Eastern kingbird
Eastern kingbird keeping a wary eye on us as we passed by its nesting site in a shrub next to the Rideau River, July 1, 2013.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Tag Archives: songbird
Trio of male brown-headed cowbirds
Three male brown-headed cowbirds perched in the treetops next to the Rideau River, June 30, 2013. The brown-headed cowbird is unusual in that it practices nest parasitism. Cowbirds do not rear their own young. The female lays an egg in another bird’s nest and the cowbird chick hatches and is reared by the other birds. It pushes the chicks of the host birds out of the nest so it does not compete for food. Some species of songbird have adapted to this threat in building dummy nests to lure the cowbird to leave its eggs, leaving them free to rear their own broods.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Vireo, possibly a warbling vireo seen and photographed June 15, 2013 in a wooded area next to the Rideau River.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Geoffrey’s hunting diary: Red-wing blackbird chicks
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On my daily training runs with Hera I found a red-wing blackbird’s nest in the reeds at the edge of a pond in the spot near the Rideau River where I run her. I am keeping an eye on the nest, taking care not to disturb the birds, and in due course saw that four chicks were hatched. I used my camcorder to capture some candid footage of the mother blackbird feeding her chicks.
Video produced and published by Geoffrey
Yellow warbler viewed in a mixed habitat of shrubs and meadow next to the Rideau River, May 20, 2013.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Red-winged blackbird nest
Red-winged blackbird nest in the cattails in a pond next to the Rideau River, May 2, 2013. I will keep an eye on this nest over the next several weeks, from a safe distance, to see how the blackbirds make out in their effort to raise a brood of chicks.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Female red-winged blackbird at the edge of a pond next to the Rideau River, April 30, 2013.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Song sparrow photographed in a tree on parkland in Ottawa, Ontario, April 28, 2013.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Male red-winged blackbird perched in a tree next to the Rideau River, April 23, 2013.
Eastern phoebe, a migratory species of songbird, so called because its call sounds like it is saying “Phoebe” photographed on a farm near Spencerville, Ontario, April 20, 2013.
Photographed and posted by Geoffrey
Geoffrey & Mika 