January 20th 2019
January 18th 2019
January 16th 2019
On looking out my windows at home this morning, with snow falling and with very poor light it looked like it would be a day at home - not that this would be that bad, as I have a ton of images to catch up on. However by late morning it had brightened up and with the fresh snow it might make photography a bit more interesting. I initially headed out to Riverside Park in Cambridge with the target being to capture a shot or two of the resident male Red-bellied Woodpecker that hangs there, and maybe who knows what that might show up. Unfortunately not too much showed up other than the usual Red-belly, a few Downies, Nuthatches and a pile of Chickadees. Over the last several weeks and whenever I'm in the area I always take a run along a gravel road a bit west of the village of Blair in the hope of seeing a Northern Shrike. In previous winters I have often come across one of this species, but so far I've always come up blank .... until today. I had almost given up, when I spotted a bird that looked about the right size, but it took off before I could make a firm ID, but after hanging around for another half hour I spotted it again, and made a positive ID. Unfortunately it didn't come close enough, but for sure I will keep an eye on the area and hope for an image in the coming days/weeks (if it hangs around that is). |
January 15th 2019
Before heading back, we dropped by Halls Road in Whitby to see if one of the Barred Owls was out in the open. We got lucky, as we had a nice bird sitting in a decent spot and so we were able to bag a few more decent shots before heading back.... Pretty good day, considering.
January 8th 2019
Yet another unusual avian visitor to our area over the last few weeks - a Boreal Chickadee. This bird is way further south than is normal in the winter, with a normal southern limit being Algonquin. So Darlington Provincial Park near Oshawa is a very unusual spot to find one. The bird has been seen almost daily for some time, so with the weather in a very cooperative state, I headed to the park to see if I could get some decent shots. In previous years (at least 3 years ago) I had seen this species, but I can't say I was too happy with any of the photographs I had managed at that or previous times The Boreal was foraging along the trail, near the west gate of the Park, with several Black-capped Chickadees, and after a bit of a wait it popped out into the open to check out the peanuts and other goodies that some birders had left along the side of the trail. |
January 5th 2019
January 3rd & 4th 2019
We arrived mid afternoon and scouted around for a few hours in the hope that an owl might be around, but it wasn't to be. It wasn't until almost 5:15pm that we began to see birds soaring up and around. By this time the light was atrocious, but "snapped" of a few frames anyways. Strangely enough we met a fellow birder/photographer in the area that predicted that we would start to see the owls at 5:15 ... amazingly he was bang-on correct. (Thanks Garry)
After a night at a local hotel we headed back in the early morning with a hope that maybe ... maybe, we might capture an owl on a fencepost at the tail end of his nocturnal hunt. Again no luck, but we did see a few SEO's that flew around, but just as the light was improving (and it was still almost pitch black), the birds simply disappeared (I assume to their daytime roosting spot). Photo wise it was a disaster, but from a sighting point of view it was fantastic, and I can stroke off another "life" bird from my list.
I should mention that this same area had several Northern Harriers that cruised the fields around these same Concessions during the daylight hours, of course.
A couple of EXTREMELY poor images below, that are there only to record the sightings for my own records. I don't think I have ever posted as bad a photograph in all the years I've been doing this .... so please forgive me <embarrassed>
I wish all of you who take the time to visit my little site here and read my often (I will be the first to admit it) rambling accounts, a fantastic 2019. I continue to be grateful for reasonably good health in my more senior years, that allows me the ability to spend the time tracking down and photographing nature ..... stay tuned, 2019 has a few gems just waiting to be photographed.