![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/YellowRumpedWarbleronNaturalCrooksDotComS.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nat least a pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers. I\u2019m pretty sure there were more than 2 but given the speed with which they flew and hopped from branch to branch searching for snacks I can\u2019t be certain.<\/p>\n
At one of several dead trees still standing in the park, I found my first<\/p>\n Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of spring. Although she has a red head, she does not have a red throat patch. The male\u2019s have that. As well as sipping sap from freshly drilled holes, these birds also eat insects.<\/p>\n The usual Black-capped Chickadees were round and about. A Downy studiously ignored a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers flirting a few trees away. The Downy kept drilling and appeared to find a reward for his hard work. (The red cap on the Downies and Hairys is only on the males.)<\/p>\n A Blue Jay put in a startling appearance. It was surprising because it was quiet. Three pairs of Northern Cardinals kept up a steady stream of calling, interrupted from time to time by the off-key random warbling of several American Robins.<\/p>\n Amidst all this ruckus, I was pleased to hear a calmer \u201cphee wizzit, phee-whee\u201d down near the creek edge, but on the wrong side and further upstream than I wanted to go. So while I\u2019m sure there was an Eastern Phoebe there somewhere, I didn\u2019t actually see her. (Or him.)<\/p>\n There were still no leaves out on any of the trees, although a first few were tentatively unfurling on some bushes. Along the beach, some blossoming Coltsfoot made a vivid yellow contrast with the sand bank.<\/p>\n Of the native spring wildflowers I saw nary a one.<\/p>\n Moving out to the shore edge, I heard the distinctive rough rattling call of a kingfisher. No, two kingfishers. No several kingfishers. They exploded into view from a cliff top tree further along the shore, then arrowed after each other over the glittering waves. Arcing wide, they flew in and up to land in another large tree further down the shore.<\/p>\n For the next 45 minutes, I paced slowly along the beach, as the kingfishers came in and out, flew in and out of the Arkendo Beach bay, and taunted me to try to get a clear focus on them with my Nikon D5100. Even in fast mode, it couldn\u2019t get a grip on them in flight. Manually focusing was a real challenge, especially since my unaided eyesight isn\u2019t as crisp as I\u2019d like. Still, whether I got good photos or not, I got great glimpses of their behaviour.<\/p>\n I know there were at least 4 birds, as that\u2019s how many shot by in a string over the lake in a single-file line simultaneously at one point. There were definitely both males and females.<\/p>\n The female Belted Kingfishers, like this one<\/p>\n have a thick rusty red belt across their front as well as the blue one across their upper chest, and also have rust colouring at their sides.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n