Remembering 2018!

There were few opportunities to photograph birds due to cold weather and storms this week. (Everyone was hiding!) These photos were taken in 2018 prior to starting my Blog:

Snowy Owls are diurnal. They hunt actively during daylight hours.

Snowy Owl: Thick feathers for insulation from Arctic cold make Snowy Owls North America's heaviest owl, typically weighing about 4 pounds, one pound heavier than a Great Horned Owl, and twice the weight of a Great Gray Owl (North America's tallest owl.)

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Owl/overview

7 Monarch Butterflies on Missouri Ironweed in our backyard in the fall. These  migrating Monarchs were having a food and rest break on their way to Mexico.

One morning while looking out the kitchen window, I saw a Mom Raccoon leading her litter of babies as they walked along the top of the chain link fence. The youngsters were having a difficult time balancing on the slippery, narrow pipe!

When I carefully opened the back door, they 'paused for a photo'. They were headed in the direction of a treed area, but would eventually end up in Canatara Park.

Summer Tanagers are regular visitors to Ontario and one shows up locally approximately every 3 years. (Immature male in above photo.) They are Bee and Wasp specialists. After catching the stinging insects in flight, they kill them by beating them against a branch. Before eating a bee, the tanager rubs it on a branch to remove the stinger.

https://.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Summer_Tanager/overview

A close-up of a pair of Great Blue Heron feet and legs - an interesting scale-like pattern on the legs!

Red-headed Woodpeckers attempted to nest three years in a row in Canatara Park. They were successful in two of those years, and in 2018, I saw 2 juvenile birds out of the nest! Part of the tree has since fallen down, and the birds have not returned to nest.

Life is tough in the wild. Eat or be eaten. The Red-tailed Hawk 'plucked' this’ Northern Flicker right out of its nesting cavity while we watched!

Unknown dragonfly on a dewy morning!

Common Green Darner laying eggs

Northern Rough-winged Swallows - feeding time!

Smartweed Caterpillar

Wild Turkey Toms during an argument.

Female Wild Turkey with at least 4 "poults" or chicks.