Lake Whitefish from Lake Superior

This is a Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) caught through the ice on Lake Superior, yesterday. The presence of an adipose fin (between the dorsal and the caudal fins), among other characters, indicates its close relatedness to other salmonid fishes of which we also caught (in the same area) Rainbow Trout, Coho Salmon and Lake Herring.

All of these species feed heavily on Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax), an invasive forage fish in Lake Superior.

This is one of my favourite fish to eat.

Glaucous Gull in the Town of Marathon

This Glaucous Gull was in the company of 50 or so Herring Gulls in Marathon today. Nearby I saw two Snow Buntings and an American Kestrel - new birds for the season.

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Redpolls swarm our yard after the storm

As seen in our yard today (make sure your volume is turned up!)...

Birds about town...

There hasn't been much change in recent weeks. The are still good numbers of Common and Hoary Redpolls around town. Dozens of pairs of Herring Gulls are staking out territory on Skin Island, in Peninsula Harbour.


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Bohemian Waxwings

"Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll

Here are today's sightings as processed by eBird:

Location:     Marathon, Ontario
Observation date:     3/10/11
Number of species:     16

Bald Eagle     1
Herring Gull     275
Glaucous Gull     4
Downy Woodpecker     2
Hairy Woodpecker     2
Pileated Woodpecker     1
Common Raven     65
Black-capped Chickadee     3
European Starling     2
Bohemian Waxwing     20
Northern Cardinal     3
Pine Grosbeak     16
Common Redpoll (flammea)     92
Common Redpoll (rostrata)     9
Hoary Redpoll (exilipes)     13
Hoary Redpoll (hornemanni)     3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/canada)

Black-backed Woodpecker at Dorion

Thanks to Susan Fagan for sharing this photo, taken today near Dorion.

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Thin ice on Peninsula Harbour