This was the Canada Day long weekend, and although we suspected the area might be busy and the traffic up might be a bit of a challenge, Jamie and I headed up to an area on the west side of Algonquin to look for and hopefully photograph a few Warblers anyways. The original plan was to spend a couple of days in the area, but after a long and pretty successful day we headed back (The next day was forecasted to be clear & blue sky,  which as I have mentioned in the past, my least favorite weather for photographing birds), and we saved the price of a couple of hotel rooms to boot :)
The early dull part of the day was a bit of a problem which resulted in some higher than preferred ISO levels, but that's the price you pay for shooting out of the sun I suppose. Sightings were pretty steady all day with some good birds seen and photographed. There was a couple of birds we saw but didn't manage a click eg the Blue-headed Vireo, so maybe next time ... maybe. 
One bird we saw and and was saddened to see that it had a tick embedded just above its eye was a Red-eyed Vireo. I found out later that migrating birds are a significant element in the transfer & spreading of these little B's. It also reminded me to check myself for any "hangers on" - I'm glad to say I came up clean. Great trip and thanks again Jamie, for the great company, and the use of your super ears for locating many of the birds.
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With the super long lenses. and high quality full-frame cameras that I've been using for many years, it makes it practical to  follow a situation without intruding too much. Over the last couple of days I have been watching a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers as they popped back and forward to their nest, which has some little ones.  I should point out that these shots were taken from some distance and are severely cropped to create the images displayed here. The birds, both male & female, popped back and forward to the nest hole in short bursts of activity - often with both birds in the hole at the same time (it must have been pretty crowded in there). One thing I noticed was that they would stash food in a few places around - one being directly on top of the stump, where they would appear to pound the prey into a cavity, then come back a short time later, retrieve it and then feed the babies. Red-headed, unlike most other Woodpeckers, capture their prey, which was a mixture of caterpillars, bugs, beetles & spiders, on the surface or on the wing. Other woodpeckers tend to excavate cavities in search of food.
On further exploration of the immediate area, I noticed that a second pair have a nest in an adjacent dead tree, but because of the general inactivity around that nest, it would seem that this pair is incubating eggs. I will have to keep my eyes on both these nests in the coming weeks, and of course at no time will I be getting too close or disturb the birds in any way.
On a photography note - birds like this with dramatic red feathers are very difficult to the get the exposure just right. I have found that in the sun these red feathers get "blown out" and loose photographic detail I much prefer shooting in a cloudy or even in a rainy environment.  

One thing I would always recommend birders & photographers is that when you head out for the day, have a bit of a plan in mind, and more importantly have a species in mind. I know sometimes we head out with a location in mind, and then hope to see/photograph a selection of different birds that you fly out in to your chosen path, but I prefer the calculated and deliberate path of tracking down a target or targets at different spots.
Today was another of those days where we headed to a known spot, where we were pretty sure that a Prothonotary Warbler would be hanging around, and as suspected we saw our "prey" several times over a period of a couple of hours. The light was a bit drab, but on the plus side the sun stayed nicely behind the clouds. (I am not keen on shooting birds in bright sunshine - always a challenge to deal with the harsh shadows.)
Next stop and a new target was a disused quarry where over many years the grasses had grown over the whole area and allowed a few of the field sparrow species to take up residence, including the Field Sparrow (of course),  Song Sparrow, Clay-coloured Sparrow and the beautiful Grasshopper Sparrow. Strangely I never came across any Savannah Sparrows at this spot. The two main species of interest were the Clay-coloured and the Grasshopper - both of which popped up a few times giving us some great shots.

Steve and I have been talking about this road trip for some time, and after some research and a bit of planning we made the decision to head up into Northern Michigan to see if we could find and photograph one of North America's rarer Warblers ... the Kirtlands Warbler. We had some great help from another friend who had birded this particular area a week or so ago, so I'm grateful for his help and advise (Tks Bob). 
​So on Tuesday morning we headed out with the plan being to travel on the 28th and stay the night in Bay City, and do a little birding along the Lake, with the target being Yellow-headed Blackbird, prior to the final leg of our journey the next morning. Unfortunately we skunked on the Blackbird, but saw quite a few other birds along that particular marshy area.
Next morning we headed up to an area around Mio and after locating the habitat that Kirtlands prefer (young growth Jack Pines between 7-20 feet high) we almost immediately spotted our prey.   As it turns out we saw several individuals over the next two days and managed several keeper type images.   
All in all it turned out to be a very successful trip, and although it was along drive, I was elated and very happy that we made the longish journey.

There's a small area in up near Tobermory that has great habitat for, and a small population, of among other things, Golden-winged Warblers. Last year we went up to explore the area, looking for the Golden-winged, and found a spot where they were calling and showing. On that outing we managed to see and photograph several of these beauties. It was almost one year to the day, that we were there last year, so it seemed appropriate for this years trip as well. We tried to time our two days so that there wasn't too much sun, as there is nothing worse than fighting bright highlights and ugly drastic shadows. Over the two days we spotted around four or five of these beauties, and managed a few shots of them, but for the most part at a bit of a distance, but still ... wonderful to get any shots at all. 
As we changed locations and checked out parts of the scrub and small wooded areas we also found a few other birds worthy of a snapshot or two - We had a pair of White-throated Sparrows that reacted quite aggressively to our presence at one location, and gave us some awesome images - I suspect we must have been close to the nest. 
Other birds seen ... Eastern Towhee, Brown Thrasher, Chestnut-sided Warbler, American Redstart, Orange-crowned, Nashville & Blackburnian Warblers, Ovenbird, White-crowned Sparrow and a few others
​Great trip ......

A couple of days ago I found a Scarlet Tanager hanging around a back road in North Dunfries township, so along with a couple of other bird photography geeks, I headed back this morning and was delighted to see that both the male and a bit of a shy female were still there. After some waiting around we managed a few shots and then headed out to another couple of spots in the same general area. Here we saw and photographed a few migrating songbirds and a couple other birds that seemed to have settled in the area. - A Gray Catbird gave us some super views as did a female female Baltimore Oriole and a Yellow Warbler. The highlight was a brief visit be a Tennessee Warbler - I took a few frames but I think they are destined for that one way journey via the delete button.  Very pleasing day (other than that cool wind) 

As spring continues to develop, so I am beginning to see more and more First of Year birds (FOY). An exciting time for birders (especially me) as the long awaited spring/summer birding season kicks into gear. I go out birding most days, but today was one of the better days of the early part of this new season, as I spotted several spring/summer species, including Golden-crowned Kinglets, Eastern Towhee, Fox Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Blue-winged Teal, for the first time this year (2019). AND ... lots of other birds as well :)
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Well .... I can't say it's not good to be into April, and I'm certainly happy to see the season of Winter behind us. but not too happy to see that some of the cold wintry weather is still with us somewhat, but looking on the brighter side - it will not be for too much longer (I hope).
Today with a couple of friends, we headed to Burlington (yet again) hoping to see a few new arrivals and expecting the tail end of some of the wintering ducks that have been hanging out in around La Salle Marina for the last few weeks. It was a lot quieter in species than it had been, but a few lingering White-winged Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks & Goldeneyes were still there albeit in much reduced numbers, and generally much further out in the Bay. Valley Inn had a around a dozen or so Ring-necked Ducks in the inner pond, but a little too far for decently detailed shots, but always a pleasure to see anyways. With them, were several Buffleheads and a few Trumpeter Swans. A lone and skittish Great Blue Heron was also there in the background.
While in the area we headed up to the Cemetery to check on the often seen Eastern Screech Owl, and although he wasn't around on our first pass he did show up a little later. Bonus for us was that he was sitting on the front edge of the hole so that you could see a talon. The negative was that he sat there for only a minute or two, such that I managed a single shot total .... see above/side.