Can't believe I am saying this..I need a smaller lens , Green Heron

[lovemypt]

For a bird photographer, 99.99% the time, birds are just too far away and always hoping they get closer......but there's that 0.01% time, flew in and landed in tree in front of me, could have handed him a fish

[Shortsighted]

Yes, it does happen, just don't hold your breath for the next occasion. Makes your blood flow, doesn't it. I'm thinking ... uses Rogaine.Thanks for posting.

[Ally]

For a bird photographer, 99.99% the time, birds are just too far away and always hoping they get closer......but there's that 0.01% time, flew in and landed in tree in front of me, could have handed him a fish

Did you?

[lovemypt]

No...green herons bite! , and don't get along well with others......guess thats why he hangs out with me

[Ally]

No...green herons bite! , and don't get along well with others......guess thats why he hangs out with me

I never get shore birds at Rattray! Should be an entrance I haven't discovered. Always seems millions of reeds away.

[Shortsighted]

 3,437,568 reeds to be more precise. I suggested a way to get to the mudflats on a previous post many moons ago. I guess you didn't believe me then. Head eastward on the main drag until you encounter a dirt trail heading south. Follow it down to the shingle beach and then head west again on the shingle. What a great sound it makes! Eventually you will find the drainage channel for the marsh. It's not very wide. A few paces north on the drainage channel and the mudflats, if there are any this year, will spread out in front of you. Now the 3,327,568 reeds will be north of your vantage point. See attached photo
 

[Ally]

Is that you in the photo?


You know I am still searching the elusive SS. Where do people find shorebirds in Colonel Sam Smith?


I will try that in Rattray.

3,437,568 reeds to be more precise. I suggested a way to get to the mudflats on a previous post many moons ago. I guess you didn't believe me then. Head eastward on the main drag until you encounter a dirt trail heading south. Follow it down to the shingle beach and then head west again on the shingle. What a great sound it makes! Eventually you will find the drainage channel for the marsh. It's not very wide. A few paces north on the drainage channel and the mudflats, if there are any this year, will spread out in front of you. Now the 3,327,568 reeds will be north of your vantage point. See attached photo
 

[Dinusaur]

Rattray has a a couple of nice shorebirds right now including a Short-billed Dowitcher. Get there fast Ally.

[Shortsighted]

No, that is not me. I'm very short, like a garden gnome, and I have two heads: an evil one and a nasty one, and they are now starting to nefariously collaborate. Nothing good can come from such an alliance. You can consider me a chimera. I was going to suggest, perhaps even "order" you to visit Rattray this weekend after the humidity abates. Try training your mighty 600mm onto the mudflats, if they exist this year at all. You can shoot the vicinity and report back to HQ so that I can peruse the intel.
The shorebirds at Sam Smith are located at Whimbrel point, or the other point, and they settle on the rocks, otherwise there would be no point. Look for circling flocks of shorebirds and discern which point they prefer and then station yourself there while they are flying around and wait for them to return. Don't look directly at them when they land and DO NOT MOVE. After a minute you can slowly turn and take a bearing. Resisting the temptation to look too early, which should be easy enough compared to my ordeal when dealing with two disobedient heads. If you must move closer do so at a snail's pace while looking elsewhere.

Good Luck 

[Ally]

Rattray has a a couple of nice shorebirds right now including a Short-billed Dowitcher. Get there fast Ally.

Thanks, will do.

[Ally]

No, that is not me. I'm very short, like a garden gnome, and I have two heads: an evil one and a nasty one, and they are now starting to nefariously collaborate. Nothing good can come from such an alliance. You can consider me a chimera. I was going to suggest, perhaps even "order" you to visit Rattray this weekend after the humidity abates. Try training your mighty 600mm onto the mudflats, if they exist this year at all. You can shoot the vicinity and report back to HQ so that I can peruse the intel.
The shorebirds at Sam Smith are located at Whimbrel point, or the other point, and they settle on the rocks, otherwise there would be no point. Look for circling flocks of shorebirds and discern which point they prefer and then station yourself there while they are flying around and wait for them to return. Don't look directly at them when they land and DO NOT MOVE. After a minute you can slowly turn and take a bearing. Resisting the temptation to look too early, which should be easy enough compared to my ordeal when dealing with two disobedient heads. If you must move closer do so at a snail's pace while looking elsewhere.

Good Luck

Thanks  I am at the point of Colonel Sam Smith, will head to Rattray now. There is only a gull guarding on the post at the point. And a motorboat herding large flocks of commorants.

[Shortsighted]

Roger that, Eyes-on-the-ground.I would have tried Sam Smith on the last weekend of August but that's just a hunch. No reports of shorebirds at CSS on ebird so far.Did you look for warblers on either side of the sports field? The eastern side with the dense shrubs is usually good.Reports of several species, such as Cape May and Blackburnian.Expect to see some warblers after this heat sink dissipates or moves off to the east.

[Ally]

Roger that, Eyes-on-the-ground.I would have tried Sam Smith on the last weekend of August but that's just a hunch. No reports of shorebirds at CSS on ebird so far.Did you look for warblers on either side of the sports field? The eastern side with the dense shrubs is usually good.Reports of several species, such as Cape May and Blackburnian.Expect to see some warblers after this heat sink dissipates or moves off to the east.

Nopw, got out late. A bunch of house finches blocked me in this morning. Two ladies sighted some bay breasted and Am restarted. I only got a Yellow. Apparently half of Missisauga came for shore birds. Rattray is Packed with people going to the beach!

[Shortsighted]

Those attention grabbing House finches can be a hand full. The mornings are never long enough when birding. OMG the crowds never occurred to me. My sympathies. I hate crowds. eBird is a great modality but it works both ways. Everyone else is tuned in to the same station. Powers of penetrating concentration can auger through the distracting crowd and still produce results. I've never seen a Short-billed Dowitcher so I would be excited despite the crowd. Weekends are not the best time to bird. Now that you know where to access the mudflats you can come back at a quieter time. Keep me posted. Why? I don't know. It's not like I can go there anytime soon. I live vicariously through your exploits. Dinu wouldn't let me, cus he KNOWS I'm nuts. I think my instability scares him. Physicists worship order and recoil from turbulence in the direction of greater entropy. Shut up! It's my other head doing all the talking.

[Ally]

Those attention grabbing House finches can be a hand full. The mornings are never long enough when birding. OMG the crowds never occurred to me. My sympathies. I hate crowds. eBird is a great modality but it works both ways. Everyone else is tuned in to the same station. Powers of penetrating concentration can auger through the distracting crowd and still produce results. I've never seen a Short-billed Dowitcher so I would be excited despite the crowd. Weekends are not the best time to bird. Now that you know where to access the mudflats you can come back at a quieter time. Keep me posted. Why? I don't know. It's not like I can go there anytime soon. I live vicariously through your exploits. Dinu wouldn't let me, cus he KNOWS I'm nuts. I think my instability scares him. Physicists worship order and recoil from turbulence in the direction of greater entropy. Shut up! It's my other head doing all the talking.

Sorry for misleading you earlier. The crowds were people flushing to the lakeside for BBQs. I was the only birder there almost the whole time. Only met three others in the whole park.