AUGUST 2017

August 29th 2017

Location: Valley Inn (Burlington) & Sedgewick (Oakville)

Weather: Mix of sun & cloud temp ~ 24C

Headed back to Valley Inn today hoping to get a look at the Canvasback Ducks that have been repeatedly reported there and yet again I came away empty handed. I did however mange to get a few shots of some of the less glamorous seasonal residents ... Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Egret, Caspian Terns and a few Ospreys.
After a breakfast stop we headed east along the QEW to Oakvilles Sedgewick Forest. It was a tad quiet relative to what it was like a few days ago, but there was a few Warblers around .. Cape May, Black & White, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided and American Redstarts. Also hanging out was a couple of House Wrens and a couple of indeterminably Flycatchers (I suspect Phoebe and Pewee)

August 26th 2017

Location: Burlington - Oakville

Weather: Cooler than seasonal start, but warmed up to a pleasant 24C

With a a family birthday happening today - the plan was originally to head up north to celebrate the birthday of our grandson Aaron. A list minute change of plan (rescheduled visit) had me rethinking my birding plans. There were a couple of Canvasback Ducks at Valley Inn in Burlington I headed down with a hope that they were close to shore so that I could get a few shots. I've photographed these minor rarities a couple of times in the past, but I would love to have a few close up photographs. Regrettably there was no sign of our target much to the disappointment of myself and a dozen or so other photographers, who had also shown up. After three hours I was ready to call it a day, and started to head home. I was 10 mins from Burlington when I received a text from a fellow birder friend to the effect that a well known spot around Oakville had a mini fallout of Warblers. I turned around and headed to the location and was delighted to find several warblers foraging around this particular woodlot. Cape May, Wilson's, Magnolia and Nashville Warblers were giving a good show along the edge of the scrub. Last couple of days have been super productive for me "Warbler-wise"   ..I might have to buy some lottery tickets !!!

August 24th 2017

Location: maybe later !!

Weather: Cooler than seasonal, but bright with a little cloud

On impulse (I had planned to get some chores done at home) I headed out at first light to check out a couple of spots that have been decent fall migrant locations in previous years. It was one of those days when I saw a few waves of migrants pass by me over a couple of hours. Nothing, then a few mixed species warbler & vireo's, then after five minutes back to nothing. At times like this I like to sit and wait for the "travelers" to pass through and nail them when they hit a decent branch. It's a hit and miss technique but if you pick your spot well it's possible to get some good shots. I look for a clearing in a wood lot, that has a few dead trees or open branches that offer good perching, but with lots of distance behind said branch so the background is  nicely blurred. These are some of the many birds spotted earlier today  ...

August 23rd 2017

Location: Currie & Robertson Tracts

Weather: Sun & Cloud, but a tad cooler than normal for this time of year

It's been quite apparent over the last few days that fall migration is starting to get underway for many birds, including our songbirds. This morning with that in mind we headed to a a good warbler trap ... Currie Tract near Milton. As soon as we neared the hydro corridor (a 3/4 km from the parking lot) we could hear a chorus of bird song and soon started to see a good variety of songbirds incl American Redstarts, Blackburnian Warblers, Blue-winged Warblers, Black & White Warblers, Canada Warbler, Common Yellowthroats, Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Warbling Vireos, Red-eyed Vireos. A few other species showed up including Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Cedar Waxwings and a few others. Before giving up for the day and a much needed breakfast at the Chop House, we spent a half hour at Robertson Tract. There was a few birds around, but not in the quantity and variety that we had at Currie. 

August 21st 2017

Location: Cambridge to Brantford

Weather:  Sunny & clear, around 28C by noon

Yellow-throated Vireo

As I mentioned on my last post I had plans to take out a really nice couple (Martin & Dawn) who are visiting the area from Perth, Western Australia, and to do some birding, etc As planned I decided that the Cambridge - Brantford area was as good a region as any. (lots of good mixed habitat ... meadows, woodlots, marshland etc) We started off around Grass Lake, but were disappointed to not find the Sandhill Cranes there, but there was a really good quantity of Savannah Sparrows as well as both Grasshopper and Song Sparrows. A passing motorist stopped and mentioned that he had seen Cranes in a field a few miles away .. we headed over and found two in a field, but quite some distance away (too far for any decent photographs).  Over the next few hours we stopped at several locations and did find many species incl Red-eyed & Warbling Vireos, Baltimore Orioles, Grackles, Red-tailed Hawk, Chickadees, Turkey Vultures, Eastern Meadowlarks, Eastern Phoebe, American Goldfinches and a really good find ... a Yellow-throated Vireo (my personal first of year) . Unfortunately most of these birds other than the Yellow-throated Vireo played really hard to get and either gave us really bad views through the dense undergrowth or a fleeting glimpse before high-tailing it. I have had worse birding days, but it certainly wasn't one of the best ... as I have mentioned a few times before birding is like fishing - some days the "fish" are bitting and some not :)

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August 17th 2017

Location: Cambridge to Brantford

Weather: Clear and sunny in the morning but clouded over by late morning

On Monday 21st I have arranged to take out a visitor from Australia who is staying in Kitchener for a couple of weeks. He is a keen "shutterbug" who among other types of photography, likes to shoot birds. Today I thought it prudent to get out to some of the local spots that I have somewhat ignored over the last few weeks ... sort of a scouting mission (so to speak). I started off at Grass Lake .. which had a total of (6) Sandhill Cranes, several Savannah Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Eastern Kingbird and a few Bluebirds. My plan, ultimately, was to finish up at Oak Park Road in Brantford, and so between Grass Lake & Brantford I stopped off at a few back road spots that I had been to in the past. At one stop I had a mass of birds incl Kingbirds, Orioles, Black-billed Cuckoo, Warbling & Red-eyed Vireos, Least Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. It looks like on Monday ... I might be hitting that same spot.  

August 15th 2017

Location: Mizzy Lake Trail, Algonquin Provincial Park

Weather: Clear, sunny and pretty hot

It's not that often that I go out and come back empty handed. Today was was one of those occasions, which sucked as I had driven up the almost 4 hours and drove back the same, later in the day. I did see a few odds misc birds ... a Magnolia Warbler, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Northern Flicker and a few House Finches. Unfortunately they were quite distant or skulked deep in the undergrowth making shots all but impossible. Looking on the bright side the post processing was easy ... always next time, I suppose.

August 9th 2017

Location: ​Neibours Pond ... just outside Hespeler

Weather: Cool early (06:15) but warmed up to a seasonal hot 

I didn't have a lot of time for photography this morning and with a few decent shots taken at Neibours Pond a couple of days ago I headed back to see if I could pick up a few more shots. ​

August 7th 2017

Location: Neibours Pond ... just outside Hespeler, along Road 32, then Guelph Arboretum

Weather: Cloudy with the occasional bright momemt

A week or so ago I photographed a Marsh Wren at this location (Neibours Pond), and while I was there I noticed a few Pied-billed Grebes out in the open water. A friend had been at this location yesterday and had mentioned that he had photographed the Grebes in fairly close. At 6:00 I arrived at the spot (nice change to be driving somewhere fairly close). We set up in a gap through the reeds and cattails, with our equipment as low as we could (we wanted the low photo effect as well as keeping a low profile). After some time the Grebes came closer .. foraging in the pond weed and we were able to fire off a bunch of shots. All the time we were crouched down along the edge of the pond a Marsh Wren would fly back and forth, so before moving on we spent a half hour attempting to capture this little guy.
Another spot I hadn't been to this year was Guelph Arboretum, so being so close and looking for a location to finish off the day. We checked out the feeders first, but other than a few garden birds, there wasn't much to encourage us to get out our equipment. After moving to the opposite side of the park we found a House Wren pair that were foraging for insects in a small patch of shrubbery and for the next 15 mins or so were able to grab a few interesting shots ... 

August 5th 2017

Location: Currie & Robertson Tract Halton Region

Weather: Cloudy and with the occasional light rain

Hadn't been to these locations for a couple of months, and although in previous years they have been mega productive - this year according to reports it's been a little poor. However with no better plan, than to check it out for myself, I met up with a fellow photographer for a short visit, with little or no expectations. We checked out the usual spots at Currie but not much going on ... almost no bird songs were heard. Over to Robertson, which is the next tract over and within 2 or 3 miles from Currie. Almost immediately we were hearing and seeing a few birds ... mainly Redstarts and Red-eyed Vireos, but after a bit we spotted and in some cases photographed Scarlet Tanager. Rose-breasted Grosbeak,  Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher as well as a few skulkers in the deep undergrowth that we weren't able to positively ID. 

August 1st & 2nd 2017

Location: Kearney and Burk's Falls

Weather: Hot with cloudless skies

I have mentioned in previous posts that birding locally in SW Ontario tends to flag somewhat during high summer. The reasons, as far as I can see, are a combination of the warmer weather, the young birds have fledged and the parents have less of a desire to maintain territory, thus keeping to the dense undergrowth. Also, some of the birds have already started to head back to their wintering grounds in the sunny south. My main focus has always been photographing songbirds and for me, one of the best places for spring and summer songbirds is in and around Algonquin.
Up at 2:00am and on the road for 2:30am with the goal being to arrive and start birding by 6:30am. Traffic was obviously pretty light at that time of the morning and I arrived at my planned starting point, just a tad north west of Kearney, at 6:15am. Almost immediately I was discovering a good selection of Warblers low in the dense scrub along the forest edge - Parulas, Magnolias, Black-throated Blues and Greens, Chestnut-sided, Nashvilles and a few Red-eyed Vireos. The next six hours were fruitful with some decent sightings and I was able to add Canada Warbler & Blue-headed Vireo to the list, during that time.
Early next day, I moved over to the west side of Highway 11 near Burk's Falls and with anticipation of another good day. The plan, similar to the previous day, was to stake out a likely looking spot for about 1/2 an hour, then move. This process had worked like a charm the day before, but sadly today ... not so much. Strange, considering the weather was very similar and that I was in the same general area (all within a 30 mile radius). Saying that I did manage at one spot to find and photograph a very cooperative Northern Waterthrush. Birding is always a case of good days and bad days, and I had one of each on this trip, so can't complain.