October 27th 2017
Location:CRC - Vittoria, Ontario
Weather: Mild, but bright and sunny
With the local birding being somewhat flat it seemed like a decent idea to head back to the CRC for some more Raptor "action". This session was one of their public days, so had a few more people, and pretty much the same birds as the previous week, but still a lot of fun. James and his team flew the Bald Eagle, Great-horned Owl, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Barn Owl, Red-tailed Hawk and Harris Hawk., as well as static displays of the Barred Owl, Peregrine Falcon and Aplomado Falcon. Another good day
October 21st 2017
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Weather: sunny & warm 22C
Started off the day with my other photo passion - Sunrises. Headed down to Burlington to shoot Brant Street Pier - it was a decent colour show, with OK clouds. Once the sun was well and truly up, we headed over to Red Hill Pond - a small wetland next to the Red Hill Parkway, just off the QEW. The attraction this morning was the previously reported sighting of a new bird for me - a Hudsonian Godwit. We arrived, and pretty much immediately, we were looking at our target foraging along the front edge of the pond. Unfortunately the City has installed a chain link fence around the pond (a good ways back from the water) which made photographing this bird, rather awkward. I tried a few shots through the fence wire, but the image was compromised somewhat.
I had to get a little resourceful to get above the fence line - I found a section of fence line that had had the spiky top flattened down (I suspect it had been used by someone to climb over. but I'm a tad too old for that) . Anyways I drove my vehicle tight to the fence, at the flat spot, and climbed up and sat on the edge of my car roof, which gave me a view over the fence. Did the trick !!
October 14th 2017
Location: CRC - Vittoria, Ontario
Weather: The morning was damp and drizzly before our afternoon session, but turned nice for the 3 hours we were there
Every year or two I take the drive down to the Canadian Raptor Conservancy near Port Dover for one of their excellent Birds in Flight Workshops. James and his team down there have an excellent setup for displaying and flying the birds - lots of great perches, landing posts etc. and not to mention an awesome selection of birds. I don't normally photograph or even endeavor to do so, tame or captive birds, but the chance to shoot some great birds in a controlled environment like this, is a fantastic experience. Yesterday we were entertained with a flying Great-horned Owl, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, Barn Owl and static shots of Barred Owl, Peregrine Falcon and Snowy Owl. Lot's of fun, indeed !!
October 9th 2017
Location: Robertson Tract
Weather: Bright, sunny and seasonally warm
I have been wondering for a few days weather or not some of the Halton Region Tracts were getting any of the later migrants. On a whim 1st thing this morning, I decided to go check out at least one of the Tracts. I chose Robertson, which is one of my favorites. My favorite spot on this trail is close to the lake, which is about 500M from the small parking lot. As I neared that spot I could see a lot of bird activity, which as it happens was mainly White throated Sparrows (about 10 of them) were foraging in some dense shrubbery close to the trail. Within a short time I had a small wave of mixed Kinglets pass through which obliged me by checking me out at fairly close distance - thank you Kinglets. During the next couple of hours I also saw and photographed Blue-headed Vireo and Orange-crowned Warbler (a FOY for me). Also seen (but not photographed) was a near mature Bald Eagle, a Ruffed Grouse and misc ducks as they flew past heading for the lake.
October 2nd 2017
Location: Cambridge area - Riverside, Rare property.
Weather: Cool start but warmed up to a seasonal 20C
I always try to have birds in mind when I head out - a target to aim for, I suppose. Today that target was a tad ambitious, but hey ... these species are being seen. Anyways today that target was Connecticut Warbler and Nelson's Sparrow. I started off at Riverside Park in Cambridge - Nelson's are often found in marshy areas so the boardwalk at Riverside winds through that kind of habitat. Unfortunately this pretty rare Sparrow didn't make it into my viewfinder during the time I was there. I did however see lots of Kinglets, but unlike the other day these were mainly Golden-crowned (the other day the majority were Ruby-crowned) and a few other gems including Northern Parula, White-throated Sparrow and House Wrens. I should mention that I was traveling "light" today - I left the 500 f4 at home and was carrying the 100-400 mk2. I used inverted commas on the word light earlier as there isn't that much difference on weight even though the size difference is significant.
From here I headed over to the Rare property on Blair Road - a spot that can be hot or cold, and today I would put it in the lukewarm category. A few Kinglets around and a couple of FOY Palm Warblers, a fairly common species during both spring and fall, but for some reason had escaped me somewhat this year.
Last stop this morning was at another Rare property location - this time along Langdon Road just west of Blair. This is a spot that always looks like it will be birdy, but more often than not it turns out a bit flat. However this morning, even though it was around noon, it had a few birds buzzing around, including Blue-headed Vireos, Nashville Warbler and both Kinglets. Might be a spot worth visiting at first light - my preferred time of day (between 7:00am & 10:00am seems to be the most productive at this time of year).
From here I headed over to the Rare property on Blair Road - a spot that can be hot or cold, and today I would put it in the lukewarm category. A few Kinglets around and a couple of FOY Palm Warblers, a fairly common species during both spring and fall, but for some reason had escaped me somewhat this year.
Last stop this morning was at another Rare property location - this time along Langdon Road just west of Blair. This is a spot that always looks like it will be birdy, but more often than not it turns out a bit flat. However this morning, even though it was around noon, it had a few birds buzzing around, including Blue-headed Vireos, Nashville Warbler and both Kinglets. Might be a spot worth visiting at first light - my preferred time of day (between 7:00am & 10:00am seems to be the most productive at this time of year).
