| A beautiful day for a walk in the park. - Wednesday April 19, 2017. | |
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| Swan Lake Village area, Markham, Ontario. | |
| Spring is here Romeo and Juliet have eggs in the nest. The Ducks, Geese, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Northern Cardinals etc, have found love and the next generation will start hatching over the next 6 weeks. Meanwhile in the Village the birds are returning and soon the air will be filled with song. |
| Swan Lake Park - Apr 14, 2017 |
| High above the path on the way to the feeding station a Mourning Dove watches the people pass by. |
| This male Northern Cardinal watches me as I approach him near the East Pond. |
| Looking down from the west side path up the hill, we see a Turtle watching us carefully. Most of the turtles in the lake are Midland Painted Turtles like this one. |
| There are many Yellow-rumped warblers in the trees on the hill hunting insects and grubs. Not as many this year as last year I've noticed. |
| Turtle Inlet is full of 'Turtles'. We counted around 30 Turtles including these scattered around the inlet on rocks and logs. |
| Looking at another log we noticed these Turtles seemed to have their attention focused on something to our left but we couldn't see what it was. I' |
| Goldfish |
| The backend of Turtle Inlet continues to be filled with Goldfish which I would think the little Midland Painted Turtle in the middle of it must find quite intimidating. Just think about swimming along in a lake and suddenly finding yourself completely surrounded by hundreds of fish larger than you. |
| Swan Lake Park Apr 15, 2017 |
| This female Bufflehead Duck is a very shy and small duck. As soon as it saw me looking at it, it starting swimming out to the center of the lake. |
| I think this is Juliet enjoying the sun near the Swan Feeding Station after dinner. |
| This House Sparrow was watching people walking along the path from a branch high in a tree near the landing. |
| Not far away from the male we found a female who seemed more interested in the male then us. |
| A male Bufflehead Duck swimming near the female comes close enough to shore to get a picture before he noticed us and swam out to the middle of the lake. |
| 'Laughing Duck'? Beautiful male Mallard Duck at Turtle Inlet. |
| Another male Mallard at Turtle Inlet. |
| this Canada Goose was standing by the path grazing on the grass beside the path. |
| On the way back from the hill we saw this beautiful Red-winged Blackbird displaying it's red shoulder feathers to all and singing it's song as loud as it could to claim it's territory and try to attract females. When it comes ti birds love is always in the air. |
| As we walked further this bright and colourful male Northern Cardinal was watching and trying to attract females with it's song. I'm not sure but I think this fellow is nesting somewhere in the Village. |
| Another female House Sparrow watching us as we walk down the path. |
| Romeo swimming along the shore. Picture by Gary Deckert head of the Swan Lake Village Camera Club. |
| Swan Lake Park - April 18, 2017 |
| This male Ruby-crowned Kinglet is usually only seen during the early spring and fall. A tiny bird that just can't seem to stay still as it moves from branch to branch quickly looking for insects and spiders. Soon it will head North to it's summer breeding grounds. |
| Swan Lake Park - Apr 19, 2017 |
| Romeo charges towards the Swan Feeding Station as he hears the dinner call. He is in full display with the wings raised to make sure all know this is his lake. |
| This male Mallard Duck was standing on a log near the Swan Feeding Station enjoying the sunshine. The sun was low in the west and hi-lited it's feathers beautifully. |
| Sure enough if the birds are singing their love songs, the bees must be busy too. This Bumble Bee is finding lots of food in these tree blossoms and doing a very important job in spreading pollen from tree to tree. Apparently 1/3 of all the food people eat is pollinated by bees. |
| One of the least noticed of the song birds is the Song Sparrow. We have both male and female Song Sparrows in the park. |
| A better picture of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. |
| Shooting a picture of a bird way out in the lake with the sun behind it usually just results in a picture of a black sillouette of the bird. But this Cormorant turned to the side just as i took the picture. |
| Swan Lake Village - April 19th, 2017 |
| This male House Finch was sitting on a branch of a tree on Celebrity Greens with the sun low in the west shining directly on it. A female was with it and i think they are nesting in the village also as I haven't seen them in the park. |