Outdoor Ontario
Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: Shortsighted on July 20, 2025, 01:35:28 PM
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There was drizzle here in Pickering when I got up this morning at 6:30 but that stopped soon enough. Although I was planning to wait until tomorrow morning since the forecast is cool and much lower humidity, I decided that the Sunday traffic would be less tiresome. I visited a park that I had never previously explored because of a previous sighting of a single Short-billed dowitcher.
It didn’t rain while I was there and the sun even made an appearance for short intervals. The site featured three killdeer, one L. Yellowlegs, one Spotted SP, and two SB dowitchers, among many geese and mallards.
The shorebirds were a little wary at first when I made an appearance on their turf but my gentle demeaner and stillness assuaged their anxiety soon enough. I just put a mat down on the wet sand and leaned backwards against my backpack and patiently waited in complete stillness.
What I didn’t expect was to see young sparrows on the sand and rocks, both Savannah and Vesper, although it kind of makes sense considering the meadow habitat nearby. There was also a small group of juvenile Hooded merganser, just punks really and a couple of Great blue herons elders
.(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-Fn9hBhj/0/L7KLNwjprhtFsnSGjsQsqKSFKRt7d3tXCCXGTp7Wf/L/Heron%20on%20wood%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-Fn9hBhj/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-f3NWRgd/0/KvgVSGpsbRs5TjsvgfwJM6CNX9S4Z32wXnGv3kXRg/L/Hooded%2C2%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-f3NWRgd/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-bTnsjCK/0/NfjNnS9DQtQbrKLCjDMgCM3pfgGBkjzgjbk57nwrv/L/Killdeer%20on%20driftwood%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-bTnsjCK/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-FL3ZfMm/0/Kz4chMkmQVW9tBZXJNxVZZZh2sDX79rXxcGnFZrBf/L/Dowitcher%20on%20mud%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-FL3ZfMm/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-zsb7F3Q/0/K5nvMCwTMv7kVJL38zcxZTX655xD7GXfdrzH8Zzkz/L/Itchy%20bum%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-zsb7F3Q/A)
Sand flees = itchy bum
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-KbJ8B8Q/0/LJC46pdfD8X5Dbp6SwG2HCKrHTpzQfBnRtJhqkJWc/L/Dow%2Cwork%20it%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-KbJ8B8Q/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-8Tb5bRP/0/MjqtjDPjcpVbLmvBThnQ6tqHCgqMmdsDp7L4gvTdP/L/Casual%20pose%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-8Tb5bRP/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-HthsXsd/0/NPsvMq5nqhtGNvwDvWR7njMT7cGjQFXN4x8kCp2L9/L/Dow%20pause%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-HthsXsd/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-P3qb5N4/0/LWsHknB3kgv9mWKfC7DT4GKCH8D37SnDVHgHtVcHG/L/Dow%20wading%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-P3qb5N4/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-22DgVzW/0/MKnmH39b8zTcZp6QwNTHq7vJXNndbP7r5GbHNFgFk/L/Dowitcher%20at%20liminal%20zone%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-22DgVzW/A)
Short-billed Dowitcher
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-MqVtDh8/0/Kn9L3tCdQB7tjv36wrfsqtG6nxn8wVLQgpjp5CNcZ/L/Savannah%2Cfront%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-MqVtDh8/A)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-cZsM9Fx/0/NRrHdsh6cWk2NhkT5X4SJmsw3tkNGWV2SDBWNgqh9/L/Savannah%2Cmouth%20full%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-cZsM9Fx/A)
Young Savannah sparrow
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-ZTLCtcb/0/Mdd8ggK5bCCvL2VjmZgsBkHZd4XPmxPpLZr9HwJbV/L/Vesper%20sparrow%2C%2020th%2Ccropped-L.png) (https://steinphotography.smugmug.com/Outdoor-Ontario/Outdoor-Ontario/i-ZTLCtcb/A)
Vesper sparrow
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I haven't seen a short-billed dowitcher or a vesper sparrow yet - or more accurately, I have never yet correctly identified a short-billed dowitcher or vesper sparrow yet.
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I've mentioned this before, but once you photograph a bird species it becomes much easier to ID that species in the field. Merely looking at photos from a book, or online doesn't seem to stay into memory with the necessary tenacity, while shooting it, and then processing the image will almost certainly commit the sighting into memory. I wouldn't have necessarily been able to identify a Short-billed dowitcher on sight because it is new to me, having only previously seen a couple of Long-billed dowitchers last year. So, I may have guessed dowitcher, or not, or should I say, or knot ... red knot. As for Vesper sparrow, the pink/beige bill and legs and the eye-ring is what caught my attention. The mottling of the bird's back was also unlike a song sparrow. At first I though the sparrow on the beach was a song sparrow but then I noted the pale yellow lore. A young bird would have a less intense yellow and would show some pink around the bill as displayed by the sparrow in my photo.
The site was Ed Broadbent Park in Oshawa.
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Maybe if I was as dedicated and skilled photographer as you, that might help. I find I need to ID a given species and similar looking ones multiple times in the field before I get good differentiating them
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Ay, there’s the rub.
For in that emerging comprehension what adventures may come,
When you shuffle off a coil of quotidian routine
To find yourself deep within a placid idyll
Striving to make the unfamiliar, even more beautiful.