Other Bird Photos

 Birds offer many good photo opportunities in New Brunswick. In particular, around the Minto/Grand Lake area we are lucky to have both mature and new growth forest, many lakes and rivers and of course we have the Grand Lake Meadows www.grandlakemeadows.com. Pictured below are loons, canadian geese, great blue herons, a downy woodpecker, an osprey, a pair of northern flickers, a seagull, a turkey, a ruffed grouse, a barred owl, an unidentified bird (need help on this one), a semipalated sandpiper, a carolina chickadee, and an american goldfinch. Please offer corrections on any I have wrongly identified.

Pileated Perspective

If you've never seen the pileated woodpecker, the pictures, without some perspective, do little to convey their size. Adults can get up to 18" tall with a wingspan of nearly 30". This year round resident of New Brunswick eats by drilling into the heartwood of dead trees looking for beetle larva. They also consume ants and berries. Like most woodpeckers, the pileated has four toes on each foot, two facing forward and two backward. While we may not get to see them very often, we hear them, as their call, which sounds like laughing, is loud and very recognizable. Pictured at right is the male and below the female.... can you spot the main difference?
                                                           
                                                       

Azzie & Wendy behind my house

Lake Drive

Here are some pictures from Wednesdays drive to Scotchtown and back.

Scenic Drive

 This time of the year is especially hard for me as I am not able to get out into the woods as much as I would like. There is still too much snow for boots but not consistent enough levels for skis and snowshoes, that makes it the perfect time to go for a drive. Every year at the end of March, as the days get warmer and the snow starts to disappear from the farm fields, the deer emerge from their wintering grounds looking for the first new growth of spring. The geese are also returning. Wendy and I like to drive to Douglas Harbour then down to Scotchtown, around to Clarks Corner, out to Ripples and back home to Minto. Usually we can see upwards of several hundred deer. While there are deer around in the afternoon, late evening is the best viewing time. There are rumors of a partially albino deer near the government garage in Lakeville Corner but he has eluded me..... A common theme as anyone who knows my track record hunting deer will attest to.