SEPTEMBER 2019

29th September 2019

Location: Thornapple Loop

Weather: Mainly cloudy, with occasional sunny breaks

Rusty Blackbird

A friend mentioned to me a couple of days ago, that the winds overnight Saturday should bring in a few migrants - good advice, as I found out. On my visit to one of my favoured spots near Dundas this morning there was almost immediately, after I arrived, birds of various species. Some were expected - the Black-throated Green and the Swainson's Thrush, but others not so much so. There was a single Gray-cheeked that popped into my view for about 2 seconds, but unfortunately I wasn't quick enough (not a rare event I may add). A bit later there was several Rusty Blackbirds, but not that close, so I had to do a fair bit of image cropping. Other nice birds were the Nashville, Orange-crowned and American Redstarts.
The birds in general seemed to be foraging for bugs (I assume) as they drifted past my setup location, and after about an hour of fairly intense activity it quietened down, and after that I barely had another bird in my sights.

Tip of the Day: Sighting of more birds can be achieved by learning bird calls. Knowing what's calling, or chipping, can help you pinpoint and identify those often difficult to find or see. Myself .. my bad hearing has been a huge drawback, but thanks to shooting partners I manage to overcome ... somewhat :).   

27th September 2019

Location: Riverside Park

Weather: Dull and alternating sun

Warblers and other songbirds are well through their reverse migration back to their "vacation" destinations in the Caribbean and Central America, but there are still lots still some action and lots to come. Today I saw (and was pretty frustrated because I couldn't get one in a frame) a few decent birds incl ... Orange-crowned Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler and a couple of others ... I did however get a few shots of some less exotic species incl .. Red-eyed Vireo, Common Grackle, House Finches and a very cooperative Green Heron. The Green Heron let me get real close, and although it was cautious of me it continued hunting for prey in shallows of one of the Ponds. 

Tip of the Day: Yes, there are exceptions, but as a rule the eye of the bird is the most important point of focus, so always try to get the eye as "pin sharp" as you can for that knockout shot.

25th September 2019

Location: Riverside Park, Cambridge

Weather: A tad breezy, but sun .. not the best for birding

Yesterday along the Lake (Lake Ontario) - usually excellent during migration, was a little flat yesterday, but I heard that Riverside Park was quite productive, so it made sense to take a look this morning. It wasn't amazing, but quite good, but the highlight was seeing two Blackpoll Warblers, and getting it least one of them in the frame for a few shots. The other "goodie" was a Blue-headed Vireo, but my shots were a tad distant and not too clean, with the tail half of the bird behind some foliage..... maybe next time will be better, I hope.

Tip of the Day: Be careful and quiet when shooting - slow and sure is always better. Sudden movements or unnecessary chatter will often scare the bird away, so be quiet, be still and if the subject bird doesn't feel too threatened, then you, as the photographer, might just get that shot of a lifetime. Good luck 

24th September 2019

Location: Burlington, On

Weather: Bright & sunny

I met up with a few friends this morning at Paletta Mansions in Burlington. Paletta is a super location (usually) as they tend to home in on woodlots along the lakeshore ... feeding up prior to heading south across lake Ontario on their migration journey south. I would imaging these isolated woodlots (like Paletta) are like little "islands" of food sources, in a "sea" of urban sprawl (the city).
Our big find was a very vocal Carolina Wren down by the creek at Paletta - he came in quite close and was belting out his unmistakable song for us for several minutes, so I think all of is the group managed several decent shots, as he hopped from perch to perch. There were a few Warblers around but they kept well hidden for most of the time, so no NG "contenders" unfortunately ;) 

Tip of the day: One of the best way to improve your bird photography skills is to read and follow techniques provided by experienced nature photographers. Follow their work on Facebook or on their websites etc. Most great bird photographs are about being in the right place and at the right time, which usually involves spending a significant amount of time "chasing birds" as well as a good deal of luck, so from me ...  good luck :)  

23rd September 2019

Location: Riverside Park, Cambridge

Weather: Dull & drizzly to start, then sun & cloud

The weather was looking a little dark for low ISO shooting, but the weatherman was promising that it would brighten up mid morning ... but just in case they were wrong (as if they are ever LOL) I headed somewhere local. Yesterday, Riverside had a few songbirds as well as some other goodies, so why not.
Songbirds are always my target, and this morning I saw quite a few incl Nashville, Parula, Redstarts, Yellowthroats, Bay-breasted, but only the Parula dropped in low enough for a shot - oh well maybe next time. There was, however, lots of other birds incl Swamp Sparrow, Blue Jays, Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Least Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwings, Chickadees, Downies and a few House Finches. 

Tip of the day: It's important to have your subject bird's head, generally in your direction. The head can be pointing left or right, but it should be, for the best effect, on the camera side of 180 degrees. The images in this post are good examples. 

22nd September 2019

Location: Riverside Park Cambridge

Weather: Cloudy & dull to start then some sun

Another, albeit very short visit, to one of my old haunting grounds, that I hadn't been to in quite a long time, was hoppin' this morning with a few Warblers and a mix of others. I'm referring to Riverside Park in Cambridge - a boardwalk through a swampland in the Preston area of Cambridge. Sightings were diverse - with Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Chickadee, Swamp Sparrow, Magnolia Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, American Redstart, Cardinal and likely a few that I'm not recalling. One thing I noticed was that there were way too many Red-winged Blackbirds etc for this time of year - these guys should be long gone. It's a popular spot for people to feed the birds, so it looks like the "free meal" is keeping them here.
I'm told that there is a Carolina Wren as well as a Marsh Wren hanging out here, so don't be surprised if I have another blog entry from this great location, in the coming days.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Tip of the Day:  A good tip to locating birds in heavy foliage is, especially when there is little or no wind, is to look for subtle movements of the leafs & branches.Not so easy when there is some wind movement of the same branches, but when it's windless, it's my favorite way of locating birds.

20th September 2019

Location: Tilt's Bush, Kitchener

Weather: Pleasant, mainly sunny

I was unable to get out early this morning, so I decided to try out an old favorite location, right here in Kitchener, and less than a mile from home - Tilt's Bush. Tilt's is little known swampland with a rickety boardwalk that is not well know even amongst local birders/photographers, and can be quite productive during both Spring & Fall migrations. When I first arrived at my favoured spot I could, almost instantly, see bird movement and over the next couple of hours I was delighted to have seen a good selection, and photographed one or two.
Sightings were ... Blue-headed Vireo, Song Sparrow, House Wren, Tennessee Warbler, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Coopers Hawk, Northern Parula, Wilsons Warbler, American Redstart, Chickadee, Goldfinches, American Robin, Blue Jay

Tip of the Day: Always shoot in Raw, as opposed to Jpg ..The difference when you shoot in Jpg format is that the camera does it's own processing to convert the Raw information into a Jpg ...When you shoot Raw, you're able to do that processing yourself. You can make the decisions on how the image should look, and produce way better results. ​

19th September 2019

Locations: Thornapple, Woodlands, Edgelake

Weather: misty cool start, but warmed up quickly

RBG has a few excellent trails in around Hamilton - some quite popular & somewhat busy and some like this one a little quieter - which is what I like. I found a spot that had some elevation above the surrounding trees and that afforded a good view, and settled down to wait.In the next couple of hours I had a few birds pass by incl Bay-breasted Warblers, Philadelphia Vireo, a Scarlet Tanager and a couple of Red-eyed Vireos. Other than the Warbler all of them were quite a ways off, but one of the huge benefits of full-frame cameras and high quality telephoto lenses, is that crop amount is very forgiving. One of the Bay-breasted Warblers had an unusual beak deformation where the upper part of its beak was twisted, making it look like a Crossbill. On the plus side it looked to be feeding well and looked healthy enough. 

Tip of the Day: A handy tool to carry with you when photographing birds is a pair of secateurs. It allows you to trim off some in-the-way branches, giving you a clearer view of your subject.

18th September 2019

Locations: Robertson Tract & Hilton Falls - Halton Region

 Weather: Cool start but sunny and very warm later

Starting today - a little change in the way I format the page, and also starting a new page element - "Tip of the day" I often make several entries a week (depending on weather and how often I'm able to get out) so maybe not every entry. I may also modify how this is presented over the next few entries ... we'll see how it goes :)

I believe that the songbird migration must be waning as there was certainly way less birds around this morning. I am however seeing different species than I was a week ago. Now it seems that (among others) - Bay-breasted Warblers are at the peak of their journey south, through this part of Ontario. Another thing of note is that predominately most of the migrants are female (or possibly juvenile), which makes one assume that the males are already through.

Tip of the Day: If you want to photograph Songbirds, then a) find out where they are being seen (Facebook, Sightings Boards, etc)  b) get out early and c) have patience d) be prepared & react fast.

16th September 2019

Locations: Sam Smith & Paletta

Weather: Dull

Every day is a good day to photograph birds, but today the weather was nicely dull & subdued, with very soft lighting, so it was perfect. Along with a good friend we headed to Colonel Sam Smith Park in Toronto, where there had been some good bird sighting reports that needed to be checked out.  Right now anywhere along the Lake (Lake Ontario) is generally pretty birdy, and this spot did have a ton of Warblers, but generally high up, and on a continuous move so not too easy to get any shots, but we did have a couple of moments where birds were a tad lower.
What we did find though was a little pocket of Monarch Butterflies (20 or so) feeding on the yellow Ragweed, and was very photogenic.
After lunch I impulsively headed to a spot on my way home, that I hadn't been to in several months, and was pleasantly surprised to find several Swainson's Thrushes and a few other species, including the shot below of the Northern Flicker. These guys can be really tricky to get in the viewfinder, but if you are quick, and lucky, then it's possible to get one in the can.  
​​All images are clickable to go full size, and hovering over will display species or description

6th & 9th September 2019

Locations: Thornapple & Robertson Tract

Weather: Typical sun & cloud, but mainly sun

I can say this ... Fall migration is well under way. Over the last few days I'm seeing some larger pockets of songbirds at different locations. Best plan, like most bird photography, is to get out there early & often. It's interesting how the fall migrants react so much different from their spring cousins. In the spring the birds are numerous and quite oblivious to your presence, and if you play a call, they almost don't react. In the fall they are very cautious and if you do play a call they come in, in groups, but not close. They tend to be very wary and only visit for a very short time, if at all ... then gone, and they don't come back. So at this time of year .. you have to be prepared and react FAST, as you only get one attempt. 

2nd September 2019

Location: Thornapple Loop

Weather: Very dull start, but brightened up a little later

I woke up early (before 5am) and when I looked outside I observed that it was cloudy - my favorite kind of weather for bird photography. After a few weeks of pretty much sun every day it was nice to get a day that would present harsh shadow photography. Next thought was where to go? A couple of weeks ago I went to Thornapple Loop, and it was not a bad sighting day, but too early for Fall Migration, so ........ 
It started off a little cool and not too much bird movement, but over the next few hours I witnessed a couple of waves of passing through migrants, but boy .. you had to be quick - they didn't hang around for long.
I think the count for the day was 8 Warbler species, the ones below and a couple of others - American Redstart, Black & White and Blackburnian (they were too quick for me), 3 Vireo species - Red eyed, Philadelphia and Warbling Vireos, and a couple of other oddballs - Catbird, Flicker, Rose-breasted Grosbeak & House Wren.  .... all in all a good day.

1st September 2019

Location: West Dumfries township

Weather: Cloudy, a little cool, with occasional glimpses of sun.

Choosing a location to go birding, I  always think, is a bit of a crapshoot, especially at this time of year. One good method is to use previous years as a guide, and I often head to places that I had went to in previous years, and where I had had good sightings. That's pretty much what I did this morning where I initially headed to a woodlot that I had decent luck in previous years at this time. Unfortunately, the technique doesn't always work as I found out this morning. There was very little around. Oh well you take the bad with the good ... right!