A Walk at The Pinery.

Waking up to a beautiful day on Friday, we made a last minute decision to head to Pinery Provincial Park. Excluding a few Canada Geese, a Pileated Woodpecker was our first bird of the day. He wasn't very approachable, but we had a good look before he flew off into the forest.

A flock of Mallards flew directly overhead as we toured through the Dunes Campground Roads.

We saw 32 Cedar Waxwings during the morning. One of them eventually stopped in a location suitable for photographs. We could not find any Bohemian Waxwings.

A quick stop at the beach netted us our first ever Thick-billed Sandpiper!

Back in the Dunes Campground, several splashes of water caught our attention. Upon closer inspection, we realized a frying pan had been left behind at one of the camp sites. When filled with rain water and melting snow, it made a perfect bath stop for some Black-capped Chickadees!

After completing a loop back to our car through the Cedar Trail, we drove to Beach #9 for lunch. The stop provided us with one of our better looks at a male Purple Finch. Five of these finches were enjoying the berries on a Juniper Tree.

It took quite awhile before a Tufted Titmouse joined the numerous Chickadees for a snack. The eyes are quite striking in this species! 

Like chickadees, Titmice also take turns by waiting in nearby trees before feeding.

One last trail to walk after lunch was the Riverside Trail. There has been a lot of recent activity from North America's largest rodent. Beavers are generally considered to be crepuscular (active early and late in the day) and we didn't see one. However, they can occasionally be seen during the middle of the day.