Early Spring Highlights
Wood Ducks in an Urban Toronto stream.
The early migrants are just starting to arrive in Toronto, but before I get too carried away with all the new species arriving in town, I thought I would close out the late-winter-early-spring season with some highlights. These are some of my favorite images from March and April.
This is a Hoary Redpoll which visited Toronto for a few weeks. Although not entirely rare, Toronto is very far South of its typical breeding range. This bird was remarkably patient with the steady stream of birders and photographers that came by to visit. On the day I went, I was the first one to locate it and had a really peaceful few minutes with the bird. Then the hoard of other people saw me laying down and taking pictures, and the circus descended around me.
Compared to the previous few years there were not as many Owls in Toronto this year, and apparently its directly correlated to the population of lemmings in the arctic. Plenty of lemmings, no reason to fly South I guess. I found this Snowy Owl while “road birding” with my kids. It was perched on an old piece of airport equipment and was actively hunting in the fields.
I’ll confess that many times I take pictures and I have no idea if I got the shot until I go back and look later. With this shot of a Red-necked Grebe, I knew I had the shot as soon as I closed the shutter. I saw this bird swimming and I was able to get nice and low to the water on the shoreline, but then it started moving away from me. As I pivoted to get a better shot I nearly fell in the lake, and the curious bird spun around and came back to investigate the commotion. Click!
This is a picture that I can’t bring myself to delete, so I might as well share it. I really love the picture because of the colors behind the bird, and also because it was the first day that I saw a Song Sparrow this year and it reminds me of spring. It would be a really good picture… if it wasn’t for that DAMN STICK! Right in front of the bird! I mean it happens all the time that a little twig or something is distracting in the image… but why did it have to be this one! (I’m sure this is familiar to any other photographers reading this… should we start s support group?)
Song Sparrow, unobstructed view. No stick. Boring colors.
Common Grackle have a beautiful iridescent sheen. Most of the time they look black, but occasionally they turn their heads and you see a beautiful blue or green in the light. At this particular moment I had just turned away from a sunrise cresting over Lake Ontario because it was getting too bright, and in that orange light I saw this golden-green on the bird that seemed to match the color of its eye. For perspective, the tree its perched in is green, but it was totally bathed in the sunrise which made it glow orange. What a great moment and a stunning profile.
I found this Killdeer on a cold morning last weekend. While not the first I’ve seen this season, this particular bird was patient and let me admire him for a little while. I was happy with how the beautiful red ring in its eye came out in the photo, which on this particular morning was glowing bright red in the early morning light.
Last but not least, I give you a Common Raven being chased by a Red-winged Blackbird. While it seems as though big birds of prey likes Ravens, Hawks, and Owls would have no problem dealing with small birds, I frequently see tiny birds that show great courage in defending their turf.
As the spring migration picks up, this is an exciting time to go for a walk in the woods with a pair of binoculars, or even just sleep with your window open to hear the commotion of the newly arrived birds out your window in the morning. Either way, happy birding!