Location: Cambridge to Guelph

Weather: Forecast was sun and cloud, but never saw blue sky once all day.

Location: Cambridge (13th) and Burlington (14th)

Weather: Some sun but mostly cloudy. Cold

The Fox and the White-throated Sparrows were from Cambridge (Riverside Park). With the little bit of snow we got overnight the sparrows stand out quite nicely. Riverside looks like it has a single Fox Sparrow, but at least a half dozen White-throated Sparrows.
The Lincoln's Sparrow (if that's what it actually is - I originally thought it was a Song Sparrow based on the chest spot, but I was corrected online by a much better birder than I) . This was taken at La Salle in Burlington. It was hanging around a log pile - the kind of location that's very typical of a Lincoln's so lends to the argument that it is Lincoln's.   

Location: La Salle, Burlington

Weather: Cool, but some sun and cloud

I had popped into La Salle about 4 or 5 times in the last 8 or 9 days to see if I could find and photograph the now relatively famous Black-throated Gray Warbler, and up to this morning I, although I saw the bird every time, I had yet to get a decent shot. Today, I had that same destination and yet again I was hopeful that I could get this rare bird (for Ontario) in my viewfinder, and at last I managed a semi-decent shot - it was into the light, but I was pretty happy to get at least something. Also I saw two Carolina Wrens - one of which perched into the open for twenty or thirty seconds, and gave a few  of us great shots. My luck may be changing .... at last.

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Location: Toronto

Weather: Sun and a bit of cloud, but a cold start (-4C), but warmed up to maybe +3C

Along with a friend we headed to Toronto on an owl hunting "mission". Our main target were Long-eared Owls and a secondary target of Snowy Owls, of which we found neither. What we did find may even be better than either of the other two - a cute and very tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl. Other birds were  couple of Song Sparrows, some Goldfinches and a surprisingly late migrating Hermit Thrush. A pretty good day
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Location: Kitchener

Weather: Damp & cloudy

The weather was a little drab today and because of a few other commitments I didn't venture too far. I have a few perches setup around the feeders in my back yard and I always have a lot of fun with a camera setup on the inside of my patio doors and setup to shoot through the glass at whatever is in the right place at the right time. Today I had a slightly surprising visitor - a Chipping Sparrow. 

Location: Burlington

Weather: Chilly start (around 1C) but sunny

Location: Vittoria

Weather: Heavy Rain

It had been a while since I went to one of the Canadian Raptor Conservancy presentations, and when I was asked if I wanted to participate I jumped at the chance. The CRC offers session to photographers/photographer groups where they will fly a few raptors (Owls, Hawks, Falcons and Eagles) so that us "shutterbugs" can get a chance to capture in-flight images. They also bring out  a birds that haven't been trained to fly, as static subjects. Unfortunately it rained pretty hard all afternoon. so although we did do a few in-flight setups outside it was far from perfect (poor light, high ISO etc). A few of the birds we setup in their indoor "studio" so we were able to get something. 
Indoors we photographed ... Screech Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Peregrine Falcon and outdoors we photographed Bald Eagle, Harris Hawk, Great-horned Owl, Great-gray Owl and Snowy Owl.
I think all of us ended up a tad damp by the end of the session, but it was, as always, very enjoyable.

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Location: At home in Kitchener

Weather: poor - damp, rainy and yucky

Location: Burlington

Weather: Bright and sunny for the most part

Reports were such that the Hudsonian Godwits were still still hanging around on the mud flats next to Valley Inn. The other day when I was there I photographed the group in the rain, so the images were far from perfect (or even good). The weather forecast was to be brighter so it seemed a good idea to see if I could manage a few better shots. mmmmm! Unfortunately the birds were still on the same mud flats and this time I was shooting into the early morning sun, so are these shots better .... no unfortunately not, but again, still nice to see these fine birds.Maybe next time I will get luckier.
Whilst there we heard that there were a few Fox Sparrows down below Cherry Hill Gate, so this was opportunity I could not resist - Fox Sparrows are definitely one of my favorite Sparrows, and they are always hard to find, so it was a "no-brainer". Unfortunately there was only one, and it was not showing very well, but you take what you can get sometimes.My experience has been that these birds tend to hang around for a while once they find a spot, so I will keep an eye on this location, and hope for something better going forward.

Location: At home in Kitchener

Weather: Mix of Sun, Rain and lots of cloud

Some days It's kinda nice to do some shooting at home. I had a dental appointment in the morning, so wasn't able to travel too far anyways, so I stocked up the feeders, setup my camera on a tripod behind the glass of my Dining Room patio doors, and waited to see what showed up. Before I had headed off to my dental appt I had seen several Pine Siskins at the feeders, and so these were the main target.
Not too much, or at least not too exciting, showed up over the next couple of hours, but I can't say it wasn't enjoyable sitting looking out with a cuppa tea and just relaxing. The most common visitors were, as you might have guessed, were Black-capped Chickadees, then Blue Jays, followed by Red-breasted Nuthatches and White-breasted Nuthatches. At the tail it was Cardinals. On the non-birding side there was no shortage of Red & Grey Squirrels and of course Chipmunks.  

Location: Robertson Tract (Milton), Sedgewick Forest (Oakville) & finally Valley Inn (Burlington)

Weather: Cold but sunny start, then around midday rained for a bit, and still cold

Location: Back to Dundas & Burlington

Weather: pretty much a repeat from yesterday - Cool, but with a little sun

I headed back down to the same area as yesterday, but headed to Valley Inn first and other than lots of Egrets there wasn't too much to photograph. I did see a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but as usual they were tough to get in the open and even tougher to get to sit still for a micro second.
I had a friend with me today and thought it might be fun to go back, yet again, to Thornapple to see if we can find some Hermit Thrushes, and maybe who knows, what else.  As it happened we did find lots of Hermit Thrushes, but sadly not too much else.  I lie .... we had a small group of Ruby-crowned Kinglets float by and for once I was able to get a reasonably close and sharp shot ... 

Location: Dundas & Burlington

Weather: Cool, but seasonal

Dropped in at Thornapple again ....there has been a bit of activity over the last week, so hard to drive by without checking it out. Lots of Hermit Thrushes (just like the other day) and a few Kinglets - mainly Ruby-crowned. It's funny other places get nothing but Golden-crowned, but here it's almost all Rubies.  Not complaining as they drift by in little flocks giving the occasional (and I mean occasional) pose for the camera. 
Whilst in the area I also dropped by Valley Inn to see if there was anything new, but sad to say for the most part it was the same old stuff - Egrets, Blue Herons, Green Herons, Cormorants, Gulls, Osprey, but I did see a lone female Bufflehead - now is that a sign of the upcoming winter or what (sadly no image LOL.

Location: Burlington

Weather: Very cool start, but warmed up later

With only a limited amount of time this morning (a family gathering planned for noon) I headed down to the Burlington area (I had debated taking a walk around Riverside Park instead, but the lure of good sightings near the lake changed my mind). It turned out to be quite productive. Our first stop was at the RBG property in Dundas where we encountered a largish flock of about 15-20 mainly Hermit Thrushes, but I was sure there was a Veery in the mix (unlikely I know, but the brief bino glimpse I got was pretty good) Anyways, the flock seemed to follow us as we traveled along a local trail, and every now and then one would pop out into the open giving us decent photo ops. 
From here we headed to Valley Inn for about 45mins where we arrived to find several Kinglets foraging along the road next to the parking lot. Amongst them I saw (even before getting out of the vehicle) a Magnolia Warbler ... a quite late migrant, which would have been one of the last I would have expected this late, but a nice surprise nevertheless.. At one point I found the Magnolia in the open at close range with a caterpillar that it was hitting against the branch it perched on and slowly devouring it. My reaction was delight as I shot off some 20 shots, but turned to disappointment when I realized that my exposure setting had been accidentally changed (a hazard shooting manual) resulting in grossly underexposed images. A lesson learned  ... check frequently!!!  However after adjusting I did get another shot, but caterpillar was history.

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Location: Southern Quebec

Weather: Foggy Start both days, but cleared late morning into sunny and hot (28C)

Location: Samuel Smith Park, Etobicoke

Weather: Drizzly rain

Today was a visit to Colonel Samuel Smith Park primarily as a bird watching day as opposed to my normal photography pursuits. My partner for today was a good friend who is also an avid bird watcher - hence the bird watching. Saying that I did lug along a camera ... just in case. The weather was iffy for most of the time we were there, but there were no shortage of birds  - unfortunately they were in isolated groups, so we had a lot of walking with nothing, then a bonanza period. Our sightings in the small bird category were primarily Kinglets (both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned) but along with these little beauties there were a few warblers and thrushes. Other sightings in the small bird category were Winter Wren, Brown Creeper, Downy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Phoebe, Chickadee, Cardinal, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow and likely a few more that are not coming to mind.Around the ponds there were several interesting species - several Gadwall and American Widgeon, a few Pied-billed Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Mallards, Black-crowned Night Heron, Mute Swans and of course Cormorants. The lighting was poor - both because of the low light but also with a mist that hung over the whole area making decent photographs more than a challenge.

Location: Currie Tract, Halton Region

Weather: Dull with less than perfect visibility

Over the last few days I've seen a distinct change in the species being spotted. Gone, (or at least they seem to be) are the pretty Warblers, ... Parulas, Blackburnians, Black-throated Greens, Blackpolls and Magnolias, and for the most part I'm now seeing Palm, Yellow-rumped and Black-throated Blues. None seem to be too much in abundance, but saying that I am seeing little groups of them pass through my stakeout spots. The Thrushes however are still in decent numbers with more Hermits than I was getting 2 or 3 weeks ago (then it was mostly Swainson's and a few Gray-cheeked). New for me this morning were several Golden-crowned Kinglets (last week it was 100% Ruby-crowned, so these new arrivals are indicating we are closer yet to the inevitable winter season.Still you take what luck throws in your path. Highlights today were certainly the Thrushes - Hermit and Swainson's, but a brief visit by a Winter Wren was equally exciting.

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Location: Tilt's Bush, Kitchener

Weather: Rain and heavy cloud

I don't often go out without a camera, but this morning the weather was not too pleasant. It wasn't raining hard but rather than miss my morning ramble I donned the waterproofs and headed out to one of my local standby locations. Tilt's Bush is about a mile from my house and located at the edge of our sub division alongside and into the swamp. The boardwalk is pretty rickety and this morning, because of the overnight rain, was flooded in sections ... but I still made it to the end. I hung around for a couple of hours and saw briefly several birds including a Northern Flicker, Palm Warbler, Gray Catbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-throated Sparrow, Purple Finch, Blue Jay, Chickadee, Gray-cheeked Thrush and Swainson's Thrush. Other than struggling to keep my binocular lenses dry it was quite a pleasant walk.
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BTW ... you might notice that my history section on the right hand side of the page is missing September - I'm not sure what happened but September is there, it's just combined with August. 

Location: Tilt's Bush, Kitchener

Weather: seasonally cooler, but sunny, and quite pleasant

Location: Riverside Park, Cambridge

Weather: Dull and heavy cloud

Location: Tilt's Bush, Kitchener

Weather: Cool start to the morning, but sunny

Tilt's Bush is a little known boardwalk in Kitchener, that projects for quite a ways into a swampy area. It's very close to where I live, so when I have not too much time I often chose this location for my almost daily, birding ramble. This morning I set myself up at the end of the boardwalk and almost immediately I noticed quite good activity in and around me. I watched a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers drift past me a couple of times, but they didn't sin in the open, so no shot. I watched a drama where a Blue Jay was trying to stay out of the way of a Sharp-shinned Hawk that looked pretty anxious to have a Blue Jay breakfast. Two or three times the Hawk would fly past me screeching - I'm not sure if this was a warning gesture or a sound he made to as he was startled by my presence. A few other Woodpeckers were around - I could hear as many as 3 or 4 at any one time banging away at a tree somewhere close. Downy, Flicker, Red-bellied mainly. The only songbird activity was a brief visit by two Nashville Warblers.

Location: Dundas

Weather: Hazy sun, but significantly cooler than last week

Location: Currie Tract

Weather: Sun and cloud, and continuing warm

I hadn't been out with a camera for a few days because of some appointments on my calendar, but this morning I had a couple of hours to kill before a meeting in Toronto. I had been promising myself that I should see if Currie Tracts had any warblers migrating through. It was very close to this date last year that I came across and photographed a Golden-winged Warbler (the one in my title above), at this very location, so my anticipation level was quite high, as I hiked in. Unfortunately after an hour or more there was very little action, but I did manged to capture these two (below)

Location: Desjardines Canal, Dundas

Weather: Hazy sun, but mostly cloud

I decided this morning to take a break from songbirds, and follow up on some information that I had received yesterday. An acquaintance, that I hadn't seen for a long time, mentioned that there were a few Black-crowned Night Herons hanging out at this location. Sure enough, when we got there I could see two adults and a juvenile perched along the end of the canal. We gradually moved towards these birds, but the juvenile took off almost immediately but the adults stayed put and one especially allowed us to get within 20 feet. The other bird, which was a bit further away but still was in photo distance, also allowed us a few shots. My co-shooter this morning, at one point, stumbled at one point and the near bird took off, so we headed back to the car .. happy with the images. Strangely, the bird that had flown off came back withing a couple of minutes and resumed it's previous perch ... I suppose the fishing must have been good there.

Location: Dundas

Weather: Misty start, then mostly cloud

Not as productive as yesterday but still the morning had it's moments of activity. Predominant in the area was Swainson's Thrushes, again. Warbler activity was way down, but still we managed to see and photograph a Magnolia, Redstart and Black-throated Green on the Warbler side of things and Red-eyed, Philadelphia and Warbling for the Vireos. 

Location: South Flamborough

Weather: Pleasant

Location: Toronto Island

Weather: Dull, threatening rain, poor light

If I was to categorize my birding into either a Bird Photographer or a Bird Watcher it would be a difficult decision for me, and if someone said - you have to make a choice, either lose the camera or lose the binoculars - I think I would elect to keep the binoculars, so saying that I suppose I'm a Bird Watcher, first (I hope I never have to make that decision for real). Today along with a birdwatching friend we headed to Toronto Island to catch part of the songbird migration that passes over the Island. Initially I had planned to go without a camera, but Mutphy's Law would dictate that if I did that I would come across something really good, so compromising I took only a 100-400. However the light was so bad I barely used it. On the birding end of things it was pretty darned good, with dozens of Warblers, Flycatchers & Vireos being seen. I didn't record my sightings, but from memory - Warblers: Black & White, Northern Parula, Bay-breasted, Cape May, Tennessee, Redstarts, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, Magnolia & Yellow. Vireos: Warbling, Red-eyed & Philadelphia. Flycatchers: Wood Pewee & Phoebe's plus one or two I didn't get a good look at. Of the images I did shoot they were all at massive ISO (12,800) so basically they all hit the delete pile. Good day, & spent with a good friend.

Location: South Flamborough

Weather: Cloudy and hazy sun & pleasantly warm

Well if numbers of species was anything to go by I had a good morning. It was as good a few hours as I have had in quite a long time, or at least since spring migration. Highlight without question was a brief visited Tennessee Warbler. A small wave of warblers drifted past my location, consisting mainly of female or juvenile American Redstarts, but amongst them was this Tennessee - made my day for sure. Two other lnice surprises were the Northern Parula and the Black-throated Blue, which appeared to a young male (plumage was less dynamic than what I had seen earlier in the years, but I could be wrong).

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Location: Hamilton

Weather: Another hot one

Started off at Valley Inn then over to Thornapple Loop

Location: Sedgewick Forest

Weather: Muggy

First fall photographic visit to this always interesting location. I was here a couple of days ago on a scouting mission, and I have to say it rarely disappoints ast the number of species sighted. In the hour I was there a few days ago I clocked up Cape May, Blackburnian, Wilson's, Bay-breasted, Chestnut-sided, Yellow-rumped, and likely one or two more.  Today it was still very birdy, but unlike a few days ago, the birds were generally around the tops of the trees, so not too many shots taken. Still, always nice to see these beauties. Today I saw a few Nothern Parulas, a Wilsn's, Cape May, Chestnut-sided, Redstarts in the Warbler category, and Hermit and Swainson's in the Thrushes.

Location: In and around Thornapple

Weather: Misty start and low cloud, bu sun broke through mid morning

Location: 

Weather: Surprisingly cool at daybreak (~ 12C ) but warmed to around 28C later on

Location: Thornapple

Weather: Hot with hazy, off and on sun.

Locations: Cambridge (25th) and Thornapple Loop in Dundas (26th)

Weather: Dry, clear and warm for the most part

Location: Kitchener

Weather: I was inside, so doesn't matter ;)

A couple of spiders from my garage macro "studio" setup  ...  Spiders were located in and around the garden and returned back to their habitat after posing for me for 10 or 15 minutes LOL

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Location: Thornapple Loop, Dundas

Weather: Sunny and hot 

I hadn't been here since early spring but this location can often have a few songbirds during migration. I spent several hours browsing a section of trail and was rewarded with a few decent sightings, including Redstarts, Chestnut-sided, Carolina Wren, and several Red-eyed Vireos. These I managed to photograph but missed out on another couple including a Brown Thrasher ....  good day, for being this early in fall migration.

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Location: In and around Cambridge

Weather:Hot again !!

Spun around a few spots looking for birds and or bugs. The Great-Crested Flycatcher and the Solitary Sandpiper I found at Riverside Park. not too far from Preston Town Centre- always amazes me that this park can produce some good birds.

Location: In and around Cambridge

Weather: Sunny, with a little cloud, but still hot

A few birds from around Cambridge.

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Location: RARE property, Cambridge

Weather: Sunny and hot

A few Butterflies from the last couple of days

Location: Beverley Swamp

Weather: Sunny & Hot

One of the nice things about Birds and Butterflies, as I mentioned in my previous post, is that you can use the same lens - Today I headed out to an area that I have been visiting off and on for many years and can sometimes be quite productive for birds (sometimes not) and of course I had the 500 hooked up and ready for whatever action came my way. I knew Butterflies are quite abundant in this area so although I was hopeful for birds I realistically accepted that likely I was going to shoot butterflies. Just as I arrived at my planned spot along Safari Road I saw what I initially thought was a Goldfinch, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Blue-winged Warbler. I was really pleased with this find and I suspect that this was a herald to the upcoming fall migration of Warblers, at least I hope so.

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Location: In and around Cambridge

Weather: Sunny and continuing HOT

Today was a Butterfly day ... I did some experimenting with different methods for photographing Butterflies and Moths - I have a Macro Lens (100mm L series) which for image quality is really good ....  if you can close enough, which isn't always that easy, and can quite frustrating.  Next I also tried using my 500mm F4 and if I combined it with an extension tube or two then I had the ability to get razor sharp images but from a distance that didn't spook the butterflies. I found that with adding 50mm of Extension that this allowed me to get as close as (approx) 7 feet, and almost fill the frame with eg a Swallowtail. The big disadvantage is that a) it's unwieldy and b) a tad heavy. Moving on I tried using a 100-400 also with a about 50mm of Extension and found this resulted in getting an image almost as good a quality as the 500 and or the 100mm, but certainly easier to handle, although the zoom feature wasn't very practical, so I found that locking the zoom at the full 400 being the best method. An interesting experiment .....

Location: Gravel Roads near Ayr

Weather: Sunny and hot 

Most days I head out with the thought of finding birds, but as most other birders are finding out they have been pretty thin on the ground this month. However that only makes the chase more interesting does it not. I headed out to a agricultural area near Ayr, ON where some of the back roads are bordered by various woodlots and swampy areas. These are not birded very frequently but nevertheless they can often have a few birds. Today along  the one stretch I found two individual Black-billed Cuckoos and a Great-crested Flycatcher plus a few odds and ends. Also along this same road (if my memory serves me correctly). I also had a few butterflies including a nice Millbert's Tortoiseshell ... A first for me and it certainly made the day worthwhile.

Location: Beverley Swamp

Weather: Hot and Sunny

Although it's getting really late in the season for them, I'm determined to get a decent shot of a Hummingbird Moth and so I went back to Beverley Swamp, where I had spotted a little one there yesterday (10th). Unfortunately I couldn't find any, but I did find a good show of miscellaneous Butterflies, including one that has been on my wish list .. the tiny Silvery Blue, which every time I see one never seems to settle. This one dropped down a couple of times, but I didn't get the back pose (which shows the blue really well). Still I got some shots so I was happy. Another one that photographed and I don't believe I had seen before was the Great Spangled Fritillary. A good "Flutterby" day .....
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Location: Hamilton and then Beverley Swamp on my way home

Weather: Cooler by the Lake, but inland hot again

Along with a friend I headed to Hamilton with hopes of finding and photographing the Long-tailed Jaeger. For me this was my second day having photographed it several times yesterday (9th) but my companion had yet to see it. Unfortunately it was not to be - there was a distinct change in the wind direction overnight so it would appear that our target had "flown the coop".
We couldn't even find  the shorebirds that I had seen the day before so our day overall wasn't looking so good. We stopped in at Valley Inn in the hope of maybe a Green Heron or Black-crowned Night Heron, but although we did see a distant pair of Greens we didn't get a shot. Our only birds were a couple of Ospreys and a few Caspian Terns, but even these guys failed to perform (take fish in a dive). Some days are like that.
On my way home I dropped in at Beverley Swamp - I had been here a couple of days ago and had seen a few decent Butterflies, so my plan was to spend a bit more time and try to get a Silvery Blue which had eluded me on my previous visit..... as it did today as well :( I did however photograph a Tiger Swallowtail and a Giant Swallowtail and the highlight of my day a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Unfortunately ... my image of the Moth was pretty awful, as you can see below, but certainly pretty excited to see it 

Location: Hamilton, Ontario

Weather: Continuing hot (~29C)

Location: In and around KW

Weather: Hot & Sultry

.... and some bugs from the last couple of days 

Location: Kitchener, ON

Weather: Sun and cloud & warm (28C)