Here are a few photos taken on Labour Day by Pete Scholtens. Remember, if you’re at Ruthven and take photos which could contribute to the blog, please send them to us.

Occasionally, (and especially in the fall season) photos of birds with a spiky hairdo appear on the blog. These birds do not typically have feathers sticking up on top of their head. They look like this because they have been ‘skulled.’ Skulling a bird involves looking through the relatively translucent skin on a bird’s head to see how developed the skull is. Birds born this year (hatch year birds) have skulls that are not yet fully developed, and, with some training, can be separated from older birds by skull alone. They end up with feathers sticking up on top of their heads because the bander uses water to separate the feathers and get a good look at the skull.