September 30th 2022
| LOCATION: North Dumfries (same as 29th) | WEATHER: Sunny |
Yesterday was a great day, so as you can image I was keen to do some more exploring in the same general area. IT was also good, but with different show of birds. My target was Golden-crowned Kinglet and Hermit Thrush, and I had both within the first hour, so it was yet another good day. The surprising finds were an Easter Towhee I saw and photographed, but Merlin was also picking up some surprising "goodies" ... Yellow Warbler, Brown Creeper, Dark-eyed Junco and Fox Sparrow. Now I wasn't fortunate enough to see any of these but it would have been a great, great day if I had :)
September 29th 2022
| LOCATION: North Dumfries | WEATHER: Cloudy, with occasional sun |
I did a bit of back road cruising not too far from where I normally go in North Dumfries and a really good morning. I ended up on a gravel dead-end road that I had never been along before and almost immediately I am seeing a flock of Cedar Waxwings. When I look closer there are a few yellow-rumped mixed in and for the next hour I am shooting them both - they never ventured far from the one tree, - funny ... sometimes they just want there picture taken it seems <wink>
September 28th 2022
| LOCATION: Robertson & Cox Tracts, Halton | WEATHER: Dull |
I have had better days, but the Coopers Hawk was the icing on todays cake :)
September 27th 2022
| LOCATION: Tilts Bush | WEATHER: Dull and rain on and off |
| With the weather being a bit drizzly, I didn't feel like driving too far, so I headed to a local spot that I haven't been to much over the last year, and it was surprisingly birdy. Nothing too interesting or jaw dropping, but I did manage a couple of "first of season" images - the Yellow-rumped Warbler, and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. These were not the first I have seen over the last week, but definitely the first decent images, so I was happy. Lots of White-throated Sparrows showing up now, and so they are not too hard to find, as they seem to show up at most spots I check out. |  Yellow-rumped Warbler |
September 26th 2022
| LOCATION: Valley Inn, Burlington | WEATHER: Sun and Cloud, but cool |
Headed down to Valley Inn in Burlington first thing, with no real plan other than see what king of shorebirds were still hanging around, but when we go there there was no sign of any shorebirds whatsoever, but there were lots of Great Egrets - In one pockets we counted around 70 and in another pocket further out, we counted around 20. Quite a spectacle. The image directly below this text gives you an idea what we saw. This was a photo from my mobile.
A few other birds around and I suppose the highlight for me was the Black-crowned Night Heron, which was a first of season for me, and in fact there were 4 of these hanging around together.
A few other birds around and I suppose the highlight for me was the Black-crowned Night Heron, which was a first of season for me, and in fact there were 4 of these hanging around together.
September 23rd & 24th 2022
| LOCATION: Tilts Bush & Riverside Park, KW | WEATHER: Sunny and cloudy |
Well as you can see from the image collection below there were no songbirds to speak of, or any interesting birds of any sort, really. However you take what you can get, and its not the rarity of the bird that makes a great bird image. One thing ... most of these birds should have gone by now, but at Riverside they are being fed, so this will delay their migration, which isn't a good thing.
September 22nd 2022
| LOCATION: Oshwegan | WEATHER: Sunny with a little cloud. |
After a little research, and with the word that maybe this spot might be good for some songbird migrants, I headed down to a spot which was essentially a gravel road, but although my info was good that there might be some Warblers, they were for the most part not reactive one little bit, so the images were not to be had.
September 21st 2022
| LOCATION: North Dumfries | WEATHER: Sun and some cloud |
| Yep .. yet again it was North Dumfries, and it was reasonably birdy. Lots of Warbler sightings, but they very much played hard to get. Every time I spotted a good photo subject I would play their call for a short time in an effort to get them to pop into the open, but it just didn't work, so just maybe I was shooting myself in the foot so to speak, with the call doing the exact opposite as to what I had hoped for... ?? Still seeing lots of Black-throated Green Warblers - many days that might be the only songbird species that I end up seeing. Some species that were "common" a week or so are now getting hard to find ... even the Red-eyed Vireo, so it may be that for them migration has them further south now. The one species that was common today was the Nashville but most of the sightings were at the tops of trees, so tricky to get a pic or two. |  Eastern Bluebird |
September 18th & 20th 2022
| LOCATION: North Dumfries | WEATHER: Mainly sunny, and quite hot |
Back again doing my rounds in North Dumfries. It gets a bit repetitive, but when it has been working for me, then why not. Funnily enough a spot I always check out, and which for years at this time of year, has been very productive (the gate) has this year been very non-productive.... oh well !!
After checking out the bird spots I went around the gravel road near the cement works, on the hunt for some bugs to shoot . They are not as plentiful as they had been a few weeks ago, but around the middle of the day I usually find something.
After checking out the bird spots I went around the gravel road near the cement works, on the hunt for some bugs to shoot . They are not as plentiful as they had been a few weeks ago, but around the middle of the day I usually find something.
September 17th 2022
| LOCATION: North Dumfries | WEATHER: Sunny and warm |
I dropped by a couple of my favorite spots in North Dumfries with 804 being the first port, and it was surprisingly birdy with several species showing up, but the highlights were most definitely the Blue-headed Vireo and the Blackpoll Warbler. Other species seen and not photographed were Red-eyed Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, American Redstart, Scarlet Tanager and Blackburnian Warbler,
It was a good migration night with lots of activity including a huge quantities of Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles and Blue Jays.
It was a good migration night with lots of activity including a huge quantities of Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles and Blue Jays.
Tip of the Day: Fall is the biggest season for vagrant bird sightings, and mixed fall flocks may yield surprising and unexpected guests. Browse through flocks carefully, noting birds of significantly different sizes, colors, or shapes to check against local vagrants or rare migration visitors. Even if no extremely rare birds may be present, you may be astonished at how many species make up a flock that otherwise appeared uniform.
September 16th 2022
| LOCATION: Burlington | WEATHER: Hazy sun and cloud |
First stop, as usual, is Valley Inn to see if there are any interesting shorebirds. Unfortunately there was not too much around, so it would seem as there was an overnight outgoing migration happened. There were still a few Lesser Yellowlegs around, but not near the quantity that had been there. A few Semipalmated Sandpipers were in quite close, so for shorebirds that was the main subject.
On the plus side of things, there were a couple of Cormorants actively fishing around the lilypads close to shore, and I was fortunate to catch a couple of great moments..
Before heading home I headed into the cemetery to see if there were any warblers, but it was a little dry there too, with only a brief glimpse of a Black-throated Green Warbler, but not shortage Chickadees though - they were everywhere!!
On the plus side of things, there were a couple of Cormorants actively fishing around the lilypads close to shore, and I was fortunate to catch a couple of great moments..
Before heading home I headed into the cemetery to see if there were any warblers, but it was a little dry there too, with only a brief glimpse of a Black-throated Green Warbler, but not shortage Chickadees though - they were everywhere!!
September 13th 2022
| LOCATION: Long Point | WEATHER: Cloudy and rainy |
Weather forecast for the upcoming days was lots of pure sun, as I have mentioned in the past this my least favorite kind of weather for bird photography, because of the deep shadows and bright highlights. The 13th was showing lots of cloud and some light rain so for a day down by the lake I thought this might be the better option. Unfortunately the rain was seemingly endless for most of the morning ... oh well :)
On the plus side we found a coupe of decent birds, with the Blue-winged the first to show up. Later on we came across a small group of Warblers, which were mainly Bay-breasted, but there was a t least one Blackpoll in the mix. See tip below:
On the plus side we found a coupe of decent birds, with the Blue-winged the first to show up. Later on we came across a small group of Warblers, which were mainly Bay-breasted, but there was a t least one Blackpoll in the mix. See tip below:
Tip of the Day: Todays tip is about how to determine whether your Fall sighting is a Bay-breasted Warbler or a Blackpoll Warbler. Visually they both look strikingly similar, but the best way to determine which one is to look at the feet. Bay-breasted have black or grey legs and feet, but the Blackpoll will have some yellow on the legs and feet. The two images directly below show these distinctions.
September 12th 2022
| LOCATION: Robertson | WEATHER: xx |
Not too many birds around, but it was a real nice surprise to see and photograph the Ovenbird. Almost as soon as I got to my spot, the Ovenbird popped up and gave me a couple of decent views.
September 9th 2022
| LOCATION: Thornapple | WEATHER: Mainly sunny, but cool at dawn |
| For the last several years I have made a point of going to Thornapple during the early days of September during my almost daily search for migrating songbirds. In previous years It has been generally quite productive, but other than about the first 45 mins this morning there wasn't much movement. However on the plus side that first short period I had a couple of waves of varying birds pass my position ... made the morning worthwhile. After a couple of hours I gave up and started back towards home, with a few stops at different stops along the back roads in the Flamborough area, but I spotted pretty much zero over the next two hours. I did catch a glimpse of a Nashville Warbler at one spot, but other than a desperate single shot, that ended up being out of focus, it was a definite ... lets give up. |  Young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
Tip of the Day: It is all about colours, especially in the Fall. Leaves will give strong and powerful colors, from yellow to red or brown, those colors can give you a nice background and will provide a beautiful touch to your birding shots. So look for trees that have colorful leaves, and happy shooting.
September 8th 2022
| LOCATION: North Dumfries | WEATHER: Sunny |
 Sandhill Crane | Tim and met up pre daybreak to check out a few of my favorite spots in North Dumfries, and arrived at our first spot with barely enough light to be able to keep the ISO within decent limits. However with some of the tools available to us in post-processing it can be worked around eg: Topaz Denoise. Our first spot was really good this morning with a both Thrushes popping up into the open a few times, so the day started of the right note, that's for sure. Next spot a couple of miles away, was equally as good with some Warblers passing through. We tried a few other spots with marginal success, but today ended up being one of the better Fall birding days .. so far :) |
Tip of the Day: Look for a great background, which is one of the keys to an excellent warbler photo. You want a background that is not too close to the bird so that the bird will stand out from the environment and create a pleasing bokeh.
September 7th 2022
| LOCATION: Valley Inn | WEATHER: Sun with a little cloud later |
Always a challenge about where to go looking for birds at this time of year, but as a couple of friends were heading down to Valley Inn in Burlington, then why not ?
One of the crazy things about Valley Inn is that it is immensely popular, so getting a parking spot can be a bigger problem than finding some interesting birds, and today was no exception.
Along the mud flats there were a few different birds .. Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpipers, Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Ospreys but mainly Lesser Yellowlegs. The good thing about the Yellowlegs they were quite oblivious to the lineups of photographers, so getting some decent shots was not too difficult.
One of the crazy things about Valley Inn is that it is immensely popular, so getting a parking spot can be a bigger problem than finding some interesting birds, and today was no exception.
Along the mud flats there were a few different birds .. Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpipers, Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Ospreys but mainly Lesser Yellowlegs. The good thing about the Yellowlegs they were quite oblivious to the lineups of photographers, so getting some decent shots was not too difficult.
Tip of the Day: In general, birds prefer to migrate when weather is warmer than usual and free of precipitation, with moderate tailwinds of less than 25 mph, so keep an eye on weather forecasts.
September 6th 2022
| LOCATION: a) Halton and b) Valley Inn | WEATHER: Cool start but pure sun, and hot |
.... later
September 5th 2022
| LOCATION: Robertson Tract | WEATHER: Cloudy, and a little cooler |
 Philadelphia Vireo | Over the last few years Robertson Tract has been fairly productive during Fall migration, so even though it was quite late, and I didn't leave the house until after 11:00am, I thought .. why not .. lets give it a try anyways. Quite a few songbirds hanging around and although the side of the trail was very congested, I managed to get a few shots I was really happy with. The one disappointment was when a Wilson's Warbler popped into the open for a few seconds, and I did manage the one record shot, he ended up being very elusive to the point I never saw him again ... darn it !! |
September 2nd 2022
| LOCATION: Thornapple | WEATHER: Pure sun, but cooler to start, then HOT |
| Along the lakeshore in general can be quite good at this time of the year for migrating songbirds. Yesterday was awesome for a while in the cemetery in Burlington, but today was a little less so ... other than a flood of Red-eyed Vireos both days. However there were some good moments. Initially when we first got into position not too much was happening, but after a half hour or so we saw a couple of waves of mixed birds, some of whom landed not far from our position, but almost as soon as it happened, then it went back into quiet mode. This happened a couple of times over the 2 hours we spent there. Although this is one of my favoured spots in the early part of September, it just might be a tad too early, so maybe head back there mid next week with my fingers crossed :) |  Philidelphia Vireo with snack |
September 1st 2022
| LOCATION: Valley Inn area of Burlington | WEATHER: Sunny, but cooler start |
Up along the ridge above Valley Inn can be really good for fall migrating songbirds, and today was no exception. At one point, and in the one tree I could count approximately 20 birds, and possibly more. There was a lot of Red-eyed Vireos, bit also several other species including the ones below. The harsh sun was not very good for the photography, but you have to take what you can get, and when you can get it.
Tip of the Day: During migration, many birds including warblers, migrate at night Under the cover of darkness, they face less risks of getting caught by predators. But after a long night of flying, they’re hungry and need to refuel on a breakfast of bugs. Your best opportunity to see them in good numbers is early morning, after sunrise, when the sun has begun to warm the trees and all the bugs hiding there
