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Ontario Birds / Re: A couple of less common sparrows
« Last post by Dr. John on May 18, 2025, 09:57:06 AM »Congrats on the grasshopper sparrow. I have only ever seen one on the Carden Alvar years ago.
Recent Posts
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Southern Ontario Wildlife / Red Fox, Milton front yard
« Last post by Napper on May 18, 2025, 07:20:05 AM »Yesterday, May 17, 2025 at approx 08:20 hrs I opened front door and put our dog on leash in front yard.
I took a few steps onto driveway only to spot a man across the street looking at our neighbhours house. I thought that was odd.
He looked at me and said "Be careful there is a Coyote" I responded "Where?" He said "In your front yard"
Instead of a Coyote it was a Red Fox under our front window. Startled now, the Fox advanced onto the grass from the flower
garden paused and had a look at our dog then bolted across the street and around the corner.
I suspect Mr. Fox was looking for the Baby bunnies. He wasn't far off as he ran
by the burrow during his escape. As for our ancient Dog, She hardly reacted even though Fox was closer than 8 feet.
Napper
p.s Fox was Beautiful and looked healthy
Bunnies are still growing in the burrow, mamma shows up at dusk
I took a few steps onto driveway only to spot a man across the street looking at our neighbhours house. I thought that was odd.
He looked at me and said "Be careful there is a Coyote" I responded "Where?" He said "In your front yard"
Instead of a Coyote it was a Red Fox under our front window. Startled now, the Fox advanced onto the grass from the flower
garden paused and had a look at our dog then bolted across the street and around the corner.
I suspect Mr. Fox was looking for the Baby bunnies. He wasn't far off as he ran
by the burrow during his escape. As for our ancient Dog, She hardly reacted even though Fox was closer than 8 feet.
Napper
p.s Fox was Beautiful and looked healthy
Bunnies are still growing in the burrow, mamma shows up at dusk
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Ontario Birds / Meadow sandpipers ... where's the sand?
« Last post by Shortsighted on May 17, 2025, 10:02:31 AM » Now that the spring warbler migration is drawing to its conclusion the shorebird migration is starting to build to its springtime crescendo. OK, crescendo is overstating it. Many shorebirds have already been reported close to the waterfront because that’s where the shore is usually located. So far, Least sandpipers, Dunlin, Piping plover, Willet, Western sandpiper, and Spotted sandpiper, which are also found in swampy areas, like the Solitary sandpiper. They avoid each other whenever possible. It’s a Hatfield/McCoy kind of thing.
There is one sandpiper that takes Real Estate choices to an extreme and I’m not talking about the killdeer that should really be found in the woods because that is where the deer are located. The Upland sandpiper lives up to its moniker, preferring meadows and grassy fields, reflecting its interpretation of an upscale neighbourhood.
I drove to that neighbourhood to have a look and was greeted with sandpiper calls, flashes of low-flying sandpipers that disappeared as soon as they landed in the tall grass. Then it happened, two suspects approached the gravel road. One flew across in an instant while the second lingered. It wasn’t close but it hesitated just long enough to get an introductory photo. What exquisite patterns on its breast, which are hard to focus on, perpetually seeming somehow blurred like the pectoral feathers of a Hermit thrush, also never fully seeming to be in critical focus. Then, in a flash that sandpiper was gone. I heard more of them squawking about family matters, occasionally relocating to sweeter grass. Not sweetgrass, like the kind that you can braid and make into baskets if you have the requisite skills. Just read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This was plain old meadow grass, the kind favoured by ticks. I may visit again when the ticks are distracted.
Upland sandpiper
There is one sandpiper that takes Real Estate choices to an extreme and I’m not talking about the killdeer that should really be found in the woods because that is where the deer are located. The Upland sandpiper lives up to its moniker, preferring meadows and grassy fields, reflecting its interpretation of an upscale neighbourhood.
I drove to that neighbourhood to have a look and was greeted with sandpiper calls, flashes of low-flying sandpipers that disappeared as soon as they landed in the tall grass. Then it happened, two suspects approached the gravel road. One flew across in an instant while the second lingered. It wasn’t close but it hesitated just long enough to get an introductory photo. What exquisite patterns on its breast, which are hard to focus on, perpetually seeming somehow blurred like the pectoral feathers of a Hermit thrush, also never fully seeming to be in critical focus. Then, in a flash that sandpiper was gone. I heard more of them squawking about family matters, occasionally relocating to sweeter grass. Not sweetgrass, like the kind that you can braid and make into baskets if you have the requisite skills. Just read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This was plain old meadow grass, the kind favoured by ticks. I may visit again when the ticks are distracted.
Upland sandpiper
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Ontario Birds / Modest warbler music this morning
« Last post by Shortsighted on May 16, 2025, 02:32:16 PM »It will be a hot, humid day today and yet there was modest warbler music at the Guildwood Park this morning. It sounded like many species but I only managed to spot four species: Magnolia, Redstart, BT Blue and N. Parula. I only managed to capture photos of the first two. While I was standing and enjoying the warbler music it suddenly stopped at 9:57 a.m. as if a switch was thrown. A BT blue warbler was buried within a shrub and would not come out no matter how earnestly I pleaded. I could just see it and definitely hear it complaining in four-letter warbler speak. The other warblers must have been in the canopy and I'm not looking up ... anymore.
Magnolia warbler
Am. Redstart
Magnolia warbler
American Redstart
Magnolia warbler
Am. Redstart
Magnolia warbler
American Redstart
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Ontario Birds / A couple of less common sparrows
« Last post by Shortsighted on May 16, 2025, 01:21:24 PM »My two nemesis sparrows are Field sparrow and Clay-coloured sparrow. I've seen the former a few times but never managed a good photograph. I've yet to encounter a Clay-coloured sparrow, or (until yesterday) a Grasshopper sparrow, among others bordering on rare. One of the first sparrows I ever photographed was the Savannah sparrow (using a point-and-shoot camera) but the habitat that those sparrows were working has since been eradicated by progress. Since that time I've only seen a Savannah maybe once, or twice. Yesterday I finally got a DSLR-quality picture, albeit a Dx sensor version of this sparrow, as well as a Grasshopper sparrow.
Savannah sparrow ... note yellow lore
Grasshopper sparrow
Grasshopper sparrow ... note rusty to orange lore
Savannah sparrow ... note yellow lore
Grasshopper sparrow
Grasshopper sparrow ... note rusty to orange lore
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Backyard Birding / Baltimore Oriole, Milton
« Last post by Napper on May 15, 2025, 07:08:14 PM »Been hearing the odd call around the house, this evening it was very loud single note call repeated. Spotted atop a tree next door no chance at a photo. Have windows open cooling house the call was loud and clear!
Spotted the male flying away with another(female) tagging along.
Single note call moved to tree across street shortly after.
Napper
Spotted the male flying away with another(female) tagging along.
Single note call moved to tree across street shortly after.
Napper
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Ontario Birds / Black-billed Cuckoo
« Last post by Shortsighted on May 15, 2025, 06:40:32 PM »Out of the shadows came ... another shadow? Well, that's how it first presented. I couldn't see it right away. Was it an illusion? That's nuts! Ah, there it is, not exactly nuts, but cuckoo.
Black-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
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Anything Goes / Re: Advise on-the-fly ... venting
« Last post by Shortsighted on May 15, 2025, 06:36:14 PM »Well, that's pretty much my point. I don't think that anyone makes point-and-shoot cameras anymore now that a cellphone does it all, but bridge cameras with a built-in (non-removable) lens is what the Coolpix is all about. They could go nuts with the 35mm equivalent of 2,000mm (20X) but getting across to someone the limitation of having a tiny sensor in that piece of kit is rather difficult to convey ... on-the-fly. Yah, you're right, why they don't just go to a store, or search online under a relevant topic for enlightenment is a mystery to me.
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Ontario Birds / In a Meadow - Bobolink + Meadowlark
« Last post by Shortsighted on May 15, 2025, 06:27:44 PM »Although far away for such a low-light situation I'll take it anytime. The bobolink has a liquid call and the meadowlark has such long legs that it looks awkward when it flies across the meadow.
Bobolink
Meadowlark
Bobolink
Meadowlark
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Anything Goes / Re: Advise on-the-fly ... venting
« Last post by Dr. John on May 15, 2025, 06:23:25 PM »Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to encourage them to go to a camera store and look for a point and shoot with a decent optical zoom in their price range?