![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GoldenCrownedKingletEatingLegsonNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a>\nThis Golden-crowned Kinglet has caught something with very long legs to eat.<\/em><\/p>\n
As the warbler migration winds up for the fall, the Kinglet migration continues. On recent trips I’ve seen both Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets. They are truly tiny and always on the move–it’s very hard to capture their character and appeal in a still photo.<\/p>\n
You can tell the two Kinglets apart fairly easily if you can see their faces. Golden-crowned have almost angry-looking white and black eyelines. Ruby-crowned have a partial white eye ring.<\/p>\n Two pairs of Mute Swans were seen incubating eggs this spring in the Rattray. Although one nest flooded, they re-built and went on to have cygnets. Recently, there has been a pair of Mute Swans with three dusky youngsters and a single Mute Swan with two grey adolescents moving around the marsh. I’m not sure if the fourth parent is still around or not.<\/p>\n Three Hooded Mergansers have also been hanging out in the Lagoon. No adult male has been seen recently, though.<\/p>\n This White-Throated Sparrow was taking advantage of a sunlit spot on the board walk to bask for a minute or two.<\/p>\n It was still quite a cool day and in shadowy spots the heavy silver dew was still lingering.<\/p>\n Some of the Thrushes appeared quite young and may have only fledged recently.<\/p>\n I was enjoying watching a small flock of migrants including two Brown Creepers while I toured along the Knoll trail.<\/p>\n Some of the resident woodpeckers were also busily at work.<\/p>\n Then a larger bird flew in to perch and everyone froze.<\/p>\n The smaller birds nearby didn’t care what its name was: they just didn’t want to be eaten. All the singing stopped and the birds stayed still until the hawk moved on further around the edge of the marsh.<\/p>\n Overall, it was a splendid day to explore the Rattray!<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/p>\n Join In All the small birds were busy hunting insects or berries until this yellow-eyed watcher appeared in their midst. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[25,138,602,474,335,496,576,449,620,459,254,33,40,411,145,64,458,220],"class_list":["post-5393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rambles","tag-birds","tag-brown-creepers","tag-downy-woodpecker","tag-eastern-phoebe","tag-golden-crowned-kinglet","tag-hermit-thrush","tag-hooded-merganser","tag-multiflora-roses","tag-mute-swan","tag-northern-cardinal","tag-northern-flickers","tag-plants","tag-rattray-marsh","tag-riverbank-grape","tag-ruby-crowned-kinglets","tag-sharp-shinned-hawk","tag-staghorn-sumac","tag-white-throated-sparrow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5393"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5400,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393\/revisions\/5400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
\nThis Ruby-crowned Kinglet posed attractively amidst the asters and goldenrods.<\/em><\/p>\nRiverbank Grapes and Virginia Creepers Share Their Bounty<\/h2>\n
\nThe Riverbank Grape crop is large this year and many birds were taking advantage of the leaf cover to perch in some shelter while snacking.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis female Northern Cardinal was popping grapes like a pro.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nAt least three Hermit Thrushes were in the Creeper.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nA Northern Flicker ate Creeper fruit for about five minutes, too.<\/em><\/p>\n|
\nThe softer fruits must be more appealing than the Multiflora Rose hips although by spring most of them will be gone, too.<\/em><\/p>\nA Few Water Birds Floated By<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nSparrows Skulk Everywhere in Autumn<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThis sparrow preferred to perch under the canopy of Cow Parsnip seed heads.<\/p>\nLate Migrants Add Variety<\/h2>\n
\n<\/a>There were several Phoebes enjoying the mosquitoes, gnats and other insects still flying in the unusually warm weather.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSongbirds Aren’t the Only Migrants Though<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>At first I wasn’t sure if this was a young Merlin or Sharp-Shinned Hawk. A check on the internet, though, advised me that Merlins always have dark-coloured eyes. These yellow eyes help to identify the bird as a young Sharp-Shinned. (It could have been a young Cooper’s but it was quite small so I’m pretty sure it was a Sharp-Shinned.)<\/p>\n\n
\nDo you have a favourite trail to walk while searching for fall migrants? Please share your views with a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"