Outings of a Young Naturalist: Waterfowl...

On March 30, 2020 my dad and I wanted to get two Wellington year birds; a Ruddy Duck and a Northern Shoveler. So we left after breakfast and went to go see the Ruddy Ducks first. On our way there we stopped at a pond and saw some Mallards, Common Goldeneyes, Ring-necked Ducks, Canada Geese, Green-winged Teal, Bufflehead and a Lesser Scaup.

Common Goldeneye- Guelph, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 10:30AM

Lesser Scuape- Guelph, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 10:30AM

Canada Goose- Guelph, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 10:20AM

Ring-necked Ducks- Guelph, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 10:20AM

Then after that we went to the pond with the Ruddy Duck. Once we got there we saw some Ring-necked Ducks, Canada Geese, a Pie-billed Grebe, Bufflehead, Common Mergansers then finally some Ruddy Ducks. My dad spotted two of them when we were looking at a group of Ring-necked Ducks in the back of the pond.

Ruddy Duck- Mountsberg, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 10:40AM

Then we had a stop at Barber's Beach before going to check for the Northern Shovelers. When we were looking at the waterfowl in the water my dad shouted, "Common Loon flying!" I thought, "Yes! another year bird!" Then I took some poor pictures of it before it flew out of sight.

Common Loon- Mountsberg, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 10:50AM

Then finally we went to go see if the Shovelers were still around. When we got there right off the bat we spotted a pair of Northern Shovelers. We also saw some Mallards, Killdeer, Canada Geese, Green-winged Teal and some American Wigeons.

Canada Goose- Mountsberg, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 11:30AM

Killdeer- Mountsberg, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 11:30AM

American Wigeon- Mountsberg, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 11:30AM

Northern Shovelers- Mountsberg, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 11:30AM

Then with both of our targets met we left and went home. But on the way home we stopped at another waterway in Mountsberg where Barb Charlton had once found a Eurasian Wigeon! When we got there we saw some Canada Geese and Mallards and in the distance a Gadwall. As I was looking at the lake my dad said, "Osprey, Osprey!" I thought, "Wow this day just keeps on getting better! What's next? A Hermit Thrush?!"I spotted the Osprey, grabbed my camera and took some poor record shots. It turned out that it was the first one in Wellington seen for theyear and as we were looking at the photos I got we saw that it was carrying a fish!

Osprey- Mountsberg, Wellington, Ontario- March 30, 2020, 11:40AM

After that we went to see if we could go find it again. My dad said he knew a place where they nested nearby at a baseball field. So sure enough when we got there we saw the Osprey on the nest so I got a few more pictures.

Then it flew away and we waited for a minute or so and then a saw it flying back with a broken branch. It landed in the nest and moved the stick around the nest trying to put it in the right place. But I guess it was picky because the next thing I knew dropped that branch and went looking for another one.