Happy Birthday to Me

Not really...it's not even close to my birthday actually, but I used birthday money this past Friday to upgrade my lens arsenal to something a little .... no, a lot more exciting!  Between a few year's worth of birthday money, some saved pennies, and lots of patience and Kijiji searching, I finally found a suitable deal on a lens I'd been hoping to get for a while.  It's SIGMA 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Lens.

I'm quite excited and have been able to use it twice, and so far, I'm very happy with it.  The pros of the lens features include:

• A big reduction in Chromatic Aberration meaning no more purple edges on brightly lit/contrasting edges
• Sharper, quicker, and very quiet focusing from the HSM focusing system
• Optical Stabilization that works extremely well.  The primary OS1 mode is bi-directional, and once locked on, does an excellent job.  OS2 Mode is only vertical so that if you are horizontally panning with a moving object, you're not fighting that motion.
• The manual focus ring is actually quite nice. It is gradual enough so that you can focus finely enough.  My Sony lens was so touchy, that it was impossible to do really.
• Oh, and one minor point, the zoom is much larger! 66% more! :)

Here is a picture of the new lens side by side with the Sony kit lens which came with the camera.

It's a bit larger, so that makes it a bit more of a big deal to bring along, and in high winds (like most of us in Southern Ontario had this weekend) with the sun hood on, it's like trying to hold a sail still!  But I'm not anticipating most of my outings will be in wind like that!

I have two outings worth of pictures to catch up on now, but I'll give you a preview with one shot for now.  With all the rain in the forecast, I won't be out for a while anyway!

Canada Goose pair (manual focused through the grass)

Oh... and speaking of birthdays, tomorrow my dear wife Holly turns a young 35 years old..... She's my best friend, and I'm blessed richly to be married to such a beautiful girl.  She's the amazing mother and teacher of our 5 wonderful (most of the time!) children, and is way better to me than I will ever deserve. It's been over 10 years of marriage now, and I know more and more the truth of the phrase "my better half".  She's far more patient and giving and loving to me than I deserve!  I'm thankful for her good example in her daily walk as a Christian and she's such an encouragement to me in many ways.  I'd be lost without you dear - Love you so much and I hope you have a great birthday! 

And in case anyone was thinking it, no, I did not buy her the above lens for her birthday! :)

A Visit to Desjardins Canal

I had two really great lunch trips to Desjardin Canal in Dundas this week.  Tipped off by Joanne Redwood in Hamilton Birders Group that there were American Wigeon and Redhead ducks there, I decided to try a trip there in my limited lunch hour.

Desjardins Canal freezes very late, often never.  I am quite sure that this phenomenon is connected to the Dundas waste-water treatment plant located just northwest of the end of the canal and I'm sure outlets here.  The sections of the canal still there today are remnants of what put Dundas on the map and made it prosperous, initially much more affluent than Hamilton for a time.  It extended from Hamilton Harbour's York Street high bridge all the way into Dundas through Coote's Paradise, completed in 1837.

But this is isn't a history blog :).  My first lunch trip on Wednesday didn't seem to be very successful at first.  There were a pair of Hooded Mergansers nicely swimming in tandem, a great shot for someone with a further reaching lens than mine for a nice shot though.  Lighting was a challenge, the sun shining brightly, for the most part, from across the canal.

Mallard and Hooded Merganser pairs.

I walked some of the canal shore, and sent hundreds of Canadian Geese skyward.  Notice all the birds in the distance of the first shot that are all gone in the second.  Because of the scrub in front of me, I couldn't really capture the size of the flock in the sky.  Needless to say, it was very noisy for the next 15 minutes while they all slowly circled and then finally landed in small groups again!

100's of Canada Geese sent aloft by me. 

Here are a few shots of geese as they did flyby's before landing again.

Canada Goose symmetry.

I did finally spot some other birds beside the many geese including a Double-crested Cormorant, 

There were some Common Goldeneyes there, and what I think was a first winter bird along with a more mature one.

first winter Common Goldeneye?

I did finally get to see one new bird though (life bird #109) though - a Pied-billed Grebe.  They are very cute little diving bird and in a large raft of geese and ducks, is easily missed even though they are easily distinguished by their small size and unique shape.  This was the best shot I could get, as it's quite shy and again, the lighting was not good.

Pied-billed Grebe

I bumped into Barry Cherriere (sp?) for the second time in half year and despite his search for me, could not turn up the Wigeons or Redhead for me.  He had just seen them 15 minutes before seeing me.  However, I was happy to have seen the Grebe and planned to return the next lunch to see if that would do the trick.

I'll fill you in on that visit in my next post (this one is getting too long!)

Sandhill Crane Success

Not always, but sometimes patience pays off.  Or persistence at least. Lately, I've taken a few Sunday afternoons to go to Grass Lake hoping to see the Sandhill Cranes that have been seen, back for their summer stay to raise another brood. My first two Sundays' attempts were filled with good company: my oldest son the first time, and then another birder/photographer I spent over an hour chatting and swapping stories with.

However, this time I arranged to meet with my brother Dan who had just purchased a new camera and was eager for an excuse to come out. I was hoping it would not be another failed attempt to find them. Thankfully, that was not to be, and before he joined me I had already spotted a lone crane preening out in last year's grasses of the wide marshy area of the lake.

Sandhill Crane preening.

We took turns balancing on a log that protruded part way into the lake to enable the closest view possible. The misting rain held off long enough for us to enjoy the sites of this large bird that is part of a small number of cranes that seem to return to this location for a number of years now. Although the birds number in huge quantities and flocks are often in the 10,000's, they're not very common in this area. 

Post preening nap.

After having poor success in seeing them previous times, the tide had turned and soon we saw another four flying about in the back stretches of the lake. Soon two flew over and noisily landed in the distance behind where the preening crane we were watching was stationed. They are big birds.

Sandhill cranes coasting in for a landing

We traipsed over to the side of the lake where the two new visitors had landed, but couldn't see much more than glimpses as that side of the lake's edge is quite grown in with vegetation at water's edge. However, we caught site of a Canada Goose nesting, and trying hard to keep from our notice although in plain view. It wouldn't move an inch the whole time we watched. Not sure if this is more characteristic of more "wild" geese compared to the more "domesticated" park variety. I'm more used to encountering the geese who make you feel you need apologize while you walk around them on a trail they happen to be sauntering down as well.

Canada Goose nest.

I'm not sure if this nest is the handiwork of the subject goose, or whether it is leasing the roof off of a muskrat. I'm thinking this is quite the mound for a goose to create, but possibly this is the fruits of many years of nesting at the same location.

Red-winged Blackbirds abounded, their raspy calls filling the air with the corresponding feather-spread displays. The drab weather and lighting didn't help for exposing a black bird, and they always seem to know where the camera is, insisting on facing away.

Red-winged Blackbird

With time running out for on a successful outing, a Turkey Vulture lazily circled and dropped down quite low... never turn your camera off until you're in the car. This was a bit of a hastily taken shot somewhat salvaged with Picasa (which I have taken a liking to lately with relatively easy touch-up [I try to keep my editing to a minimum], except for a purple fringe correction in Gimp to compensate for my inferior Sony lens!). This is the closest shot I have gotten yet of this large bird.

Turkey Vulture

I had to leave before Dan did, and he excitedly emailed me later that day letting me know he had found the Sandhill Crane nest we had gone out to find (on report and picture evidence from others on a birding board I frequent). Although we had just been, excitement won out and our wives agreed to the likelihood of two dads being late for supper, arrangements being made to meet the next day after work. I'll save the pictures from that outing for another post which I should get out soon.

Mixed Bag of Birds

Bald Eagle just about to slip out of view behind a sappling.

I've made a few different trips over the last few weeks.  As mentioned in my last post, I went back to the Brantford Bald Eagle nest to if there was any activity to capture.  In fact there was, but I mistakenly took my uncharged battery and missed some nice opportunities.  For a short while, a seagull decided to protest the larger predator, bombing the bird from above and putting forth a very noisy statement of its dislike for the eagle's presence in the airspace around the nest.

As I think I mentioned previously as well, there was regular movement of Buffleheads, Common Merganser, and Canada Geese along the river, giving great opportunity for flight pictures to those with a charged battery - not me.  I did get one half decent shot of a pair of Common Mergansers before my battery retired.

Pair of Common Mergansers over muddied waters of Grand River

On the way home from church with the boys last week, we saw White-tailed Deer in the distance of a farmer's field.  The waning light allowed only for 1600 ISO or higher pictures and slow shutter speeds.  Not conducive to trying to capture some frisky does who were obviously enjoying the early warmness of a spring evening.  As you can hopefully see in the picture below, they were jaunting up to each other and then springing lightly into the air.  Spring fever I think.

Frisky White-tailed Deer does.

On the way to a meeting the other night, I stopped briefly to watch a huge Red-tailed Hawk perched in the glow of the setting sun, nicely lit in the golden rays, but too far away for a good picture.  Driving on my way again, the familiar shape of a hawk came into view.  Strangely, its aggressive wing beaten path slowly began to merge with my road bound direction, matching my speed of about 80km/h.  But then, with a sudden burst of speed, it veered away, dropped in elevation, and then swooped up into a large maple at the side of the road and with amazing agility, manoeuvred through the branches into the centre of the tree top to capture a Red-winged Blackbird.  I quickly turned around and was able to capture the picture below just as it took off with a late evening meal to devour.  You can see the flash of red and yellow giving evidence to the species of supper.  It's a terribly blurry shot, but still had to share as proof of my story.

Cooper's Hawk with Red-winged Blackbird catch.

Below is a video showing the agility of a Goshawk which is known for the same ability as the Cooper's Hawk - flying through dense brush to surprise small prey including birds, squirrels, chipmunks, etc.  They have an amazing ability to fly through tight spaces, keeping on track and ultimately nabbing the target.  I often marvel at the amazing diversity of tactics wildlife use for catching, luring, and killing prey.  To me it speaks of a creative Designer, and not to the theory that these methods evolved out of the need for survival.  In my mind, the latter would produce a more uniform set of methods only produced out of practical needs and easily developed solutions.  I'd be glad to hear your thoughts if you think differently.

Later in the week, I made a brief stop at Mountsberg on my way back from a work meeting, spending my "lunch hour" to drive the back roads in the area.  On my short jaunt, I saw a Northern Shrike sitting atop of a hedgerow in a farmer's field not far from the road.  Just as I jumped out of my car, it flew off, even though I for once had my camera out and ready for such an event.  No picture.  A significant life bird for me though.

Driving around some more, I did get to see some more common birds, but not may pictures.

Mourning Dove just north of Mountsberg

I headed to Grass Lake last Sunday with my youngest son Justin, to see if we could find the Sandhill Cranes which are reported to be back for their annual summer stay on that lake.  Justin was proudly decked out with his own binoculars...Canadian Tire had a pair on sale for $8 - perfect for all three of my boys who at this point stick dirty fingers on the glass and drop them on the ground when something else interests them suddenly.  We didn't see the cranes, but I did hear and see in the distance an Eastern Meadowlark.  Dad, remember your "wordification" of their song "This-is-my-hydro-tower" from our years on Pinedale Drive?

I thought this blurry shot of a Canada Goose flying over us was kind of interesting.  Blurry, but something about it I like.

Canada Goose

The Red-winged Blackbirds were all noisily courting.  Strange how the duller coloured ones always seem to be the ones closest to the camera... some are definitely have brighter colouring.  This one's wings were tipped with a tinge of light brown.  Not sure if this a first year adult just loosing it's juvenile plumage?

Red-winged Blackbird

On the way home I just happened to notice this Yellow-shafted Norther Flicker.  I was able to get surprisingly close (Never close enough though!!!  Full frame shots are just a dream with a 300mm lens and this is significantly cropped still).  I'd love to capture these birds in flight - that's when the yellow underside of the wings bursts in a flash as they make their flitting, undulating flight typical of a woodpecker.

Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker

All in all, though none of the specific trips on their own felt like a spectacular success, I've seen some noteworthy birds and sites, and the weather is spectacular, if not strangely odd.  We'll see what the next weeks bring.  April snow storms have happened a few times over the last years!

Bald Eagles in Paris

Holly was sleeping and the kids were either napping or playing nicely downstairs, trying to get over a bad cold that most of them have.  So I made a quiet exit and headed out to Glen Morris and Paris to the Grand River.  I had seen a posting that there were four juvenile Bald Eagles frequenting a field west of Grand River and thought I'd see if an ice Sunday drive with my camera would turn into any nice sightings.

The field and roads in the vicinity of the purported location yielded nothing, and along the drive I wasn't even seeing the Red-tailed hawks which I expected would be out on a somewhat sunny afternoon.  However, as I drove towards Paris on the west side of the river, I saw a set of the classic red-tailed hawk silhouettes circling lazily in the sky over the opposite side.  They were maintaining their location, so I hoped maybe they'd still be there once I'd crossed the river in Paris and doubled back.

juvenile Bald Eagle on the Grand River (heavily cropped shot!)

Well, I got something  better...  just as I passed under the high rail bridge on Willow Street (see this map) a huge form flew over head and banked back towards the river.  A juvenile Bald Eagle landed in a snag across the river.  I quickly parked, jumped out and got off only one picture before it flew away, heading south and raising all the Canadian Geese into the air from their grazing in the golf course across the way.

Back in the car, I followed in pursuit and parked in the rail trail parking lot just a little further down, where I couldn't see any sign of the bird after pushing my way through the bush to the top of the steep bank of the river.  I did pause there to speak with an older gentleman who walks the trail every day.  He mentioned he had heard there were two adults and two juveniles, and that there was talk of the adults nesting in the area.  I'm hoping someone on Guelph/Cambridge/KW Birding has heard more of this and can fill me in.  Here's hoping they stay in the area.  Bald Eagles have made quite a come back in the Great Lakes area, and around this area having been seen for a number of years now along the Grand River, and in Hamilton Harbour.  They have nested in Brantford in the past and are being watched in Coote's Paradise on RBG side this year, hopeful that they will raise some young there.  The last link from RBG gives some brief history on Bald Eagles in the area.

Well, I headed down to the old railway bridge lookout (near the end of Blue Lake Road) off the Rail Trail.  I waited there for a while, seeing if there was anything of interest.  The older gentleman had said he's sat their before and watched the eagles soar right past at eye level.  While waiting I saw a lone, injured Canada Goose float by.  It appeared to have a broken wing.  I can't imagine it will survive long like that.  (The picture is heavily cropped as it was on the far side of the river.)

Canada Goose with broken wing

My patience finally paid off, as soon on the horizon, flying north towards me were two large sets of wings.  They were having fun, jockeying in the air.  Hard to capture in pictures.  Again, they were far off, but it was still exciting to see the large shapes that your eye immediately knows are larger than the typical hawk proportions.

Two juvenile Bald Eagles having fun.

They landed in a large tree down river where they called to each other for a while.  It was strange, sort of almost a whistling sound.  

juvenile Bald Eagles

Then, after about 5 minutes, they took off and, to my dismay, headed south instead of north towards me, swiftly flying towards Paris and climbing up the bluff and somewhere into town.

I have to admit I never expected to see any Eagles when I left, but was quite pleased to be able to see them  after all.  I'll have to try and get some more information about where they are regularly being seen and make some more trips in the future.  If they're hanging around here, the lookout is only a 10 minute drive from my place.  Finally, a bird I pursued found! :)

Christmas Bird Count 2011

On Boxing Day I took the day to do an activity with my oldest son Andrew.  He's taken an interest in birds and in the old camera we gave him to use so I hoped that doing the Hamilton Christmas Bird Count (CBC) would be an enjoyable outing together as father and son.  We were invited by Peter Scholtens to join him in the two areas he was given to cover.  I'd never done the CBC before nor really knew what it was.  Every year, for single 24hr period somewhere between Dec 14 and 31st, a count is done of any and all birds seen. Count areas are split up into zones and we walked the area southwest of Clappison's Corners bounded by Hwy5, Rock Chapel, Valley Road, York Road and Hwy 6.  The other area was Globe Park in Hamilton. Apparently a few years ago a Snowy Owl was seen here so it stays on the list of locations to count. :)  The Hamilton CBC area is defined as anywhere within 15miles (or just over 24km) of Dundurn Castle.

A group of 9 of us gathered at Tim's for breakfast to get started.  I had been apprehensive about joining the bird count as I was sure there were going to be some pretty serious birders and I'm both inexperienced and don't consider myself a serious birder.  But the group of definitely experienced guys were more than friendly and willing to share of their knowledge.  Peter had brought his two sons Caleb (he was the one who had solved my Red-tailed Hawk crop mystery) and Jonathan along so that we nice for Andrew who hit it off well with Jonathan who was his age.

I forgot to mention that the morning started with a bang, though I didn't know it till I met up with the gang!  I knew I had seen the silhouette of a largish owl on a hydro wire along Hwy 5 just east of Spencer Creek bridge.  When I mentioned the size and the prominent ear tufts Peter was sure it was a male Great-horned Owl.  That is a pretty exciting find for me. If we hadn't been our way to the bird count I would stopped, dark as it was.

We hiked the Bruce Trail along the escarpment and then went down through the RBG Berry Tract and into the Cartwright tract on the Bruce Duncan Memorial Trail.  As compiled by Peter, here's the list of what we saw and counted there:
Starlings 311
Canada Geese 44
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Crow 14
Ring-billed gull 9
Mourning Dove 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Junco 2
Downy Woodpecker 9
White-breasted Nuthatch 12
Blue Jay 4
Black-capped Chickadee 18
Rock Dove 6
American Goldfinch 49
Eastern Bluebird 26
Red-breasted Woodpecker 2
Red-tailed Hawk 2

The Eastern Bluebirds were the highlight.  Hard to get close enough for a good shot though with a large group. :)  Here is a really bad quality picture cropped to 100%.

Eastern Bluebird - 100% crop

One other interesting shot from here was what a woodpecker or two had done with this stump.

Woodpecker art

We stopped for lunch and took a group picture before splitting up with some of us going onto Globe Park with a few staying to survey some areas we had missed from our first area.

The crazy birders. (I'm on the far left and my son Andrew is in the tan coat.)

We headed off to Globe Park (appropriately named for the large water tank painted as the globe of the earth visible from the QEW just south of the Burlington Street exit.  Here was the list of birds we observed there:
Ring-billed gulls 74
Starling 24
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mallard 2
Canada Geese 71
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Northern Shoveler 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Song Sparrow 1
Mourning Dove 1
We also could see the Red Hill SWM Pond and observed these, though they  were not in our count area:
Canada Geese 20
Red-Tailed Hawk 1
Bufflehead 1
Mallard 14
Starling 2
Kestrel 1

Canada Geese overhead

Canada Goose

Opportunities for great bird photography wasn't at its highest, but I had a great time learning a lot about birds and many other items from the other birders.  I certainly saw a lot of birds I wouldn't normally, being at the sides of experts. Thanks for letting a rookie join you!

Andrew was still game to stop by Bayfront Park to see if any of the warblers were still there so we "popped" in there.  I'll post some pictures from here in the near future.

A Walk in the Park

Have you ever been places a number of times before, and then come to that place with a camera, and suddenly see that there are lots of things you didn't notice before?  I've discovered there are lots of different birds in Bayfront Park, not far from where I work.  Some are common, but a close up makes capturing them fun.

The Eastern Kingbird is a flycatcher, somewhere between a sparrow and a robin in size.  It catches insects in the air, darting after them with quick movements.  You will also see them picking bugs off trees branches and leaves - darting through and along branches to catch them for lunch.  They often like to perch in branches of dead trees.  I never really noticed them before, thinking they were swallows.  The white tip of the flat tail is the key to setting them apart.

Eastern Kingbird

The all too common Canada Goose...

Canada Goose - going for a snooze

Canada Goose - head shot

This baby Red-winged Blackbird is flying about already.  They look like an old man with big fuzzy eye brows.

Red-winged Blackbird Fledgling

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Another familiar sight, but a nicer setting than around the backyard.

Mourning Dove on thistle teasels