March 31st 2025
| LOCATION: Brant & North Dumfries | WEATHER: Cold & drizzly, then dried up |
Fellow bird photographer, and good friend Tim and I, headed out to one of our regular stomping grounds between North Dumfries and Paris, Ontario, looking for some new migrant arrivals that may be around. It was a warm night last night so the chances, INMO, that this was distinctly possible. However reality had a different opinion as we didn't see too much, at least in the small bird area anyways. On the plus side we saw a few interesting ducks, incl a First of Season Hooded Merganser, so the trip was definitely a decent one.
As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title
March 30th 2025
| LOCATION: Kitchener.. mostly my Back Yard | WEATHER: Icy to start then drizzly all day |
A quiet day at home, but keeping an eye on and around our bird feeders. Only new face that showed up was the Song Sparrow ... a couple of times.
Tip of the Day: We see our world at five to six feet high, but birds see the world from a few inches to a few feet off the ground, especially shorebirds, ducks and other ground foraging species. To get a feeling of the bird’s world, get down on their level! In other words, don’t be afraid to crouch, squat, crawl, or lie flat against the ground. Yes, you might get a bit muddy. However, it’s the key to professional-looking, low-perspective images.
March 28th 2025
| LOCATION: Kitchener.. my Back Yard | WEATHER: Pretty cold. but sun/cloud |
During this poor weather, and with migration still on increase, there hasn't been too much to shoot. Today I focused on keeping an eye out around my feeders that I have set up in my back yard. Still lots of Juncos around, and lately getting a lot of Common Grackles (sometimes as many as 10 at a time, so they clean me out pretty quick). On the plus side of things - I have been hearing a Northern Flicker occasionally over the last couple of days, and today he came down and sat in our Trumper Vine (which is next to our feeder) and gave me a couple of shots. Things are looking up !!
Tip of the Day: One common mistake that took me years to train myself to watch out for is backgrounds. When you get your subject in front of you, pay attention to what’s in the background. Would that background be less messy and cleaner if you moved a little bit to the left or right? Are you shooting wide open or close to that so that you can blow out the background into a dreamy look? By all means, if it’s a rare bird that’s gonna be in position for about 1 second, get that shot. And if he’s still there, think about what your next few shots might be to improve on it.
March 26th 2025
| LOCATION: North Dumfries & Brant County | WEATHER: Sun, cloud, cold and snow flurries |
It had a few days since our last foray around the gravel roads in and around North Dumfries, so Tim and I were hoping for some new migrant arrivals, but even though they were quite minimal, it wasn't too bad of a day image wise. Our primary target was to get a shot two of one of the Meadowlarks that our now hanging out at Grass Lake. The hope was to get a nice clean, relative closeup of one of these beauties, but unfortunately the only one we saw didn't cooperate as well as we had hoped.
We did find a pair of Ring-necked Ducks on small pond just outside Ayr, and a pair Green-winged Teal on Jedburgh Pond in Ayr, which didn't give us any shots.
We also detected a calling Winter Wren at one spot, but unfortunately he never showed, but a location I hope to visit over the coming days ... would be great to get a shot.
We did find a pair of Ring-necked Ducks on small pond just outside Ayr, and a pair Green-winged Teal on Jedburgh Pond in Ayr, which didn't give us any shots.
We also detected a calling Winter Wren at one spot, but unfortunately he never showed, but a location I hope to visit over the coming days ... would be great to get a shot.
Tip of the Day: Looking for birds is all about patience, luck, and movement. The best times of day to go birding are early mornings and late afternoons, when birds are the most active. To begin, let your eyes relax and scan trees, shrubs, and bushes for movement. When you first spot a bird, bring your binoculars or camera up to your eyes without looking away from it. This will ensure you don’t lose sight of the bird.
March 25th 2025
| LOCATION: Kitchener home (back yard again) | WEATHER: Damp and cold all day |
Weather remains unchanged, so strategy today was the same as yesterday. It worked reasonably well yesterday so why not. Saying that I did take a short walk along one of the local trails, but came back empty handed.
Tip of the Day: Research your locations before heading out. Having a pre-researched location and/or habitat and or species in mind, will more than likely improve your chances and generally reap rewards for you, when it comes to the shots you might get.
March 24th 2025
| LOCATION: Kitchener home (back yard) | WEATHER: Damp, cold, snowy |
The weather and the the season being what it is, I decided on a day just keeping an eye on my back yard for any birds that would be floating around my bird feeders. I keep hoping for something a tad more exotic that what I ended up getting, but I was still happy with the images I did end up getting. One of these days maybe catch something like a Fox Sparrow or a Rusty Blackbird, but so far this year .. nada !!
As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title
March 23rd 2025
| LOCATION: Tilts Bush & Riverside Park | WEATHER: Sunny & a tad chilly |
In the morning I headed over to a trail very close to my house in Kitchener .. Tilts Bush. The trail is quite short and skirts a wetland with a couple of small ponds, and can be quite good for birds.. depending on the time of year. In the early afternoon, I headed down to Riverside Park in Cambridge with a hope to spot one or two of the more interesting spring arrivals eg: Fox Sparrow & Rusty Blackbird. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see or hear either of these guys, but maybe worth a look again in a week or so.
March 22nd 2025
| LOCATION: Kitchener, close to home | WEATHER: Cloudy, around 0C |
Some back yard shots - Still a few Juncos around ... seems to me like they should be gone by now, but I suppose the cooler weather her (as well as me keeping the feeders stocked, has them sticking around ... for a while anyways.
March 21st 2025
| LOCATION: Flamborough/Burlington | WEATHER: Sunny, but a chilly start |
Yesterday was officially the first day of spring, so Tim & I headed to the Burlington area to see if there was any new spring arrivals. Being that it was very unseasonably cold (-3C or so first thing) there wasnt too much happening that would indicate that migration was under way, but we did find a single female Red-winged Blackbird, so birds are moving in. Maybe another week or so should see a difference ... I hope!!
Tip of the Day: Don’t chase the birds. Find a good location and let the birds come to you. A hunted bird is not going to yield an outstanding photograph. If you find a group of birds, try to predict their movement and get ahead of them and let them come to you.
March 16th - 19th 2025
LOCATION: Kitchener/Cambridge
Didn't venture too far from home over the last couple of days. I thought I might check out an old favorite location in my neighborhood that can be quite good for songbirds when spring eventually arrives ... Tilt's Bush. I went once in the morning and once in the afternoon, to some success (kinda). I will certainly visit more often in the coming weeks
Tip of the Day: If you want to keep your ISO as low as possible in poor lighting conditions then with most long lenses it is important to use a tripod. Even shooting at 700mm (500mm x 1.4TC), I am often down as low as 250, and often somewhat lower, and still manage to get sharp images (mostly)
March 14th 2025
| LOCATION: Burlington, ON | WEATHER: Chilly'ish start but warmed up later |
Spring is starting to materialize and with a few new birds showing up around the area. Today Tim & I headed to Burlington to check out a couple of spots that usually produce a few birds. First, though we dropped by Farmborough Downs where a couple of rarities have shown up ... a Eurasian Wigeon and a White fronted Goose. We could see the Wigeon way out there but no images. The two spots we tried in Burlington were La Salle Marina and Valley Inn with, as you see from the volume of images below, some decent success. Nothing too exciting but nice to see nonetheless.
Tip of the Day: Amongst other things, birds are incredibly sensitive to movement. To combat this, once you have found a good shooting spot, limit your movement, and only move around when necessary and when you do, move slowly and deliberately. Most birds also have colour vision, making them sensitive to bright lights and colours, so if possible wear natural earth tones.
March 11th - 13th 2025
| LOCATION: Kitchener & Cambridge | WEATHER: Sun & cloud and warmer |
Over the last few days there has been a few new spring migrants show up in around home (Kitchener), which I must admit has been a welcome site - I was getting fed up of only seeing Juncos and Tree Sparrows. These two species are still around, but seem to be in much less numbers that they were a week ago. I think the milder weather has got things moving a bit.
**As always .. click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title**
March 8th & 9th 2025
| LOCATION: North Dumfries & Brant County | WEATHER: Sun & Cloud .. and getting warmer |
Day1 - I had a quick run down the old faithful road (Paris Plains) that has lots of Horned Larks and one or two of them give me excellent poses.
Day2 - I headed out with good friend Tim, to check out that same road and also a few other side roads in the same general area, with some super success .. especially the Northern Shrike. The Shrike was surprisingly bold.
Day2 - I headed out with good friend Tim, to check out that same road and also a few other side roads in the same general area, with some super success .. especially the Northern Shrike. The Shrike was surprisingly bold.
March 2nd 2025
| LOCATION: Brant County & North Dumfries | WEATHER: Really cold, but mainly cloudy |
Met up with my great birding friend, Helen, to do a little local birding. We had a few targets .. some of whom we managed to get and some we did not. After a much needed early morning coffee we headed down to Paris Plains to see if any of the decent birds were sitting out in the open - targets along here were the Horned Larks and Snow Buntings. The Larks were reasonably cooperative, but the Snow Buntings, yet again were not !!
Another spot we tried gave us a nice surprise, as we came across a Northern Shrike. It was some distance away as we tried to edge closer it took off, so the shot we did manage was pretty distant
Last spot for the day was at Blair Bridge lookout, where we had hoped to see the recently reported Long-tailed Duck. He drifted past our spot, but unfortunately he kept his head tucked in while he had a snooze.
Another spot we tried gave us a nice surprise, as we came across a Northern Shrike. It was some distance away as we tried to edge closer it took off, so the shot we did manage was pretty distant
Last spot for the day was at Blair Bridge lookout, where we had hoped to see the recently reported Long-tailed Duck. He drifted past our spot, but unfortunately he kept his head tucked in while he had a snooze.
