully these two Trumpeters will soon head north, as Romeo will not tolerate them on the lake for long. |
| Common Merganser |
| A male Common Merganser and two red headed females. The black head is actually an extremely dark green. Picture taken from the Point. |
| Bufflehead Duck |
| Male (left) and two females. Pictures taken at the point. |
| Turtles |
| Six smaller Midland Painted Turtles with a very large turtle which appears to be a Red Eared Slider. Pictures taken from the brige at Turtle Inlet. |
| European Starling |
| A young adult non breeding Starling. Beside the path climbing the hill from the west side. |
| Mute Swan |
| Juliet in the water beside the nest. |
| Romeo sitting on the nest? |
| Swan Lake Park - April 26th, 2015 |
| Common Merganser |
| Picture taken from the point of two males. Soon they will leave the lake and head north to their breeding grounds. |
| Swallow |
| Swallows seem to love racing in the strong winds over the lake and spend hours flying into it and then popping up and racing back at high speed with the wind behind them. Extremely difficult to take pictures of them because of the high speed and sudden quick turns they make. This was a lucky shot taken from the point. |
| Midland Painted Turtles |
| Shot from the bridge at Turtle Inlet at the west end of the lake. The turtles find this to be a safe place to sun themselves. |
| Midland Painted Turtles |
| Midland Painted Turtles |
| Not a great picture but I liked the way the sun was catching the colors. Shot from the bridge over Turtle Inlet |
| Common Merganser |
| Cindy took this picture from the point. |
| Robin |
| Picture taken of the Robin sitting in a tree beside the path on the north side of the north pond. |
| Mute Swan |
| Romeo on patrol near the nest. Picture taken by Cindy from the path down to the point. |
| Mourning Dove |
| This one was sitting on a rock beside the path from the point to the Turtle Inlet bridge. Taken by Cindy. |
| Robin |
| Hunting for worms beside the north path. Picture by Cindy. |