AUGUST 2022

August 29th 2022

LOCATION: Burlington, Valley Inn

WEATHER: Mainly sunny

I hadn't planned to be in the area, especially in the afternoon, but I had to run my wife down (wifes car had an issue), and then kill a couple of hours before picking her back up. What better place to check out than Valley Inn. I am glad I did, as there were several Semipalmated Plovers along the muddy edge of the inlet near the bridges. A few other species were there too, but nothing that was quite as good as the Plovers.

**  As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

August 27th & 28th 2022

LOCATION: North Dumfries (again)

WEATHER: Sun and cloud, and hot

A pretty good couple of days, with very little time spent there each day. Pretty much all of the shots were taken at thge gateway (location for my info). Migration is most certainly underway, but still a tad slow with not too much variety, but I expect that to pickup in the coming week or so ...

August 23rd - 25th 2022

LOCATION: North Dumfries, and around Grass Lake

WEATHER: Mild and cloudy both days

Stayed local both mornings and headed around my normal run around the gravel roads around Grass Lake & Glen Morris. The 25th was the first morning where I was kept really busy following several migrating songbirds. The highlight was the Brewster's which popped up out of nowhere so thankfully I was ready and managed a few shots. 

August 22nd 2022

LOCATION: Burlington (Valley Inn)

WEATHER: Sun & cloud

Tim and I headed to Valley Inn in Burlington. A few days ago Steve & I had a decent day with Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers, but today they were not in camera range, so that was that. However we did manage a couple of other of the regulars down here - the Great Egret and a Cormorant.
In the cemetery next to Valley Inn can be quite a good spot for migrating songbirds, and this morning there were a couple of same along the ridge. All in all - I have had worse days :)

August 19th 2022

LOCATION: North Dumfries

WEATHER: Occasionally sunny with some cloud

With fall migration starting to get going, I headed down to one of my most favorite areas - the gravel roads around Grass Lake & Glen Morris. to see if any "Wobblies" had shown up. I was delighted to see a little activity at a couple of spots - the one spot had the Black & White and the Chestnut. At other spots I did see a few others but they were high in the canopy so no pics - mainly Blackburnian and a couple of Bay-breasted Warblers.

August 18th 2022

LOCATION: Bronte Beach Park

WEATHER: Sunny for the most part

I arranged to meet a couple of friends at this spot, as there had been for a few days, a Ruddy Turnstone hanging out on a little gravel island just west of the harbour entrance. Just my luck .. the bird had moved on, so we weren't able to get a pic or two ... oh well - that's birding!!
On the plus side we had a couple of Least Sandpipers coming in close and not to mention a Great Blue Heron that was almost suicidal - he landed less than 20 feet away and then proceeded to wade even closer to our location. The portrait shot was almost full frame - I even had to swing my camera 90deg to get the shot I did.  Apparently, as I find out later, he is a bit of a celebrity at this spot.

August 16th 2022

LOCATION: Valley Inn, Burlington

WEATHER: Mainly sunny, but not too hot

I am falling behind with my write ups, so for those who follow this page ... my apologies.
Today I headed down to an OK spot in Burlington, that can be quite good for a variety of wetland birds .. Shorebirds, ducks, egrets, heron etc. Today the highlights were a few Lesser Yellowlegs and a small flock of Least Sandpipers. There was also some Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Belted Kingfisher, Ospreys and a few Caspian Terns. 
I was pleased to meet up with a few friends while there so all in all it was a pleasant day :)

August 15th 2022

LOCATION: Kilally Meadows, London

WEATHER: Sun and Cloud

I did a little bird research on the latest movements of birds, and one spot that seemed to have it's fair share of songbird sightings was at a park area in London, so along with Tim, we headed down to check this spot out. We managed quite a few shots of a few birds, but we could see lots of movements of several different birds, but they were hard to get in the frame. We spoke with a couple of birders who were having some luck with sightings - they spotted Tennessee, Canada, Magnolia, Bay-breasted and a few others, but unfortunately we weren't so lucky. However I was happy with the images I managed.
One "bad" thing about locations such as this is that it is quite unpractical to lug the big EF prime lens, and tripod, along the narrow congested paths and trails at this location, so I had to drop down to my other birding lens .. the RF 100-500. However it performed really well and I am very happy with the resulting images.

Tip of the Day:  Fall migration- species can be divided into diurnal migrants that travel during the day and nocturnal migrants that travel during the night. Diurnal migrants tend to need thermal winds to generate lift; accordingly, they often travel along ridges, peninsulas or coastlines.

August 14th 2022

LOCATION: North Dumfries near Grass Lake

WEATHER: Cloudy and no wind (awesome)

Weather was perfect for bird photography this morning (cloudy with no wind), so at the last minute I headed out to the Grass Lake area, to see if any fall migration birds were in motion. I am pleased to say that there wasn't many but I did have these two below that gave me a couple of shots. Awesome ... after several weeks of little or no bird activity it was nice to see my favorite bird genus (ie Warblers) again. 
Unfortunately, just after 10:00 am I had some phone problems that I couldn't fix on the spot, so I was forced to pack it in .... Oh well :)

August 10th - 13th 2022

LOCATION: In and around Kitchener

WEATHER: Hot ... and hot !

Northern Green Frog

Over the last few days it has been really quiet - both in the avian and in the insect side of things. Surprises have been few and far between, but the Scarlet Tanager female that popped up a couple of days ago fell into that category for sure. I initially had it tagged as a Baltimore Oriole juvie or female, so it was a nice surprise to find out otherwise. On the negative side ... yeah it was a poor pic :(

Today (13th) I revisited Huron Natural area, which is about 5 mins from my house, and I have to admit I hadn't been for a couple of years, but it was a great visit. Not that I saw anything interesting, but I realized whilst there, it could be be great on the right day. (which wasn't today) ... I will probably hit it again the next few weeks.

​Happy birding (and bugging) all :)

August 7th , 8th & 9th 2022

LOCATION: Local

WEATHER: Endless sun

Every day a little different, but finding birds is somewhat tricky still. However you can only photograph what pops up, so I am still grateful what fate puts into my viewfinder. On the other side of things, the bug possibilities are endless.

August 4th, 5th & 6th 2022

LOCATION: North Dumfries (1&3) & Halton (2)

WEATHER: Sunny and Hot mainly

Birds are tricky to find and even more difficult to catch in the open and photograph. Calling birds using recorded calls, as an attracter,  is almost a waste of time for those that use this technique, and BTW I am not against calling birds myself, when the conditions are right. 

Tip of the Day : Many birds are raising young or starting to migrate and need to devote their time and energy to these challenging tasks. Use binoculars or long camera lenses to see birds up close without disturbing them.

**  As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

August 3rd 2022

LOCATION: North Dumfries

WEATHER: Mainly cloudy, but hot (30+C)

Hoverfly

The light was pretty good this morning so I headed to one of my most favorite local spots - the gravel road along from the quarry just outside Blair. 

As is quite often the case over the last week or two there were a few Sandhill Cranes in the field. Unfortunately they didn't wait for me to get in a perfect spot to photograph them in the fields, but as they took off I managed a shot or two.

A nice surprise today was a Grey Catbird that did a little foraging in the open, so it was awesome to get a few of him. He, or maybe its a she, was a little scruffball, so either a young bird or an adult in molt.

​A few bugs to finish off the day :)

Tip of the Day: Birds. People don’t realize how addictive bird photography can be until they try it. With about ten thousand species of birds around the world, finding and photographing new birds can quickly become an obsession. So on your next walk outside, don't forget to take your camera and start snapping. Who knows—there could be a few birds already in your backyard waiting for you.

August 1st & 2nd 2022

LOCATION:  Local in North Dumfries

WEATHER:  Bit of sun, bit of cloud

It was really quite over the last couple of days with no bird photography opportunities, so yet again it's down to bugs to fill my day ... as little as it was.

Tip of the Day: (Insect) Ebony Jewelwings are quite easy to sex - the female has a white spot at the wing tips, and is a little browner wing wise, The male has a fluorescent green body and blackish wings.