SEPTEMBER 2017

September 29th & 30th

Locations: (29th) Cambridge (30th) Dundas Valley

Weather: (29th) Rain and cool, (30th) Sunny & cooler

Over the last couple of days the weather has gotten significantly and seasonally cooler, which I suppose is normal as we head into Fall here in SW Ontario.  On Friday (29th) it was raining pretty solid but I headed out anyways, as I wanted to check out Neibours Pond just outside Cambridge. This pond has a decent quantity of Pied-billed Grebes, which are always fun to photograph but what I was looking for was a good look at, and hopefully photograph one of the 3 or 4 Common Moorhens that are hanging out there. Unfortunately both Grebe and Moorhen were too far off for a shot. However close to this location I found a Great Blue Heron that obliged me with an image as it was riding out the rain.
Saturday (30th) the weather had improved ... bright sunshine for the most part and a good day to explore a new spot for me - Dundas Valley. I'm always reluctant to pay for access to anywhere, but over the last couple of days reports from here were good, so I shelled out the $10 entrance. I trailed around the orchard area for the next couple of hours and saw dozens of migrating Kinglets (mostly Ruby-crowned, but a few Golden-crowned as well). A few Warblers were also migrating through ... Magnolia, Yellow-rumped and Chestnut-sided, so lots to aim at.  

September 21st 2017

Location: Sedgewick Forest

Weather: Sunny & hot

Sedgewick is often a great choice for birding especially mid week (ie not a weekend) when it's generally very quiet with little or no human activity. Today was perfect in that regard with not another soul around. I got myself setup and tucked in fairly tight to some dense scrub in an area that has been good to me over the years. Lots of birds around ,,, mostly up pretty high as they passed through foraging on the insects created by the water/sewage treatment facility next door. However every so often a bird would show up down low and give me an opportunity. I only took a dozen or shots all morning but I was pleased with the birds I found ... see below

September 18th 2017

Location: Thornapple Loop, Dundas

Weather: Damp and misty start but brightened up to another hot one 

Thornapple Loop has been good to me over the last couple of weeks so I thought I would check out the other side of the loop. Normally I park at the east end and take the trail in at that point, so today it was accessing from the west side. It wasn't as productive as I had hoped but still not too bad. I only spotted a couple of warblers but no Vireos - which was surprising since over the last week I had seen several Red-eyes and Philadelphias foraging together at the east end. There was however a couple of Carolina Wrens and a single House Wren that popped into the open for a short time.

September 16th 2017

Location: Martin Road Ancaster

Weather: Pleasant

Along with a couple of birding friends I headed to a spot that had been rich in birds a few months ago. The spot has great songbird habitat but I hadn't seen any reports in the last several weeks but decided to check it out anyways. After a few hours I could see why I hadn't seen any OFO or eBird reports from this area as it was quite devoid of any songbird action. We did however spot and photograph a couple of Piliated Woodpeckers (a male & a female) so at least we didn't get totally skunked, but Martin Road is definitely off our hot birding location list, at least as far as the Fall is concerned.

September 14th 2017

Location: Currie Tract & Robert Edmondson Conservation Area

Weather: Sun & Cloud

Tennessee Warbler

It seems that it doesn't matter where you go right now you will find songbirds in migration. This morning, after abandoning my proposed trip to Toronto (traffic), I ended up, first, at Currie Tract, near Milton, then a bit later at Robert Edmondson. Currie was generally quiet with very little movement, but I did see and photograph a Wilson's Warbler and a (FOY for me) Tennessee Warbler. After a couple of hours I drove the short distance over to Robert Edmondson Conservation Area. Not one of favorite places ... never seem to find that much here, but today I had a few Vireos pass through my location, so I had about 10 mins of activity then back to zero.  

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September 13th 2017

Location: Robertson Tract & Hilton Falls CA

Weather: Cooler with sun & cloud, but warmed up later

Today I headed out to check out a couple of spots that I hadn't been to in a couple of weeks.Over the last two weeks I had been concentrating on lakeshore locations, but  I was curious as to the fall migration numbers and species  that might be found away from the lake. As I thought .. it wasn't quite as "birdy" but still held several songbird species (see images below). Although I was too slow to photograph it, I was a tad surprised to see, albeit briefly, a Blue-winged Warbler.. I would have thought these guys would have been long gone. On a non birding note .. I witnessed for a few seconds a Short-tailed Weasel in pursuit of a Chipmunk (which he didn't catch) in an open grassy area at Hilton Falls. I was too slow with the camera .. yet again !!

September 12th 2017

Location:

Weather: Sunny and warm

It seems that anywhere reasonably close to the lake produces a decent show of warblers right now. This morning arriving at one my favorite trails just as the light was getting suitable for photography (around 7:00am), we headed along to a spot with good visibility and setup our stake out. I have found through help from others and from trial and error that a good strategy is to find a clearing between undergrowth or tree lines and with lots of open perches in that clearing. Then setup your equipment as unobtrusively as possible. Next step is to wait and hope. Migrants will often sweep through the open patch, and if you are really fortunate, will land on one of those open perches.... at least that's the plan.Today it worked OK and after a few hours I had a few shots that I was happy with ....

September 10th 2017

Location: Dundas Valley

Weather: ​Very cool morning (4C) but warmed up to a still seasonally cool 14C

Migration continues ... checked out a couple of spots again today

September 9th 2017

Location: Oakville/Burlington

Weather: Very cool morning (4C) but warmed up to a still seasonally cool 14C

Migration is well under way now so I needed to find somewhere that was closer to the lake (Lake Ontario) to hopefully find a few Warblers. I chose a spot that I have always liked. It was a really good choice as soon as I arrived I was seeing birds ... To get things rolling I played a few calls and a bit a "floodgate" opened with several Swainson's Thrushes (around 10 or so) converged on my location. Warblers weren't scarce either with Wilson's, Cape May, Bay-breasted, Redstarts, Ovenbirds, Northern Parulas, Black-throated Blue and Greens. Also a few Red-eyed and Philadelphia Vireos. By 9:30 I was ready to head home having taken close to 300 frames ... I'm glad it wasn't back in my film days - I would be broke ;)

September 6th 2017

Location: Sedgewick Forest

Weather: sun & cloud ... very pleasant

Black-throated Green Warbler

Just before first light this morning I headed out & scooted down to Sedgewick Forest, which is near Lake Ontario in the city of Oakville. I always feel that when I go here that for a birding hotspot that it is out of place somehow. But every year in both spring and autumn the location is alive with Warblers (more so in the fall). The forested area surrounds a city Water Treatment Plant and the settling ponds within the plant are a breeding ground for many organisms that ultimately hatch and take flight, creating an excellent food source for the migrating songbirds. Today, as in previous days, there were several Warbler species around, but unfortunately today most of them were higher up in the trees making photographs difficult. This Black-throated Green Warbler however cooperated by foraging, for a minute or so, along the ground in front of me and in some adjacent low shrubbery.

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September 4th 2017

Location: Sedgewick Forest

Weather: Sunny & cloudless 21C

It's been a somewhat strange couple of weeks ... I have had some really good and fairly lucky sightings of several decent songbirds (mainly Warblers) and today was no exception. The "strange" element is that when I have been going out with an accomplice I seem to see very little or get few photo opportunities, but when I go out solo I seem to manage to see and photograph some very decent birds. Over the last two weeks these have included Yellow-throated Vireo, Golden-winged Warbler, Lincoln Sparrow, Black-throated Blue Warbler to name a few. Today the solo luck continued with a Northern Parula. Bay-breasted Warbler and a Wilson's Warbler. Today, I also saw a Canada Warbler, and saw & photographed Yellowthroats, Redstarts, Magnolias and Black-throated Green Warblers. So big question I ask myself is ... should I call any of my birding/photographer friends or should I not  mmmmmm ;)  - still ...  always more fun to go with a friend. LOL

September 1st 2017

Location: Currie Tract

Weather: Seasonally warm/cool ie cooler 1st thing and then warming up to a pleasant 24C

I had been out the night before shooting sunsets along the Toronto skyline which meant by the time we were done and drove the 70mins back it was somewhat after 11:30 pm when I pulled into my driveway. The plan was to get up early to continue my search for migrating warblers. When the alarm went off at 6:00am it took a significant amount of willpower to get my ass motivated. Although I was later than I like to be, I eventually reached my planned spot at Currie Tract, a little after 8:15am. I like to bird the beginning off, and along, the Hydro right-of-way .... and not too long after arriving I was seeing a few warblers including Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Magnolias, Redstarts and Yellowthroats. Someimes the bird photography gods look down on you with favour - I was watching Black-throated Green in some dense undergrowth when a Black-throated Blue (one of my fav warblers) , out of the blue, landed on a clean perch not 15 feet in front of me and for the next 7 or 8 seconds gave me some incredible poses. A fantastic encounter and one I don't get often enough LOL. 
​All images are clickable to go full size, and hovering over will display species or description