Keeping An Eye On The Sky’s

 

 

For migrating birds that is . We are lucky to be  on the migration path , this time of year there are so many birds of all types to watch out for as they catch air on the winds and soar over head  .

Mind you this is cropped as by the time I actually saw him he was moving fast on the winds and over the river .

We get quite a lot of Bald Eagles about just never in the open enough to actually know they are there , they sometimes sit deep in the forest in the trees by the river watching for fish but it is a hard place to get to and take photos as there is so much bush on the banks . 

According to our Southern and Southwestern Ontario Bald Eagle Monitoring Project, the population of these birds in the Great Lakes area prior to the arrival of the European settlers, could have been as high as one nest per mile along the lake Erie shoreline not far from us  in some areas. Due to the loss of nesting and hunting habitat because of the clearing of land for farming and direct human predation, the numbers declined dramatically in the early 1900's. Protective legislation was introduced in 1890 and the Bald Eagle Act in 1940 and these helped to set the stage for a recovery in their population . The use of the pesticide DDT and pollution by PCB's almost led to the extinction of these beautiful birds, and in 1980 there were almost no chicks surviving in the three remaining active nests along the Lake Erie shore in Southern and Southwestern  Ontario. Since then, thanks to protection and active conservation, the populations have started to increase, and more and more young Eaglets are surviving to continue to spread and successfully breed. The Bald Eagle was declared a Provincially Endangered Species in Ontario in 1973, and still is. Thank goodness cause they are beautiful to see and watch .

Then I saw another one and these two joined each other in the sky and were having fun in  the winds , the first Eagle  looked like a large male and the other one I think may of been his mate they were having a grand time way up there and so was I watching them .    Eagles stay with the same mate for life  and these two looked like they were in love  up there  . So free and beautiful .

The Turkey Vultures are filling the sky's as well as they search for food and pickings before they take off for the season .

The leaves are slowly falling here bit by bit and changing as I can see just a tiny hint of more then just green in them , the temps are cooler the sun still strong and warm and the breezes are fresh and cool to .

Birds are busy all over , back and forth and feasting like crazy . Some birds had left weeks ago whilst others still hang about .

                              Sometimes some of the birds stay all year  round like these Goldfinch the Sparrows and  Cardinals  .

I will defiantly be keeping an eye on the sky's in the next week or so as mid September is a great time to spot prey birds flying over and other birds as well that stop by for a rest or to feast  .

                                                                                    Until next time .