A Fall Day in Algonquin

Even though it has been a crazy summer this year, I was able to squeeze in a trip to Algonquin to see the fall colours. Turns out everyone else had the same idea, the park was packed! I tried to stay off the beaten path and was able to avoid many of the crowds, but highway 60 was a zoo.
It was a beautiful morning and I was one of the first people to the look out on centennial ridges trail that day.

 

 I also hiked the Pinetree Lake portage and took a few photos of the lake at the end

At the mew lake airfield there was a flock of American Pipits. I have seen these birds several times before, but today was the first time one was willing to pose for me!

American Pipit

 

Macro and other stuff

I purchased some extension tubes recently that have enabled me to take closer macro photos then I have ever done before. I haven't had much time to experiment with them yet but here are some of my most recent photos from the summer. Enjoy!

Starlit Barn

100 year old Barn

Timelapse 1st try

final from Tim on Vimeo.

I bought a intervalometer for my camera this week and this is my first attempt at timelapse. It is going to take some more practice but should produce some cool results once I get the hang of it. 

Presqu'ile

Headed to Presqu'ile Provincial Park today in hopes of finding some more warblers. The warblers were not as abundant as I'd hoped but there were many good birds to be found. The day started with an indigo bunting on the Marsh boardwalk trail as well as many American Bitterns, Marsh Wrens and Yellow warblers:

On the Owen Point trail the only bird out of the ordinary was a Willow Flycatcher that I didn't actually see but only heard. From there I headed to the light house, en route I heard a Blue-winged warbler and a Clay Coloured Sparrow in the day use area but again couldn't see either bird. At the lighthouse there was many Baltimore Orioles and a female Magnolia Warbler, along with Nashville, Yellow and Common Yellowthroats .

After looking around the lighthouse for a little while I decide to go an see if I could find the blue winged or clay coloured sparrow in the day use area. I could still hear the clay coloured sparrow but got side tracked by a Scarlet Tanager and a number of warblers.

May 6 - 9: They're Back!

Warblers have returned from there wintering habitats! On May 6 I went to Harold Town conservation area early in the morning to photography some early spring vegetation not expecting to find any birds. Almost right way I a pair of wood ducks were in the trees above me which is always I nice find. On my way back to my car I decided to have a look at a poplar/aspen stand where I have found many warblers before. This spot did not fail me, there were Yellow-Rumped, Nashville, Palm, and Black-Throated Green as well as Rose-Breasted Grosbeak and a Blue Headed Vireo among the other usual birds.

The next morning I decided to return to the same spot but only a couple Nashville and Yellow-Rumped warblers remained

2 days later an early morning thunderstorm passed through the area, this forced all the migrating birds to land an take cover. Once the storm had passed and with high expectations I went and explored a  few spot I though would have many birds. I managed to find many warblers including a Cape May warbler in the Millbrook valley trail system, however they were all high up in the trees and not very good for photos. After about and hour and a half of successful birding but not photography I decided the haroldtown CA would likely have lots of birds at lower level because the trees are smaller. So that is where I headed. When I arrived at my usual spot I couldn't believe how many birds were there, they trees were covered in warblers! and other new migrants. Below are some of the photos and most interesting species click here to see more.

Black-Throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Chestnut sided Warbler

Northern Parula

Scarlet Tanager

Spring

The past 3 days I have gone looking for birds arriving with warmer temperatures, and there were many spring birds around such as bluebirds, Wilson's snipes' and savannah sparrows. I also seen a Northern Shrike which is more of a winter resident here but still nice to see. However the best bird was a Blue Headed Vireo that came to my feeder with some nuthatches and chickadees. The Vireo wasn't interested in the feeder just seemed to be traveling with the nuthatches and chickadees.

Northern Shrike

Savannah Sparrow

Eastern Bluebird

Blue Headed Vireo

Ode to Ontario's Ocean Coast

This weekend I was able to find some Horned Larks and Snow Buntings near Orono. These are always some of my favorite birds to find in the spring as they are usually one of the first ones back (if they leave at all). But they also remind me of being on the coast of Hudson's Bay as these 2 species are some of the more common birds there in the spring. See more photos here

Horned Lark

Snow Bunting

And for comparison here a couple of photos from the Hudson Bay coast:

Snow Bunting

Horned Lark

A stop in Algonquin

Had a chance to stop in at the visitor center in Algonquin park over the weekend. Lots of Evening Grosbeaks at the feeders put on a good show. I was able to get quite a few photos of these birds, if you want to see some more check them out here.

Ducks!

On Saturday I had a bit of time so I decided to go an have a look around for ducks on open water around my place. There were quite a few Goldeneye around doing there mating rituals bu they were pretty far off. I did find two hooded mergansers that were fairly close to shore:

With the snow that we got on Sunday I couldn't resist going to Bond Head in Newcastle. Much of the shore line of lake Ontario has frozen up, but here there is still a bit of open water were many ducks like to congregate. With no where else really to go they are pretty tolerant of people. I have been there a couple of times this winter and everytime there is a different mix of species of ducks. This time is was mainly Greater Scaup with some of the usually other ducks like Mallards, Goldeneye and Long-tailed Ducks there was also a couple female Hooded Mergansers. But the hightlight for me was a white-winged Scoter and a Redhead. I have seen these two species before but they are usually far out in the water, so it was nice to finally see them up close.

see more photos here