How can you take seriously a forecast like “A 50% chance of precipitation” 50% ?? That’s no better odds than a coin flip. My Great-aunt Buelah’s arthritis is more accurate than that.
Let me explain the reason for this rant. I have been planning a timelapse project but I need a dry sunset or sunrise. Since that happens twice a day, you would think it shouldn’t take long but it has been wet for 4 days. The weather forecast has said 30% chance or 50% or 100% and I guess that makes them right.
However today they said sunny all day and its been a great day.But about two hours before sunset the weather forecast changes to “A 50% chance of precipitation” and its turned into a monsoon. These people are putting out ten day forecasts as if they are meaningful, but the truth is that they have no idea what it is in 6 hours. They should ask my Great-aunt Buelah.
Maybe tomorrow it will be dry. Maybe tomorrow I can finally get this project done. Hmmm.. I better check the weather report.
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Many of the Canada Geese pairs have goslings, the youngest with a pale yellow plumage which changes to a grey as they get older. They are excellent parents, you often see the young in a line with a parent at the front and the back. They will readily attack any animal that comes close.
The video was made with a 500mm telephoto lens on the Canon 5d2
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Filed under: Birds, Ontario — Harold Stiver @ 7:00 am
Ring-billed Gull chick
In Hamilton harbor, here in Ontario, there is a spit of land which hosts a breeding colony of Ring-billed Gulls Thousands of pairs of Ring-billed Gulls and they are very interesting. I have been dropping by occasionally to take some vide in hopes of putting together a feature on them.
Yesterday when I swung by, I found that there were chicks everywhere. And here are some images. Tomorrow I’ll post a short clip of an adult feeding a pair of chicks.
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This lovely Red-winged Blackbird was perched along the Big Creek marsh trail at Long Point. She sits on a graceful plant called phragmites or Common Reed. It is a tall plant that is often used in gardens but it has invaded natural marsh area throughout North America and is difficult to control.
Ontario Parks have recognized the dangers of this plant and are studying possible controls. They include herbicide, cutting, burning, smothering and biological.
Red-winged Blackbird female
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On a quiet side road through a wooded area, I played a tape of a bird I was looking for, a Cerulean Warbler, to refresh my memory of their song. As it played, I was amused to see a female Brown-headed Cowbird land on the road and begin to look intently about. The Cowbird is a brood parasite which lays it’s eggs in the nest of other birds to raise its young. It seemed that this female was interested in seeing if the Cerulean Warbler pair it thought it heard, could be its next victim.
Host species have a number of ways of handling these introductions, sometimes ejecting the egg or Cowbird chick, and sometimes burying it in the nest material. Others simply desert the nest and start over.
Brown-headed Cowbird male
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One of my favorite places to spend a spring morning is the Big Creek Marsh at Long Point, Ontario, one of the finest marshes left in Ontario. As a bonus, the wind was blowing enough to keep the biting bugs away.
The Marsh Wrens have arrived and set up territories and are into some serious singing. If you watch the video, you’ll see that they are not the most beautiful of singers but they are enthusiastic.
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Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, is one of the most gorgeous birds found in North America. It is a small seedeater which breed from Florida to southern Canada and winters to South America.
The female is a rich brown. It is a species which the Brown headed Cowbird sometimes parasitizes.
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Green Heron, Butorides virescens, is a small heron, found in North and Central America. It has a similar species, the Striated Heron found into South America and Eurasia, and sometimes considered this species.
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