28th December 2019
| Location: Schomberg, Ontario | Weather: Cloudy start but sunny later. Unseasonably warm at 4C |
 Northern Hawk Owl | First of all I would like to wish all readers a very Merry Christmas - I hope Santa brought you something nice !! This morning I took another run up to Schomberg to see if could nab a few nice images. The weather looked pretty favourable, so "a case of make hay while the sun shines" as I'm sure this bird visit to our area will be short lived, and it could be some time before we are blessed with another visit from another of this amazing species. We initially setup at a spot where the Owl had apparently been favouring over the last few days - it was a low vertical "tree" that from pour chosen position had a perfect background, so should the owl perch there again we would hopefully get that killer shot. I have discovered that after doing this for many years that one of the best ways to get that great shot is to find a spot that offers the best background and perch, then wait it out. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes not ... as was the case today.... oh well maybe next time. While we were waiting at our chosen spot we had an unusual fly by ... a Snowy Owl !!!! I never expected that. |
Be aware the head and eye position of your subject - It's important to have the head generally positioned in the direction of the camera. The position of the birds head should be facing somewhere in the 180 degrees towards the camera. Images that have the head facing away are generally not as good.
23rd December 2019
| Location: Back Roads north of Elmira | Weather: Sunny and pleasant, only slightly chilly |
| The last couple of times I've been out, has been to the Northern Hawk Owl circus that's been on the go for the last couple of weeks in Schomberg, north of Toronto. As much as I would like to have another shot at getting that killer shot, I decided enough was enough, and that I needed to find another subject. With that in mind I headed up to an area up and around Mennonite country north of Elmira. The targets were Snowy Owls, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, Waxwings (preferably Bohemian) and whatever else that fate would drop in my lap. In my first hour I found a total of 3 Snowy Owls, but none of them were too close, but I was still happy with the sightings and the shots that I managed. The highlight was seeing and photographing a couple of flocks of Snow Buntings. One flock was fairly small at around 40 birds, but the flock I found a bit later was well over a 100 birds. The larger flock was foraging along a gravel road, and although I initially scared them off, the returned and continued to forage along the road and along the snowy verge next to the road. At one point I had a Bunting within 20 feet off my vehicle - awesome!!! I was hoping to find a Lapland Longspur in the mix but unfortunately there seemed to be only Snow Buntings in the pack. I also spotted a few raptors hunting in the area - a few Red-tailed Hawks, a Rough-legged Hawk (pictured below) and a Northern Harrier (95% sure) A pretty successful day |  Snow Bunting |
16th December 2019
| Location: Schomberg, Ontario | Weather: Sun, Cloud & chilly |
With a once in a lifetime bird hanging out in our region it was hard to stay away, so today I made another trip up to the small town of Schomberg to get a few more shots of this little beauty. There are many birders who say that a short visit of 30 minutes (once) is enough, and that any more is not necessary and will distract the bird from its all important task of hunting for food. I don't disagree that hunting for food is the birds primary focus, but the presence of a few spectators did not seem to affect the bird one iota. Actually today there was more like a 100 birders & photographers, but even that didn't seem to affect the bird. The Owl continued to hunt almost non stop and barely looked up/out at the gallery of spectators.Sometimes the bird would fly in towards the people and land less than 20 feet away - humans were not an item to be afraid of it seemed. On the whole the visitors were very well behaved and didn't stress the bird.
Tip of the Day: One of the more sought after type of shots are flight shots, and for the most part one of the more difficult to get in the can. The best way to achieve this kind of shot is to practice on easy to find birds, and most importantly, to be prepared and anticipate the launch from its perch, whatever that might be. Secondly, your camera settings have to be such that they will capture the moment without blur (unless of course that is your artistic intention). Typical settings are a shutter speed of at least 1/1000, and if the light level is good then higher would be advantageous. Keep in mind that with a higher speed then your other important settings (ISO & depth of field) have to be "sacrificed" somewhat to achieve correct exposure.
12th December 2019
| Location: Schomberg, Ontario | Weather: Sun & cloud and chilly (-10C) |
About 10 days ago an interesting bird (Northern Hawk Owl) was reported in Schomberg, which is about 90 minutes from here in Kitchener. After the initial reports it went quiet, so I assumed the bird had moved on, but on Wednesday it was reported yet again, and so it was too good of a chance to pass up and I headed up there to see if I could get a few images.
This is another "life" bird for me so I was quite excited, as I headed up, with the possibility of some image captures of this unusual bird. (Hawk Owls are rarely seen this far south).
Unbelievably this Owl has been hanging out in a small swampy area generally in the middle of the small town of Schomberg, and within minutes of arriving I'm looking at the bird through my lens, and almost filling the frame - it was that close. I should also point out that the bird was fearless of the few photographers & birders that were there, and continued to hunt all around where we were - sometimes flying and landing on a low tree less than 30 feet from where we were standing.
The bird had no problem locating and catching prey (mainly Meadow Voles) - some of which it ate right away, and many were left in the low trees, between branch & trunk, and some stuffed into crevices in the tree - thus creating a food store for "leaner" times.
You'll notice in the images below that there is some colour variations, and was all down to the light levels, and as to whether it was sun or shade.
This is another "life" bird for me so I was quite excited, as I headed up, with the possibility of some image captures of this unusual bird. (Hawk Owls are rarely seen this far south).
Unbelievably this Owl has been hanging out in a small swampy area generally in the middle of the small town of Schomberg, and within minutes of arriving I'm looking at the bird through my lens, and almost filling the frame - it was that close. I should also point out that the bird was fearless of the few photographers & birders that were there, and continued to hunt all around where we were - sometimes flying and landing on a low tree less than 30 feet from where we were standing.
The bird had no problem locating and catching prey (mainly Meadow Voles) - some of which it ate right away, and many were left in the low trees, between branch & trunk, and some stuffed into crevices in the tree - thus creating a food store for "leaner" times.
You'll notice in the images below that there is some colour variations, and was all down to the light levels, and as to whether it was sun or shade.
4th - 10th December 2019
| Location: In my back yard (Kitchener, Ontario) | Weather: Wintery |
Things have generally been pretty quiet in the and around the area, so I often setup bird feeders in my back yard and see what shows up. For the most part it's Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos & Downy Woodpeckers, and they are such fun to photograph. All of the images were taken from inside the house (through the Patio Doors off my dining room), so even though it was a bit chilly some days, I was very comfortable inside the house. Lots of Squirrels around - mainly Grey & Black, but there has been one little cute, but very timid, Red Squirrel, which I love to photograph :)
3rd December 2019
| Locations: Toronto & Burlington | Weather: Sunny morning, cloudy afternoon ~-4C |
Half the fun of birding is the getting together with a couple of friends and seeing what's around. Today was one of those days ... thanks Steve and Maureen. We had some no-shows and a couple of nice opportunities.
Tip of the Day: " Pishing" is an oral sound made with the teeth together and repeated three to five times in a slow, regular tempo. Changing the tempo or adding additional sounds to each "pish" sequence can also entice birds to respond, and unlike pre-recorded calls is morally more acceptable. To be honest I'm not sure (morally) what's the difference ???. I use both.
1st December 2019
| Location: At home in Kitchener | Weather: Ice pellets .... |
First day of December, and it was a nasty, miserable wintry day. Throughout our region the weather forecast was for freezing rain or ice pellets, so it was definitely a day to stay at home. So yesterday, in anticipation of the upcoming blast of winter, I headed out to a local woodlot/swamp and picked up a couple of pieces of mossy logs, and set them up along the rails of my back yard deck, and with a camera setup on a tripod in front of the dining room patio doors, I was able to fire off a few shots despite the conditions, through the glass in dry comfort. The light was pretty poor but one thing about using a full frame camera, is that high ISO isn't a big problem, as you can see from the images below. These images are all taken at somewhere between 1600 & 4000 ISO.
