April 25th - 29th 2018
Location: Southern Ohio
Weather: Generally sunny and warm, but occasionally cooler
This has been a trip that had been planned, with three other bird photographers, for several months. The idea was in anticipation of the upcoming/ongoing spring migration, and to find birds that are generally a bit harder to find in Ontario. Generally the trip was successful, but because of the late spring this year some of the hoped-for birds had not yet arrived (Yellow-breasted Chat and Kentucky Warbler to name but two). Also the the overall quantity of birds was significantly lower than in previous years at this time, but saying that the birds we did find were super a lot of fun to photograph. I think, for my part anyways, the trip was pretty successful. Unfortunately I had to cut my birding short - my dog, who hadn't been well for several weeks, had a turn for the worst. With great sadness my wife and I had to have our vet put our 16 year old little buddy to sleep, on my return.
Most of the birding we did was centred around Lake Hope, a location I had briefly visited a year ago, as part of my birding trip to the Shawnee area (south of Lake Hope right on the Kentucky border). On the way back to Ontario we did manage a couple of hours at a spot I had been to a few times in previous years.. Oak Openings, just a bit west of Toledo, OH. Unfortunately northern Ohio, like many other parts, is way behind, again because of the late spring, so we didn't encounter our target bird, the Lark Sparrow.... maybe next year, or possibly a mini trip in few weeks ... maybe.
My year to date bird count took a significant jump, which I just checked is now at 136 species
Reminder: All images are click-able to go full size, and hovering over an image will display species or description
Most of the birding we did was centred around Lake Hope, a location I had briefly visited a year ago, as part of my birding trip to the Shawnee area (south of Lake Hope right on the Kentucky border). On the way back to Ontario we did manage a couple of hours at a spot I had been to a few times in previous years.. Oak Openings, just a bit west of Toledo, OH. Unfortunately northern Ohio, like many other parts, is way behind, again because of the late spring, so we didn't encounter our target bird, the Lark Sparrow.... maybe next year, or possibly a mini trip in few weeks ... maybe.
My year to date bird count took a significant jump, which I just checked is now at 136 species
Reminder: All images are click-able to go full size, and hovering over an image will display species or description
April 23rd 2018
Location: North of Guelph along the backroads
Weather: Spring happened ... yesterday +15C and today it reached +23C
 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Guelph wouldn't have been my first choice as to a birding destination for toady, but I wasn't disappointed ... I had a family reason to go to Guelph early this morning so I decided to check out a few spots in this area, that I know and also to do some back road rambling as well. It was still pretty quiet birdy-wise, but periodically through the day I had some good sightings. Some I managed to photograph ... like the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, the Brown Creeper (there were several) and the Eastern Bluebirds. Some unfortunately were too quick for me or only gave me a fleeting glimpse ... especially the Ruffed Grouse that walked across the road in front of me (displaying) .. unfortunately I didn't find him again and the strangest sighting was what I'm 90% sure was a pair of Lapland Longspurs (my first and pretty much only view was through the bins) which flew off just as I was trying to focus. I have added a long distant image of a Vesper Sparrow, which I actually took yesterday at Long Point. a FOY for me BTW my bird count for 2018 is now up at 112, which as the migrants start to flood in, should jump significantly over the next few weeks (I hope) |
April 18th & 19th 2018
Location: Sam Smith Park, Etobicoke
Weather: Cool both days. Mostly cloudy with some occasional sun
 White-crowned Sparrow | After several days shooting birds in a round KW, and especially in my back yard, it was time for a further afield venture. I had heard through friends that some of the Toronto locations, especially Colonel Sam Smith Park, were seeing a few migrants. I arrived fairly early on day1 just after 7:00am on a still and chilly morning. Down by the marina there were several waterbird species - some that were well out and generally beyond photography, but a few Grebes were in close diving and feeding close to the shore. The Red-necked Grebe was really bold and the 3 or 4 Horned Grebes were just as brave. The Horned were a real pleasure to photograph - they have so much character, and their breeding colours, although not quite fully developed , were stunning. Other notable species over the two mornings were American Woodcock (~6), Virginia Rail (2), Hermit Thrush (~10+) and a single, and a tad scraggly, White-crowned Sparrow. A good couple of days, even after a lost phone episode (which I found on 2nd day) |
April 17th 2018
Location: In and around KW, and including my back yard
Weather: Snowy and miserable
 Fox Sparrow | The last couple of days have been nothing like spring-like, with a few inches of a mix of ice pellets and regular common or garden snow. Consequently traveling any distance was completely out of the question. So yet again I setup my camera inside my Dining Room and shot out towards my deck and staked out a few garden visitors. This method of Bird Photography can be surprisingly successful as you "bait" the birds with seed, and coax them to land on strategically placed branches. Today I had a new yard bird trot out onto my deck - a Fox Sparrow .. woohoo!! Unfortunately he/she was only around for about 30 seconds, but nice anyways. Mid morning this morning I did venture out to Riverside park, and after a little waiting around saw and photographed a slightly unusual bird for the area ... a Purple Finch (male) ... so all in all a good day (despite the weather) |
April 12th 2018
Location: Back yard again
Weather: Cold again
| Feeding the birds in my backyard during the colder seasons, has been something that I feel is an important procedure and to be honest it's something that I enjoy doing immensely. I have to admit though, the Squirrels, and now that spring is here, the Chipmunks seem to get the lion's share (.... in fact, if you look at the "Chippy" image below you will see that he has his jaws jam-packed). However, once the warmer weather arrives I will certainly ease off the quantities somewhat (before I'm "bankrupt" <wink> - good quality seed is quite expensive). Continuing the trend over the last few days I once again set up a few perches in and around my feeders and was rewarded with some decent images from these setups. Reminder: All images are click-able to go full size, and hovering over an image will display species or description |  Downy Woodpecker |
April 11th 2018
Location: Back yard in Kitchener
Weather: Mostly cloudy, turned to sleety rain mid morning. Yuk!
| Maybe I'm getting smarter as I get older ... Other than an hour checking out a couple of spots withing a 10 min drive of home, I continued my reasonably successful setup on my out back deck. It's unlikely I will see any "rarer" birds than the ones I have inserted below this text, but then again ... you never know. I should mention that at my first short visit location this morning was at Home Watson Park in Kitchener, which in previous years, has been fairly productive in early spring. The only early bird I did see was a Golden-crowned Kinglet (a FOY). I had hoped to see Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-bellied Sabsucker, Brown Creepers and even possibly a Pine Warbler. All of these birds I have, in previous years during the same few day period, had sightings ... maybe another week due to the slow spring |  Eastern Chipmunk |
April 9th 2018
Location: Back yard in Kitchener
Weather: Some sun, some cloud, some snow and a lot of cold (max at +4C)
Some weeks everything seems to go wrong ( I don't think I was due any bad luck, but it landed on my doorstep anyways). For someone who relies on a good, clean, fast operating system the thought of a hacker attack is a nightmare. In the last few days that's what happened ... I was alerted by an email from a ransomware source telling me that they have access to my computer, my contacts and whatever else, and that I have to pay up or else. Whether this was a hoax or not sent me into a major panic, and over the last few days I have changed/updated my virus software, added a new level of protection on my malaware protection, reformatted my computer (the only sure way to clean out any nasty stuff), deleted several on-line services included Facebook etc etc. So I learned a lesson and would advise everybody to take their Internet security very seriously.
So ... with all the above happening I have not really spent much time in the field, but I did do a little setup at home and did some shooting through my patio doors, off my Dining Room. I think I need to do this more often as I managed to see quite a few species, and photograph them at a fairly close distance. Highlight was a visitation by 3 or 4 Pine Siskins.
So ... with all the above happening I have not really spent much time in the field, but I did do a little setup at home and did some shooting through my patio doors, off my Dining Room. I think I need to do this more often as I managed to see quite a few species, and photograph them at a fairly close distance. Highlight was a visitation by 3 or 4 Pine Siskins.
April 3rd 2018
Location: County of North Dumfries
Weather: Dull and cool
It certainly wasn't the best birding weather this morning when I left home at the "unbirdy" time of 09:45 but with nothing better to do I headed out to see what I could find. Turned out OK as I saw my FOY Osprey and FOY Northern Harrier, as well as a few other birds, incl American Kestrels, Vultures, Eastern Meadowlarks etc etc.. I missed getting an image of the Harrier, as it was already heading away from me by the time I pulled up. I watched it for a while and saw that it was across a field and seemed to be heading to the next Concession Road. I raced around with the intent that I might be able to "ambush" it as it headed in this new direction. Alas ... somewhere between where it was last seen and where I was now sitting it must have changed direction and so I never saw it again. I run up and down a few of the local roads but no luck. Nevertheless it was exciting to see my "First of Year" Harrier, which brings my 2018 count up to 97.
April 1st 2018
Location: Sam Smith Park, Etobicoke
Weather: Sunny, but chilly wind (+3C)
It's hard to believe another month has passed us by. I think age has something to do with the speed time seems to pass as you get older. A friend says that life is like a roll of toilet paper, the older you get the faster it seems to run out . I'm hoping that this roll has a bit to go yet <wink>
It would seem that birding has reached another plateau - most of the winter species are already heading north, but the spring species (even the early ones) are apparently still on route from their wintering grounds in the south. According to my diary ... by this time I should be seeing a few of the "early birds" - Brown Creepers, Kinglets, Wilson Snipe, Northern Flickers as well as some of the Sparrows... White-throated and maybe White-crowned, and very likely a few more. I know some of the these have been spotted, but for the most part in very small quantities. Maybe the weather being a little unseasonably cold is holding them back or maybe it's just my impatience.
Today with "early birds" in mind I headed to Colonel Sam Smith Park in Etobicoke, Toronto which is located along the edge of Lake Ontario and a good place to find migrants, but unfortunately the park was somewhat devoid of too much bird life. I did however see a few lingering over-wintering ducks, a small flock of American Goldfinches, a solitary Song Sparrow and a few Red-necked Grebes. I suspect that a few spring-like days will change the situation and all-at-once we will see the long awaited migrants. I for one, can hardly wait.
Reminder: All images are click-able to go full size, and hovering over an image will display species or description
It would seem that birding has reached another plateau - most of the winter species are already heading north, but the spring species (even the early ones) are apparently still on route from their wintering grounds in the south. According to my diary ... by this time I should be seeing a few of the "early birds" - Brown Creepers, Kinglets, Wilson Snipe, Northern Flickers as well as some of the Sparrows... White-throated and maybe White-crowned, and very likely a few more. I know some of the these have been spotted, but for the most part in very small quantities. Maybe the weather being a little unseasonably cold is holding them back or maybe it's just my impatience.
Today with "early birds" in mind I headed to Colonel Sam Smith Park in Etobicoke, Toronto which is located along the edge of Lake Ontario and a good place to find migrants, but unfortunately the park was somewhat devoid of too much bird life. I did however see a few lingering over-wintering ducks, a small flock of American Goldfinches, a solitary Song Sparrow and a few Red-necked Grebes. I suspect that a few spring-like days will change the situation and all-at-once we will see the long awaited migrants. I for one, can hardly wait.
Reminder: All images are click-able to go full size, and hovering over an image will display species or description
