OCTOBER 2020

October 30th 2020

Location: Just outside Goderich

Weather: Mix of sun cloud and sleet

A friend and fellow birder who lives out near Goderich has been getting lots of Evening Grosbeaks coming to her feeders for the last week or so and so I was delighted when I was asked if I would like to drop by and photograph them. Along with another friend we headed over to this awesome location near the shores of Lake Huron. As my luck often goes the opposite way to what I would like it to go, we were a tad unfortunate that the 100 or so birds that have been flooding her yard dropped significantly the day we visited, and to make matters worse they disappeared totally for a couple of long stretches. 
On the plus side when they did arrive and foraged around, we managed some pretty decent shots of these beauties. Other species that took advantage of the buffet were lots of Dark-eyed Juncos, Goldfinches, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, White-throated Sparrows, and of course the inevitable House Sparrows.
We had an awesome day and so my grateful thanks to our amazing host ... Thanks D. 

October 29th 2020

Location: Started at La Salle, then Hendrie Valley

Weather: Cloudy ... perfect

Along with a couple of birding friends we headed to, initially, La Salle Marina for another chance at the Winter Wren (target a) ), then over to Hendrie Valley for the Fox Sparrow (target b) ).
The Winter Wren played really hard to get, with only a couple of very brief micro sightings. Unfortunately he eluded us all, but there were another couple of sightings that kept us "amused" during the two and a half hours we spent there. La Salle is worth keeping an eye on as I am seeing lots of Winter Ducks congregating in and around the Marina. Lots of Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers and several others  ... so I can see a duck outing coming up real soon.
Over to Hendrie Valley, entering at Red Hill Gate, then down the hill to where the big stump sits. This is where there has been several sightings of Fox Sparrows, and although they played a tad hard to get, we did see and photograph two individuals over the course of the two hours we were there. Unfortunately both Foxes didn't play nice and give us any decent shots, but I suppose you have to take what you can get. 
​​​As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

October 28th 2020

Location: Home in Kitchener

Weather: Cloudy

Sometimes a day at home can be quite entertaining as the birds around and feeding at my various feeders, buzz around looking for spaces and opportunities. Lots of common birds including ... the ones shown below as well as both Nuthatch species, Chickadees, Red-winged Blackbirds, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers and, of course, a million House Sparrows. 

October 25th & 26th 2020

Location: La Salle, Burlington

Weather: Mix of sun & cloud

Another jaunt down to La Salle this morning and today there was a target bird - as there, in my humble opinion, we should always have when going out. A bit of research on other Groups and in Discord, indicated that there were Winter Wrens at this locus, so  although he was a bit of a skulker, he did pop up several times and eventually I managed a couple of shots.
Big surprise (at the exact same spot as the Wren) was the quantity of Hermit Thrushes still around. At one point I could see around ten at the same time ... 

October 24th 2020

Location: La Salle, Burlington

Weather: Cloudy ... perfect

I hadn't been to this location in ages, but as it turned out it was quite productive ... albeit with mainly far from unusual birds, but as always, you take what you can get.
Highlight was probably the Eastern Towhee and although fairly common through the warmer months, not one I expected to see today.

October 20th & 22nd 2020

Location: At home in Kitchener

Weather: Dull, but with the occasional snap of sun

Thank goodness for back yard birding now that things have slowed down. Over the last few days I haven't seen anything too unusual hitting my feeders, but nevertheless, I have still had some nice activity. The most frustrating species is for the most part, one of the more common visitors. I say frustrating because they seem to prefer rooting around on the floor of my deck as opposed to moving up a bit higher where all the perches are located. However a couple of them are starting to venture up, so hoping for a few decent images in the coming days. It would be nice if one of the Juncos was a bit more interesting ... say an Oregon, so I'll keep my fingers crossed - who knows ... just maybe 
​​As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

October 15th - 19th 2020

Location: At home in Kitchener

Weather: A bit of sun and a lot of cloud/rain

Downy Woodpecker (M)

Now that migration is almost fully over, or at least until we start seeing more of the northern migrants that winter in our area, I have been photographing avian visitors to my back yard. In order to attract these guys, I have setup a few feeders, as well as a few perches to where they land prior to, and in between feeding at said feeders.

Over the last few days, I have many species show up, some of which I was a little surprised about, but well pleased just the same. So far I've had Downy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncos, House Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, House Finches, Pine Siskins, Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Northern Cardinals, Chickadees, Blue Jays... as well as a few Squirrels and even a Rabbit..

As I mentioned, I setup a few perches along the edge of my deck, directly opposite my dining room patio doors, and then setup a tripod/camera on the inside, directly facing the patio doors. It's not ideal shooting through the glass, but I see only minimal degradation of the images, and the only thing that does concern me is the reflection from the windows in the opposite side of the room, but with some careful positioning I'm able to negate the effect somewhat.

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October 10th 2020

Location: Canadian Raptor Concervancy

Weather: Manly sunny

Over the years I have visited this place several times and am rarely disappointed. The Canadian Raptor Conservancy is a facility that provides Bird Rehabilitation, breeding & research for many, many species of Raptors, both native &  non-native. As well as all that they also provide subjects for photography workshops and photo shoots. 
So, along with a few other friends we booked a session, and for a few hours we were entertained with several species that were flown and some static subjects. Our subjects were Barn Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, Great-horned Owl, Great-grey Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, Bald Eagle, Harris Hawk and Lanner Falcon.
Awesome afternoon... 
​https://canadianraptorconservancy.com
​As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

October 8th - 9th 2020

Location: Bancroft and surrounding area

Weather: typical Fall weather - warm, cold, cloudy sunny

Egan Chutes

Along with one of my regular shooting partners, we headed up north to the Bancroft area - an almost 4 hour drive, in search of some Autumn images and maybe a few birds or animals. We had hoped for maybe a moose or possibly a bear, but it was not to be.
Unfortunately the fall colours were definitely on tail end of being great photography, but they still had some impact. We took in a couple of fast water rapids - Egan Chutes & The Gut, which were both pretty dramatic - definitely worth a visit. 
We were lucky on the 2nd morning in that we  had lots of low lying mist, which accented our Sunrise locations quite nicely. 
On the bird side there wasn't too much around - we did see lots of Thrushes on the first morning but they were staying well hidden for the most part, so I didn't manage a single shot (we have days like that)
On the 2nd day we were a bit luckier - at a location next to an old abandoned factory (in the middle of nowhere) we found several Golden-crowned Kinglets, a dozen Dark-eyed Juncos. a couple of White-crowned Sparrows and a very late migrating Tennessee Warbler - who woulda thunk? 

October 5th 2020

Location: Burlington

Weather: sun and mainly cloudy

Migration is distinctly almost done - way fewer birds in the last couple of days, so will need to be thinking about alternative subjects in the coming few weeks. The winter residents, although a few of them are here already, are still to come, so until then subject matter might be hard to find ... 
Today was slow, but we did manage to find a female Eastern Towhee - these ladies are usually very skulky, and we don't get too many opportunities to photograph them, so this one was a very welcome surprise. She was a long way off, but having just recently taken possession of the new Canon camera body (the R5), with the additional pixels I was able to do a heavy crop and still get tons of detail.
Before leaving Burlington we took a run past the spot where most years we get an over-wintering Screech Owl, and it's back, and today he/she was sitting up.

October 3rd 2020

Location: Port Dover area

Weather: Mainly dull, but with smatterings of sun

In an effort to try something a bit different this morning, I headed out to try a few new areas, or at least some I hadn't been to in a long time. My thoughts were to start somewhere around St Williams, then just cruise a few back roads and see what pops up. For the most part nothing happened, or popped up, that was too interesting, but I have to say I did enjoy the trip. 
​​​​​​​As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

October 2nd 2020

Location: Same as yesterday (Dundas)

Weather: Continuing cool, but it was cloudier today

Yesterday was interesting with some off and on activity (mainly off, but ...) anyways we decided to give it another chance and with a bit of luck some of the birds we saw then, would still be around.
We arrived early and after waiting 15-20 mins for the light to pick up, we headed in and along the trail with mixed feelings and hopes. 
It was somewhat like the day before with hot and cold activity, but several decent birds were seen, some of whom came close enough for a few good shots.
We were delighted to see a few Black-throated Blue Warblers show up, but like as is often the case, they skulked and were very tricky to get in the frame. However, I did manage a couple of OK snaps, so at the end of the day I was quite happy. 
​​​​​​As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title

Black-throated Green Warbler with snack

October 1st 2020

Location: Dundas/Hamilton

Weather: Sun & Cloud, but chillier

It's funny sometimes how things go ... For the first 45 mins or so there was absolutely nothing moving, then all of a sudden, and for the next 5 minutes, there were birds flying around everywhere, then almost as suddenly as it had started, it died and we saw almost nothing more for the rest of the morning. It was an exciting 5 minutes though. 
One of the first days for weeks where we saw no species of Vireo... 
​​​​​​As always ... click on any image to show full size. Also by hovering your cursor over any image will provide a title