May 28-30th 2019
Location: Mio, Northern Michigan
Weather: Sunny for the most part. Cool start but warmed up significantly
 Kirtlands Warbler | 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. |
May 26th 2019
Location: Township of North Dumfries
Weather: Pleasant
A run out to Grass Lake in North Dumfries Township near Cambridge is often quite productive ... especially at this time of year for both Bobolinks and Savannah Sparrows. I was hoping to see a Grasshopper Sparrow which often habituate the same areas as the more common Savannahs, but alas I was out of luck today. The Bobolinks were for the most part quite bold as they sat along the fenceline and the odd tree here & there, so I was quite happy to find one that perched for a time on the branch of a small tree.
Heading back I stopped off along a gravel road close to Grass lake, and was disappointed with the lack of any type of avian presence, but I did come across a Swamp sparrow that popped out of the swampy area for a few seconds and allowed me a shot or two. Not a very productive morning but still enjoyable.
Heading back I stopped off along a gravel road close to Grass lake, and was disappointed with the lack of any type of avian presence, but I did come across a Swamp sparrow that popped out of the swampy area for a few seconds and allowed me a shot or two. Not a very productive morning but still enjoyable.
May 23-24th 2019
Location: Bruce Peninsula (up and around, near Tobermory)
Weather: Mix ... sun, cloud, rain, mist
 White-throated Sparrow | 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 ...... |
May 22nd 2019
Location: Lakeside Park, Kitchener
Weather: Cool and threating rain, but nice (good for photography) cloud cover
A short visit this morning to what's becoming a well known Warbler trap for migrating songbirds. Yet again I'm seeing decent birds on a daily basis here. Today I saw a couple of Wilson's Warblers, two Canada Warblers, a few Northern Parulas, Blackburnian Warblers, Magnolia Warblers, lots of Chestnut-sided Warblers as well as a Warbling Vireo, a Philadelphia Vireo (I love these guys) and a few oddballs incl the Kingbird below. Migration must be close to wrapping up and then I suppose lakeside will back to being a place to find Canada Geese ... if you are lucky :)
May 21st 2019
Location: Robertson Tract and back roads around Guelph Line
Weather: Sunny and way too bright for photography
A small Warbler collection from today ....
Today was sunny and very bright - I like the extra light and the ability to shoot at low ISO, but the harsh shadows and overpowering highlights make it my least favorite kind of day to shoot birds. I prefer the kind of day where yes the sun is there but obscured with haze or light cloud. That way the shadows are very soft and the highlights workable AND the ISO tends to be at the low end .... awesome.
Looking back a month or two ago ..... It seemed that Warbler migration would never come and here we are in the 3rd week of May and it's almost over -- boy, did that time fly in, or what?
Today was sunny and very bright - I like the extra light and the ability to shoot at low ISO, but the harsh shadows and overpowering highlights make it my least favorite kind of day to shoot birds. I prefer the kind of day where yes the sun is there but obscured with haze or light cloud. That way the shadows are very soft and the highlights workable AND the ISO tends to be at the low end .... awesome.
Looking back a month or two ago ..... It seemed that Warbler migration would never come and here we are in the 3rd week of May and it's almost over -- boy, did that time fly in, or what?
May 20th 2019
Location: Township of North Dumfries
Weather: Sun & cloud, but a cold wind (brrrrr!)
| 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) |  Gray Catbird |
May 18th & 19th 2019
Location: (18th) Currie, Robertson and a few other Milton area Tracts. (19th) Lakeside park in Kitchener
Weather: Pleasant ... sun and cloud ... both days
Yesterday (18th) I took a hike along some of Halton Regions awesome trails including Currie Tract and Robertson Tracts (my two favorites), and came across a couple of decent birds .... all on the top row of the images below. The Cape May was the most exciting with several of these beauts coming within 6 or 7 feet of where I was stood. Made my Friday I can tell ya.
Today (19th) with not too much time on my hands I headed locally to Lakeside Park in Kitchener (again). Over the last week I had popped in there a few times with some great success, so today was no exception ... with several new birds showing up and giving us some decent looks. The highlight was the Blackpioll Warbler male that seemed oblivious to my presence, but still didn't come too close., so maybe not so oblivious (LOL). BTW images on the bottom row were from today the 19th
Today (19th) with not too much time on my hands I headed locally to Lakeside Park in Kitchener (again). Over the last week I had popped in there a few times with some great success, so today was no exception ... with several new birds showing up and giving us some decent looks. The highlight was the Blackpioll Warbler male that seemed oblivious to my presence, but still didn't come too close., so maybe not so oblivious (LOL). BTW images on the bottom row were from today the 19th
May 17th 2019
Locations: Lakeside Park in the AM, then a run around a few spots near Glen Morris in the PM
Weather: Sun & cloud
We waited all winter and early spring for this moment (and the next month, I hope) for the songbird migration to kick in properly ... well I can say for sure that it's here and happening right now, in this neighborhood anyways. Today I headed out for a couple of hours to Lakeside Park in Kitchener and still the Warblers are there and new ones arriving as well it seems. Today I saw a few new for the year species including Wilson's Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo and another one I can't quite think which one. (getting older has it's drawbacks, incl a weaker memory than was a few years ago. Also were several of the ones I've been seeing over the last few days incl ... Yellow, Cape May, Redstart, Chestnut-sided, Palm, Yellow-rumped, Magnolia, Black-throated Blues & Greens & Yellowthroat.
After a break at home (one of the pluses when shooting close to home), I headed back out and took a run past Grass Lake, then over to a couple of spots on the far side of Glen Morris. Beside a local pond I wa delighted to see a few Warblers here as well, and managed to capture a decent shot of a Cape May (see below). From here I headed over to the Paris Road and spotted a couple of Sandhill Cranes alongside of the road, and after stopping I realized they were with a 3rd member of the family ... a newly hatched Colt. My luck is on the plus side today
Next stop was a spot I know (nameless for the present) where in previous years I have seen Scarlet Tanagers, and within 10 mins of arriving ... sure enough a nice male came by to check me out.. I should do the lottery tonight <wink>
After a break at home (one of the pluses when shooting close to home), I headed back out and took a run past Grass Lake, then over to a couple of spots on the far side of Glen Morris. Beside a local pond I wa delighted to see a few Warblers here as well, and managed to capture a decent shot of a Cape May (see below). From here I headed over to the Paris Road and spotted a couple of Sandhill Cranes alongside of the road, and after stopping I realized they were with a 3rd member of the family ... a newly hatched Colt. My luck is on the plus side today
Next stop was a spot I know (nameless for the present) where in previous years I have seen Scarlet Tanagers, and within 10 mins of arriving ... sure enough a nice male came by to check me out.. I should do the lottery tonight <wink>
May 15th & 16th 2019
Location: Lakeside park, Kitchener
Weather: Sun & cloud ... pleasant, but still on the cool side
Lakeside Park is a fairly unlikely place to find migrating songbirds as it's in the middle of the city, but every year it seems for a couple of weeks or so in May, many of these highly prized photo subjects pass through on their way north to their summer breeding grounds in the north. The habitat at Lakeside is perfect I suppose, in that the lake is a breeding ground for many insects and which these Warblers/Vireos feed on.
So... the last two mornings I have spent a couple of hours sitting around, watching, waiting, hoping that one of these beauties would sit out in the open for a fraction of a second (hopefully longer) so that I could grab a few images. The undergrowth here can be very dense and is certainly perfect for birds, but not so much for photographers trying to get a few snaps.
Over the last couple of days I watched many songbirds forage along the side of the lake including Redstarts, Magnolia, Tennessee, Blackburnian, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Palm, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Pied-billed Grebe, GBH, Osprey, Kinglets, Caspian Tern and a few misc others. ....
So... the last two mornings I have spent a couple of hours sitting around, watching, waiting, hoping that one of these beauties would sit out in the open for a fraction of a second (hopefully longer) so that I could grab a few images. The undergrowth here can be very dense and is certainly perfect for birds, but not so much for photographers trying to get a few snaps.
Over the last couple of days I watched many songbirds forage along the side of the lake including Redstarts, Magnolia, Tennessee, Blackburnian, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Palm, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Pied-billed Grebe, GBH, Osprey, Kinglets, Caspian Tern and a few misc others. ....
May 13th 2019
Location: Grass Lake & surrounding area
Weather: On & off drizzly rain, and quite cool
I woke up to a damp looking morning, but around 10:00am the rain stopped (as it happens just for a short time) so I headed out to Grass Lake. Grass Lake is one of the best and best known areas for some of the grassland birds, including the beautiful Bobolink. As I scanned the meadow around the Communication Towers I saw likely upwards of 12 of these little beauts - most of whom were males, but I did see a couple of females as well. Also around were many, many Savannah Sparrows, a few Horned Larks, Song Sparrows, but no Grasshopper Sparrows yet (unfortunately).
After a couple of hours I headed around a few spots in the area looking for migration movements of any kind and was fortunate to come across a small woodlot that had several Warblers foraging. Most abundant were the Yellow-rumped Warblers ("Butterbutts"), but also several Yellow Warblers, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue and Palm Warblers. Fun day, but the lighting was pretty weak, so ISO was on the up side (or should I have said downside) of perfect.
BTW for any local (Ontario) reader who might be interested I started a Facebook group a few months ago and is becoming quite popular, .... www.facebook.com/groups/ontariobirdphotography :)
After a couple of hours I headed around a few spots in the area looking for migration movements of any kind and was fortunate to come across a small woodlot that had several Warblers foraging. Most abundant were the Yellow-rumped Warblers ("Butterbutts"), but also several Yellow Warblers, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue and Palm Warblers. Fun day, but the lighting was pretty weak, so ISO was on the up side (or should I have said downside) of perfect.
BTW for any local (Ontario) reader who might be interested I started a Facebook group a few months ago and is becoming quite popular, .... www.facebook.com/groups/ontariobirdphotography :)
May 11th 2019
Location: Leslie Street Spit, in Toronto
Weather: Cool start, but warmed up quite a bit later.... very pleasant
Along with a good birding friend I agreed to assist with a much planned outing to the Spit - to take out a few generally non-birders to experience the magic of birding.Today was also the date of the Spring Bird Festival which by coincidence was also at this location, so it was quite busy. The Wet Woods, which is usually the best trail to take at this location, but after the recent wet spell the trail was heavily flooded so we skipped this part and stayed on the paved section. All in all it was quite good with several Warblers and other songbirds, as well as some miscellaneous other birds. Highlights were the Cape May Warbler and a FOY (for me) Warbling Vireo. Unfortunately, although I did carry a camera, I never managed a decent shot, so this post is without any visual accompaniment ... Nevertheless I had a good day, and enjoyed the company and experience.
May 10th 2019
Location: Burlington
Weather: Drizzly first thing but brightened up a bit later
Visited a few spots in and around Burlington, but the most birdy was Paletta Mansion - it had numerous Warblers foraging in the cedars, but boy, were they hard to get in the open. I did take a few shots but not some I would post here. However, I did manage a few other birds, which were also all taken at Paletta, as per below.
Back to the subject of Warblers at Paletta - sighted were some really good Warblers including Cape May, Yellow, Yellow-rumped Palm, Redstart, Black-throated Blue, Yellowthroat, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Black & White and a very surprising bonus bird ... a Prairie Warbler. ps I likely missed one or two on the previous list.
Anyways it was generally a good day, and my birding companion for the day (Tim) managed a few lifers, so I think he was happy with that.
Back to the subject of Warblers at Paletta - sighted were some really good Warblers including Cape May, Yellow, Yellow-rumped Palm, Redstart, Black-throated Blue, Yellowthroat, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Black & White and a very surprising bonus bird ... a Prairie Warbler. ps I likely missed one or two on the previous list.
Anyways it was generally a good day, and my birding companion for the day (Tim) managed a few lifers, so I think he was happy with that.
May 4th 2019
Location: Magee Marsh, Ohio
Weather: Cloudy with occasional sun, and some rain drizzle
We left our cabin at Lake Hope pretty early at around 5:00am with the intent of heading to the aptly named Warbler Capital of the World ie Magee Marsh in norther Ohio. It took us about 4 hours + to get there and although we weren't planning to stay too long I was quite excited to be back. It had been two years since I attended the Birding Week there and was anxious to see what the boardwalk had to offer this year. It turned out that the most common bird to be found were Kinglets ... hundreds of them. Our plan was to spend no more than 2 hours here so that gave us enough time to make a single pass along the boardwalk, but is quite productive with many species seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of people that were there, with small birds sometime within 3 ft of their human visitors. Sightings included Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Whip-poor-whil, Ruby crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Veery, Wood Thrush, Winter Wren, House Wren and a few others. So after this Very short visit we hit the trail back to Ontario, and home. Exhausted, weary and very grateful to my birding companions Steve & Bob for the wonderful trip we had ... I can't wait to do it again :)
April 30th - May 3rd 2019
Location: Lake Hope, Ohio
Weather: Hot and muggy for the most part ~28C
After a few hours birding at Shawnee, we headed the 2 hours north to our 2nd 4 day location at Lake Hope. Here we stayed in a cabin in the middle of the Park, which was pretty rustic, but adequate.
Lake Hope is set in the middle of massive forested area and in amongst some beautiful lakes, and is another excellent area to find Warblers and other small songbirds, so over the next few days we arose early and cruised the narrow unpaved tracks through this area, with some good success. Here we were seeing similar birds as was seen at Shawnee, but species like Prairie and Kentucky were way more common. On our 3rd day we found another of our targets .... the beautiful Yellow-breasted Chat, which ended up being one of our most exciting moments of the trip. Sadly after now 8 nights, we reluctantly, and exhausted, headed north to our last stop over at Magee Marsh ......
Lake Hope is set in the middle of massive forested area and in amongst some beautiful lakes, and is another excellent area to find Warblers and other small songbirds, so over the next few days we arose early and cruised the narrow unpaved tracks through this area, with some good success. Here we were seeing similar birds as was seen at Shawnee, but species like Prairie and Kentucky were way more common. On our 3rd day we found another of our targets .... the beautiful Yellow-breasted Chat, which ended up being one of our most exciting moments of the trip. Sadly after now 8 nights, we reluctantly, and exhausted, headed north to our last stop over at Magee Marsh ......
April 26th - April 30th 2019
Location: Portsmouth, Ohio
Weather: Sun and cloud
It was a long drive from Kitchener to Portsmouth, which is located along the Ohio River and on the border with the State of Kentucky, and to break the journey we stopped off at a favorite spot of mine just west of Toledo .... Oak Openings. OA is is one of the very few spots where you can find nesting Lark Sparrows, so we spent a few hours at this half way point to photograph some of these very interesting birds. We eventually arrived early evening at our Hotel in Portsmouth.
Next morning we headed the 20mins to Shawnee State Forest, where we spent the next 4 days driving the back roads and listening for our target birds .... Wood Warblers, that are not so common further north. Our first stop was just as you enter the park area - a spot where in previous years I have had quite good luck, withing 5 mins we were photographing two of our targets - the Yellow-throated Warbler and a White-eyed Vireo ... game on !!. So over the next few days we found most of our target birds (Kentucky, Worm-eating, Prairie, Hooded & Cerulean Warblers, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, and a couple of others). We didn't get two of our hoped for birds though - the beautiful Yellow-breasted Chat and the Blue Grosbeak, although a Blue Grosbeak was being seen by others.
Next morning we headed the 20mins to Shawnee State Forest, where we spent the next 4 days driving the back roads and listening for our target birds .... Wood Warblers, that are not so common further north. Our first stop was just as you enter the park area - a spot where in previous years I have had quite good luck, withing 5 mins we were photographing two of our targets - the Yellow-throated Warbler and a White-eyed Vireo ... game on !!. So over the next few days we found most of our target birds (Kentucky, Worm-eating, Prairie, Hooded & Cerulean Warblers, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, and a couple of others). We didn't get two of our hoped for birds though - the beautiful Yellow-breasted Chat and the Blue Grosbeak, although a Blue Grosbeak was being seen by others.
