Wild About the City » Exploring nature in the urban environment

The wind, water and warmth from the sun create an ice sculpture on the lake side of Ashbridge's today.

Frozen! I thought these bluish icicles were particularly lovely in the warming rays of the late afternoon sun today. There were only a few bushes that had these ice sculptures on them. It seems there had to be the exact combination of sun, wind and warmth to get the formation of these long icicles.

The inner bay is still frozen over, and no sign yet of our swans. I keep wondering where they are along the lakefront — and when they’ll be back.

Towards the end of the point there were lots of common goldeneyes, looking very regal with their glossy green heads and sharply delineated markings.

There were also lots of female common mergansers keeping a slight distance from the goldeneyes. Didn’t see any males around, but guess they had to be somewhere about.

On the far side — the lake side again — I saw this one lone gull on the water. It seemed to be much bigger than the usual ring-billed gulls I normally see on my walks. A quick look in my bird books has me thinking this is a herring gull — common enough around here, but not seen nearly as often as the ringbilled ones.

© BCP 2010

Mallard drake soaking up the sun in the Ashbridge's Bay parking lot. You can almost see his speculum in bottom right corner.

It feels like spring! A degree or two over zero in sheltered spots, making it a perfect day to pick up some Vitamin D. Sun on my shoulders, sun on my hands. Warm enough to take the gloves off for a few minutes, even. And in the parking lot, the best sign of all — puddles!

The mallard flock that resides in the Coatsworth Cut had assembled themselves in the parking lot, drinking repeatedly from the tiny pools of water. Occasional squabbles broke out, with loud quacking and aggressive pecking at neighbours getting too close. I felt like saying, “relax guys, there’s plenty of water here for everyone.” Silly old mallards.

The underduck family is still hanging with the mallards. It appears to me, anyway, to be a family — there are three American black ducks, one of which seems to be smaller and have different coloured feet and legs. I’m guessing it’s a juvenile. Or maybe it’s a female and the other two are males.

American black duck family drinking from the little puddles in the Ashbridge's Bay parking lot. ID help needed!

Here they are, keeping their distance — slightly — from the mallard flock they’re with. Perhaps if anyone knows about black ducks, he or she could let me know whether my identification is on the right track. In the picture, you can clearly see the difference in coloration between the black ducks and their near cousins the mallards. Superficially, the black ducks have the general appearance of female mallards. But the black ducks are quite a bit darker. The most noticeable difference between the two Anas species are their speculums. The black duck’s speculum is an iridescent indigo bounded by black stripes. The mallard’s black stripes are much narrower and are bounded on their outer margins by white stripes.

After I left the parking lot — finally! — and started on my walk, I passed by the tiny white feather stuck in the bushes again. This time I tried shooting it with a completely different lens (yesterday I used my macro lens) to see if the pictures would turn out differently. I think I like today’s image, shot with a telephoto lens, better than yesterday’s. Comments, anyone?

Tiny feather caught in the twigs, photographed with long lens instead of macro.

There was  not too much new to see along the path.  Inner bay still frozen over, so no ducks at all. And no sign of Penny and Tycho. I had hoped I might see the cardinal pair that live near the point, but there was no sign (or sound) of them either.

But keeping my eyes and ears open did finally pay off. Sometimes, if I listen really closely, I can hear signs of the ever-shy red squirrel pair. They don’t show themselves very often, but they frequently are chattering away many metres up in the treetops.

Today I got lucky, and the little guy came down long enough for me to try grab his picture. I only managed to snap off a couple of frames before he dashed into the underbrush (scared away by an offleash dog). But here he is, caught in the act of giving me the eyeball to check me out. Darn cute, I say. And how about that cool camouflage he’s got going as he dashes about in the winter underbrush?

The ever-elusive red squirrel finally gave me the chance to grab a shot.

How I wish this lovely mild weather would last! But I’m told we’re meant to be heading back into the deep freeze again. No matter. In a few short weeks, the redwings will be back and we shall have spring.

© BCP 2010