AUGUST 2020

Aug 26th 2020

Location: Burlington - Valley Inn then Thornapple

Weather: Hazy sun then cloudy

Always a pleasure to visit Valley Inn in Burlington - not that the birding is exceptional, but being that it is a popular spot for many bird photographers, you always meet many like minded friends. It was very nice to meetup with BP's that you hadn't seen for some time, in many cases.
Sightings were a tad slim at the main pond, with the highlight being (for me anyways) a Great Egret that came in pretty close and actively hunted, without being spooked by the parade of cameras only 30 feet or so, away. Other sightings were a few Ospreys, Belted Kingfishers, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron and Caspian Terns.
Valley Inn isn't too far away form a favorite birding spot of mine - Thornapple Loop, so after a couple of hours down at the pond I headed up to check out the trail at Thornapple. Unfortunately, there wasn't too much around - I had Red-eyed Vireos, Catbirds, a flyby Brown Thrasher, a couple of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and a few others that would come into the open, so ID's didn't happen 

Aug 25th 2020

Location: Cox Tract, Halton

Weather: Sun and cloud

After some minor success at this location the other day, and along with a couple of friends, I headed back to this spot. The location isn't perfect, but it does have most of the elements for a good photo spot. Those features that I like to see at any spot I shoot at are a) near some water b) an open clearing next to said water c) some open and natural looking perches d) if there is some sun then somewhat behind the direction I choose to shoot, but preferably in the shaded sections, e) as uncluttered a background as possible. Today, most of those conditions were satisfied ... almost 
Sightings were a little thin on the ground today in the songbird section ie Warblers & Vireos, but the Yellow-billed Cuckoo that dropped by for a short time made up for the missing targets. We did see a couple of Redstarts and had a brief glimpse of a couple of others incl Blacburnian and a Northern Waterthrush, but for the most part they landed for a micro-second then gone. The little Fox youngster came by at the exact spot that I had seen the Porcupine a couple of days ago... ??
​As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

Aug 23rd 2020

Location: Cox Tract, Halton

Weather: Sunny & warm (what else)

Although it certainly doesn't feel like Fall, and it certainly isn't season wise, Fall ... lots of birds think it is, and are starting to make the long journey south for the winter. Over the last few days I'm seeing a definite increase in reverse migration. Today there were several species hanging out and feeding hungrily out along the forest edge at Cox Tract. Bird wise the highlight, for me anyways, was the Ovenbird, but the overall highlight was the young Porcupine that walked past me and if I hadn't got out of the way I think it would have walked right over me, and probably would have left a few quill souvenirs to boot.  
Other sightings, but not shown in picture form, were Blue-winged Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstarts and a  few other less seasonal birds. 

Aug 20th 2020

Location: In and around the west side of Paris, Ontario

Weather: Sunny but not so hot today

Forecast was, as it has been predominately now for weeks, sunny. However, I had been doing some work around the house, so needed to get out. I initially stopped off at a spot I know on West Dumfries Road and found a Yellow-throated Vireo. It seems every time I go to this spot, and in previous years at this time also, a Yellow-throated, so it wasn't a big surprise but it was a nice looking one (even without part of it's tail) so it was quite pleasing.
From here I headed to another spot that was not too far away, on Reidsville Road. This spot I really like because it has the elements I look for ie .. a bit of a wetland, with a nice opening on the edge of a forested area, and with a few nice natural perches at a height that isn't too high. Here I had a few birds pop up, but not quite as many as I had a week ago here, but I'm not complaining.

Aug 16th 2020

Location: Back Roads south east of Ayr

Weather: Overcast and windless

What an absolutely perfect morning to go looking for birds. The wind was almost zero and the sky was overcast providing good level of lighting but without the harsh shadows. Mornings like this is what I dream about, and with a few birds popping out as well, it turned out to be quite a good day. 
I drove around a few gravel roads looking for a spot that had some of the features I was hoping for. A wooded area with a clearing, on a quiet road, preferably part of a marshy/swampy area, and with some nice open branches at the lower levels. I stopped at 3 locations somewhat like I just described, and in the same general area. One spot in particular was birdy right out of the starting gate, with plenty of movement through the openings. With still conditions I was able to spot minor bird movements in the shrubbery & bushes, and so home in on possible subjects.
As you can see from the gallery below there were a few opportunities, but nothing that was "knocking my socks off". Over and above these birds I spotted a couple of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Black-billed Cuckoo, Least Flycatcher, several Common Yellowthroats, a Northern Waterthrush, lots of Goldfinches. 

Aug 14th 2020

Location: Thornapple Loop

Weather: Sunny & hot, with some wind

The other day when I was at Thornapple, I spotted a Philadelphia Vireo, but was unable to get a usable shot. Now this Vireo is by far my most favorite of all the Vireos, so my thinking was ... is it still hanging around? So today, after several hours of patrolling my favorite section of the trails, I came up with zero on the Vireo front. It was disappointing but after an hour or two of almost no sightings I had a a few goodies show up and allow me a few images, so the day was a reasonable success and although my target was not around I came away with a a few consolation prizes ... especially the Blue-winged Warbler. Usually throughout the spring and summer I usually come across at least one or two of these little beauties, but for some reason, this year, nothing ... until this morning. A nice surprise!!
I have a couple of images below of a Flycatcher (same one I think) that is evading an identification, so if you believe you know what it is let me know. I have it down to likely a Least Flycatcher or an Acadian Flycatcher, but even those two might be wrong.  ????
As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title ​​​

Aug 13th 2020

Location: In and around Cambridge

Weather: Hot, hot and yes HOT

Insects are to me totally fascinating - The diversity, detail and complexity of the species just amazes me, almost every time I do an insect shoot. Today was another of those days, and yes I was blown away with the intricate subtleties of each and every one of the ones that were in front of my camera. Tomorrow .... I can hardly wait :) 
As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title ​​

Aug 12th 2020

Location: Thornapple Loop

Weather: Sunny (again)

Thornapple is one of the lesser known trails north of Dundas, and generally it is pretty mediocre, but on certain days at certain times of the year it can be a fruitful location for spotting a few birds.Today was a day that I though this location might be worth a visit, and although it was short of any unusual or interesting species, it did produce a couple of nice findings. The highlight was most certainly the Gnatcatcher, but the others kept the Adrenalin flowing too.

Aug 10th 2020

Location: On a back road near Paris

Weather: Sunny and pretty hot

Seldom do I get a period of activity like what I experienced today. I dropped in a spot that I had been to several times over the last 2-3 months with only minimal sightings, but today where the first 30-45 mins nothing showed itself, but all of a sudden I'm seeing birds moving in and around my spot. These looked like mainly juvenile migrating birds, and were I suspect heading "south" in a mixed flock of Vireo species. The predominant species in the flock was the Warbling Vireo, where I counted around 10 individuals. The rest of them were a mix of Red-eyed Vireos and Yellow-throated Vireos. Around the same time a couple of other species showed face - a couple of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and 2 or 3 American Redstarts.  For about half an hour I didn't know where to point my lens next - they seem to be on every branch of the one tree. The Adrenalin was flowing like crazy - awesome day !!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Aug 8th & 9th 2020

Location: In and around the Halton region

Weather: typical Aug weather - sun/cloud

One of my favorite type of photography days is to simply head out to a general location, and just hope for the best. Over the last couple of days I did just that and although there were periods of inactivity, there was also several moments of good activity in both the birding and also the bugging side of things. 

Aug 5th & 6th 2020

Location: Close to home :)

Weather: Sun & cloud

Did a little driving around the area fairly close to home, stopping every now and then at a likely looking spot and took what dropped in my lap (so to speak)

Aug 4th 2020

Location: Halton Tracts - Currie, Robertson, Finney etc

Weather: Dull, misty and some rain

It had been a while since I did any foraging along some of the most excellent Halton Tracts. Now that the weather had turned somewhat cooler it, I thought it might kick start some of the birds into more moving around  ... at least that was the theory anyways. As it happened there was quite a bit of activity, but nothing too unusual, species-wise .. mainly Redstarts, Red-eyed Vireos and Catbirds, but I'm not complaining, after several weeks of bird inactivity it was good to photograph something avian.
On the more unusual side I did see and photograph a Winter Wren, but only saw (they were too quick for me) an Ovenbird, Green Heron and what I think was a Blue-winged Warbler. Might be worth a return visit in the coming days :)

Aug 3rd 2020

Location: Drumbo area

Weather: Sunny, but rain threatened

It has been quite a few years since I had been birding in the area in and around Drumbo, and with the weather somewhat cooler than it had been in the last few weeks, I was confident for once, that I might find a few songbirds. I find that, like all of us, when it is very hot, birds tend to lay low and stay in the cooler areas making sightings difficult to impossible. Today, as I mentioned previously was significantly cooler, and as suspected, the birds were easier to find. However the most activity was from juvenile birds, but I was more than happy to follow and photograph the youngsters.
A little later when the sun moved higher in the sky I flipped from birds to bugs, and came across a nice selection of butterflies, but for some reason almost no dragonfly or beetle activity. 
As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title ​

Eastern Comma Butterfly

Aug 2nd 2020

Location: SE of New Hamburg

Weather: A bit of sun, bit of cloud

Birds and/or bugs can be very unpredictable, and in a lot of ways for the same reasons. I find that when looking for birds it is preferable to be on a reasonably still day . The more windy it is, then its so much harder to locate most species (especially in a wooded setting where the movement of branches and leaves are critical to spotting them). The same goes for the bugs, but for a slightly different reason. With insects they tend to stay hidden when it's windy, so finding them is almost impossible.
Today was very windy, so I found a gravel road with thick forest on each side of the road, so there was virtually no wind movement at the lower levels making birding and bugging workable.
As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title ​