2nd Visit to Desjardins Canal

After having been somewhat disappointed with my visit success the day before, I headed out to Desjardins Canal again for second lunch hour in a row.  This time, the wheels on the car hadn't even stopped and I had already seen two birds that had eluded me the day before.  A male and female American Wigeon (life bird #110) were up on the bank.  I quietly slid from the car and cautiously made my way over towards the water's edge and the two birds that were searching for food along with a large group of Mallards.

female and male American Wigeon

Hoping for closer shots, I flushed the Wigeons and they headed for the protection of the water.  I managed to catch one mediocre shot of the female flying, and then an obligatory water shot of the male.

female American Wigeon in flight

male American Wigeon

I headed west along the bank again, hoping that my "luck" would continue and I'd be able to turn up the Redhead.  Sure enough, a look through the binoculars brought the bright read head of the duck I was looking for into sight very quickly and I made my way over (life bird #111).  When I got there, the Wigeons had made their way over as well and I got a picture with the day's two life birds in one shot.

male Redhead and pair of American Wigeons

male Redhead

I headed for the opposite end of the canal section to see if there was anything else to see.  The Common Goldeneye was still there and wasn't quite so shy as the day before.

male Common Goldeneye and Canada Goose

male Common Goldeneye

As I headed further along, I flushed a Great Blue Heron from the long dead grasses against the bank of the road I was walking along.  Flight shots are so hard, and when you've just been in the mode of taking shots of stationary ducks, all the settings are wrong.  So I was quite please this one turned out nicely in focus despite single point focus and low shutter speed settings.

Great Blue Heron in flight

I had walked to the east again, but later noticed that the heron wasn't where it had landed earlier.  On a hunch, I returned more quietly to where it had been earlier, and sure enough, found it again.

Great Blue Heron hiding

When it finally saw me, it headed for the opposite side, not far from the roadway, at the bottom of a steep bank.  I thought I'd try an attempt to come up behind it and see what kind of shot I'd get.

Great Blue Heron behind Canada Geese

This was the result... I have to say, although it wasn't a new bird sighting, it was the most rewarding experience of the day.  I actually had to calm myself down once I had peeped over the ridge and saw it sitting there.  I think hunters have the same phenomenon - after a pursuit, getting all flustered and not being able to steady their weapon to aim and shoot. I guess it sound somewhat odd, but it was quite rewarding to sneak up that close.  We stared each other down for a long time.  I slowly raised my camera fearing it would spook.  I got off quite a few pictures, then got greedy for more bird and less hill in the picture, but that sent him far down the canal.

My favourite shot of the day!
Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron takeoff.

And now, a couple days later, we have a fresh layer of thick, white snow to return winter to our neighbourhood.  I am glad to see it and love all that goes with it.  Yes, I like shovelling, driving in the snow, and the colder temperatures.  Those who know me have heard me say often, "if we're going to have winter, then let's have it!".  What a beautiful place we live filled with many beautiful animals and birds, created to make us wonder at the source of the beauty and variety that we've been given to enjoy.  How is it that it's all here, and for that matter, why are we?

"The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1-3

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!)

LaSalle's Waterbirds

Last week my Aunt emailed me that the Trumpeter swans were doing their courtship displays down at LaSalle beach in Burlington.  There is quite a gaggle of Trumpeters which has been overwintering on this beach for a few years now, part of a reintroduction program which seems to be having some success.  Almost all of the swans are wing tagged (not the nicest for picture taking) with a large number of them being juveniles which is a good sign. I'm not sure exactly when they start the more typical displays in the water, but they were definitely raising quite the ruckus and a number of them were imitating each other, bobbing their heads in sync.

Trumpeter Swan

juvenile Trumpeter Swan

While we were there, one of the swans was obviously injured, limping and being generally picked on.  I felt bad for it, but didn't think to do anything, figuring that's just the nature of things that happens in the wild.  My Aunt emailed me yesterday telling me  that she saw it again the next day and after quite an ordeal by one of the regular swan feeders, and then SPCA, they removed a lure which was caught in the swan's foot webbing.  Because it was so weak, they were planning to send it to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.  Lesson learned - call in an injured bird.

There were lots of other water birds there as well though.  I had hoped to see some new ducks that everyone else seems to report but never end up being there when I manage to visit.  A number of American Black ducks were swimming amongst the habitual Mallard ducks.

American Black Duck

And there were a few American Coots diving for snacks in the cold water.  However, there were three on the beach is not something I'm used to seeing.  They were hunting the sand for bugs I guess.  They let me get uncharacteristically quite close, possibly emboldened by all the mallards and swans which would let you pass within a meter.

American Coot

In the photo below, you can see their distinctive feet.  They don't have webbed feet because they aren't ducks.  They are actually related more to cranes and rails (read more here).  The lobes on their feet lay flat when they are walking through muddy flats or trying to dive, but fold back when they walk.  Quite an interesting design.

American Coots

There were only a few scattered Buffleheads diving off shore.

diving Bufflehead

Now, to my surprises.  I was actually taking the picture below of the female Greater Scaup as it swam through the other mixed group.  Upon examination of the picture at home, I realized that what looked like a female Mallard is actually a female Gadwall.

Canada Goose (left), two female Gadwalls Mallards (very top and centre),
two male Mallards (top right), female Greater Scaup (bottom)

What clued me in really, was this picture below.  I had thought this was just another Scaup, but realized that the colourings on the front and sides were not right.  It's a Gadwall. (life bird #108) The bill is slightly more slender, and dark.

male Gadwall

So going through the pictures again, I discovered I had another shot of something also interesting... a Mallard Gadwall hybrid (see well documented discussion here), along side a female Gadwall.  Apparently Mallards  breed with other ducks much more prevalently than other ducks.

male Mallard Gadwall Hybrid and female Gadwall  (Thanks Joanne R!)
American Black Duck

UPDATE: Joanne Redwood graciously pointed out the above corrections to me.  Though I'm not sure about one... she thought maybe the above hybrid might be a Mallard - Am. Black Duck.  But it has the "barred" feathers of the Gadwall.  Any thoughts anyone?  Joanne also pointed out that the Mallard Gadwall hybrid is commonly referred to as  Brewer's Duck, though I don't believe it is recognized as a species.

I had hoped to see something new for once here, had gone home disappointed, but was pleasantly surprised later.

My Aunt and I strolled the trail a bit and I was struck by the absence of birds.  It was a blustery day, but usually there are still quite a few birds out in this area.  We did see a few of the usual Chickadees and a Junco or two, and later one Downy Woodpecker, but not much more.  After I mentioned that though, we were treated to a close encounter with a pair of Norther Cardinals, the female much more vain and sat posing for a long time for some pictures, even holding out till the sun broke out for a few minutes.  Her husband was much more suspicious and stuck to the higher branches, giving no opportunity for incriminating photos.

female Northern Cardinal

female Northern Cardinal

What there were lots of squirrels... big fat healthy ones living off the goodwill intended for the birds who are often hand fed by walkers.  I think this one was actually eating a natural snack of Sumac fruit.

Grey Squirrel

I'll have to come back for another lunch walk here again, and this time scan the birds more carefully, not counting on catching pictures of new birds by accident.  I guess I should have put the binoculars you gave me M & D and put them to proper use!

Research Halts after Bird's Head Gone

I ran across this interesting article and video at PopSci.Com about researchers using actual birds (real, but stuffed ones) to investigate wing movements in bird communication.  Watch the video in the article, it's quite interesting.  I've never seen birds using their wings like this before.  You learn something new every day.

Click on the link in the paragraph above to watch the video.

Snowy Owl!

Yesterday, my brother Dan (check his blog for a post eventually? :) ), his son Josh, and I headed to St. Catharines in hopes of seeing at least one of the two Snowy Owls which have been there since before Christmas.  I had known they were there for a while, but hadn't really had the time to make the trip all the way to St. Catharines - I haven't really done any bird "twitching" (quickly travelling to see a bird).  Snowy owls do appear in our neck of the woods from time to time, but it certainly is not common. Last year there was one for a short while in southeast corner of Hamilton harbour and another appeared in Oakville along the Lake for a couple weeks.

I had had another commitment that morning, but we headed out with bright sunshine, and we drove to the location shared with me by Dave Van de Laar and my brother Rob where the male owl had been routinely sighted.  As we searched for the bird, spotting the small cluster of cars and people along a small country side road was the immediate clue we were there.  It didn't take too long to spot the beautiful bird, but had it been a completely snow covered field rather than the centimeter or snow which had freshly fallen overnight, it would have been more difficult.

Can you spot the Snowy Owl?

The mature, male Snowy Owl is almost completely white with muted black markings. Females retain the dark barring that the young start out with. Photographing something pure white against a snowy background is a challenge and stretched my skills, having me doubting myself a couple times as a photographer next to me kept providing advice about bumping up the exposure - advice which I still think was either wrong or he had his terms mixed up?  Still not sure.

male Snowy Owl

My pictures are significantly cropped - the owl was a good 100m from the road and the field is marked with recently posted "private property" signs.  Aside from giving the owl space, the field side of the ditch was the limit our advance.

Snowy Owl leg stretch

Unfortunately for my nephew Josh, he had left his camera at home, resulting in understandable disappointment.  He shared the camera with his Dad and got to use my binoculars most of the time.  That ended up having its benefits and he ended up likely having the most profound experience of us all.  He was looking through the binoculars and the owl suddenly took off, flying almost directly towards us.  With the close view of binoculars, he suddenly jumped and exclaimed, "He's coming right at me!"  I'm sure it pretty much his entire binocular view was filled before he jumped up to see the owl fly within about 15m of us and snatch a white mouse which we had watched meandering through the snow for the last 30 minutes.  It was an escaped mouse from some other people who had been attempting to bait the owl.  They had since left.  It's amazing to think of the extremely sharp eye sight to spot that movement, especially since the mouse was white!

Here are a series of photos of the take-off and then landing afterwards with the catch.  Obviously missing is the actual catch.  But it was so close in front of us that it was hard to capture it.  Photographing a moving, almost uniformly white subject against a background with lots of sharp focus points (stubble) is a challenge.  The camera quickly decided on the stubble instead of the bird many times as I had switched it to the wide selection AF mode.

Gathering speed.

Touch down.

Snowy owls breed in the Tundra up north, only coming into our area rarely, usually because there usual food supply of lemmings and voles are decreased.  Apparently when this owl arrived in St. Catherines, it was quite bedraggled but has since bulked up again.  Very likely due to all the baiting it is receiving which is not seen to be a good thing as it may hesitate here too long and not head north again as it should.  They usually dwell on the ground, often on a small rise, knoll, or snow drift, conserving energy and watching and listening for a small animal to catch, flying in flow and catching with the element of low, silent approach.

male Snowy Owl

This last picture is a tease - for me!  A lady set up beside me with a Sony camera and a nice big 150-500mm Sigma lens.  I built up the courage and then asked if she minded if I could pop my camera on for a few shots.  The picture below is cropped as well, but much crisper and missing the chromatic aberration my lens gives.  I use a purple fridge reduction script in GIMP for my pictures, but the colours are still not as good as the uncorrected version off the Sigma lens.

Scanning the field for prey through almost closed eyes.

All in all, a great few hours of watching a very beautiful bird.  I'm glad we got to see it in flight once, and benefited from it moving a little closer to the road.  But otherwise, it just sat relatively still aside from slowly scanning back and forth with partially open eyes, looking rather cozy and dozy in its thick plumage of feathers.  Who knows when or if I'll ever get to see one again.  Life bird #107 will stand out for a while. :)

Ruthven and Wild Turkeys

Just a quick follow up... my boys appeared on Ruthven's Blog along with some other pictures I took for them of the kids bird banding event they held.  Here is a link  - you need to scroll down a few screens.

Goldfinch caught in mist net.

And because I both forgot to share this earlier and don't have any recent photos, here are a couple shots of wild turkeys I saw on my way to work back in the fall.  They frequent a farmer's field just outside of St. George.  They are very skittish though, and I only got a few shots off before they scattered into the underbrush.  I followed them, but only got sight of them noisily flying off further into the forest.

Wild Turkeys

Wild Turkeys flying through the trees.

Ruthven - Bird Banding for Kids

In between starting and finishing this post, my dear Grandmother died and went to her Heavenly Father.  I wanted to share a few thoughts, which are at the end of the post....

After quite a lack of any birding or photography in my life for the last while, things have picked up quite nicely.  This Wednesday I headed back to work after a nice vacation of just over a week filled with lots of Christmas and New Year's gatherings with family and friends.  That morning I was treated to see two coyotes chasing a rabbit through the snow across someone's lawn.  The next day, on my way to work, I had to turn around after noticing a small flock of 40 or 50 sparrow like birds which didn't look at all like sparrows.  Once I'd located them again, it turns out they were Snow Buntings (life bird #105).  I didn't have my camera, so I hope a trip into work will find them again in the same location, along Hwy 5 just west of Lynden Road, a driveway to a grain storage/mill where spillage from the trucks likely attracts them.

Saturday, I took my three boys to Ruthven where Peter Scholtens was hosting an event for kids which was sponsored by A Rocha Canada and Bird Studies Canada.  The kids were introduced to birding, bird banding and then were able to watch them take the birds out of the mist nets, band the birds, and then each child was able to take a turn to release a bird.

Andrew releases a Common Redpoll

Jordan releases an Common Redpoll

Head Bird Bander Rick sets Justin up with a bird.

Justin releases an American Tree Sparrow

Peter sets up a scope for the kids to look through.

The three amigos.

We all went for a hike out on a loop along the Grand River - it was a beautiful day for the outing with the wind having died down over night and the sun shining brightly.  It was a nice surprise to see friends from church (Dave and kids) there too.  A big thanks to Peter and Rick (and I'm afraid I don't know the name of the other lady bander) for putting this on for the kids (and big kids too!)

The group on a bird hike.

There were lots of Common Redpolls there, which was a new bird for me (life bird #106).  They were very comfortable with people near by, meaning I could sneak in some photography time while the boys played with friends on the grounds.

male Common Redpoll

male Common Redpoll

male Common Redpoll

female Common Redpoll

male American Goldfinch

Those weren't the only birds to be seen, but I disciplined myself to no birding pictures till the end (taking your telephoto lens off the camera will do the trick) and then a limited amount at that.  A Great Blue Heron lazily flew over, and a pair of Common Ravens were heard and then seen, followed by a Bald Eagle slowly coasting over the grounds.

Bald Eagle

Grandma...

I made some headway on starting this post yesterday afternoon, and then left to spend time with my grandmother during the night hours... I was taking my turn at her bedside along with the rest of my mom, brothers, sisters, cousins and uncles and aunts as she finished her earthly days.  Not long after I got there, she peacefully died and was freed from more than 12 years of Alzheimer's.  Although still sad, our family (her 10 children, 63 grandchildren, 129 great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild) is all thankful that she now, with a clear mind is thanking her Saviour face to face!  She was a godly woman and it was very touching to see that although she didn't know any of us at the end (so far as we know), she would still mouth the words to many of the hymns and Bible passages by memory as we would sing and read with her.  Those tucked away words never faded and were never confused.  This week will be a mixture of feelings as we gather as extended family to remember her life, contemplate the shortness of this life, and the be reminded of how we will all stand before our Maker one day.  I pray that all of you will be able to say one day, "It is well with my soul!" because you love Him as your personal Saviour.

Here is one of the many notes my Grandmother wrote while her mind was still somewhat clear in the earlier years of her Alzheimer's....

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. "

Isaiah 40:31