The Elusive Wood Duck

Many times while shooting water fowl I have seen the very beautiful Wood Duck far out in the middle of Mud Lake. Yesterday I decided to do another tour of the birding areas in Ottawa. The Duchense Rapids were fairly busy last week with the usual Mallards, Canada Geese and Ring Billed Gulls. While I was there a group of about 8 Pintailed Ducks flew in and settled on the open water. Unfortunately this week the water was pretty much free of ice to the Quebec shore, so the number and variety of birds was greatly diminished.

Moving on to Mud Lake I finally got a chance to get some very nice pictures of the elusive Wood Duck. Like most birds the female of the pair are fairly plain in colour. This is to make camouflage easier for them when sitting on their nest. The male on the other hand looks like it has been painted by a master artist.

Hopefully these tamer Wood Ducks will stick around the close shore areas and I will be able to get more photographs.

After touring the west end of the city I decided to go out to the Wall Rd area in Orleans. Wall Rd is a very good place to see Northern Harriers and Rough Legged Hawks during the summer time. I did see a couple of Harriers in the fields but they were too far off to get good shots so late in the day. What got me the most was the amount of water running along the road side. They were like small rivers, complete with rapids. One area even had a foot wide whirl pool. With the amount of snow still in the fields I imagine this draining of the fields will be going on for a while yet.

St. Lawrence area

On Thursday March 27 I returned to the St Lawrence area to see how the spring migrants were going. The river was still well covered in ice. This allowed me to get close to the thousands of Canada and Snow Geese that have stopped over on the journey north. When I had a chance to return to the area yesterday the geese had either moved on or moved to another location. There was alot more open water than before so this may have had something to do with it.

While driving along the parkway one has to go slow as any number of interesting animals and birds could be missed. I have seen Turkey Vultures circling over head many times but Thursday I was given the opportunity to observe one closely. This one was perched in a tree just over a Raccoon carcass. It did not seem too interested in it as it was pretty much intact.

I knew they were large but did not realize just how big they were until this one took off as I was moving towards it to try to get a better shot.

Further on the road very close to the Turkey Vulture I had another opportunity that does not happen very often. Sitting all by itself taking in the territory was a juvenile Peregrin Falcon. This was my first time seeing a Peregrin for any length of time. I could not see the feet under the feathers so its hard to tell if this is a wild birthed one or a baby from the ones that were banded in Ottawa or another city close by. I was hoping to get closer but a couple of local people came by and asked me what type of bird it was, this led to a pleasant conversation but the Pergrin flew away while we were talking.

I find the St. Lawrence region to be a good area for nature shooting during this time period as not many people are around and the animals are closer to the roadside. Every day is different and this summer should be interesting to see what summer birds are around.

Three sets of Eyes better than one

Had the opportunity to join two other Ottawa photographers on an outing yesterday. While the clear skies and sunshine we had hoped for did not show, the pleasure of the company made up for the lack of sun. We decided to travel the back road towards the St. Lawrence River to see what migratory birds had arrived. On the way there we stopped at Forest Park to see if the Tufted Titmouse would make an appearance. I was under the impression the feeder was in the park area but as it turned out the bird was seen at a private feeder in someone's back yard. Looking through binoculars we could see some Evening Grosbeaks at the feeder so I politely knocked on the residence door and asked permission to take some pictures from the back side of the house. The resident was very accommodating to us and gave us permission. Both male and female were present, with the males being a beautiful bright lemon yellow with white and black on their wings.

After that we continued our journey to the river keeping an eye out for anything unusual along the way. When we reached the area we were looking for we drove along the road searching for something to photograph. There were robins and starlings everywhere along the road so spring must be around the corner. Along some of the waterways there were a few spots here and there with open water but for the most part the river is still frozen over. In one small open area there were a couple of Canada Geese, some Red Headed Mergansers and a Bufflehead. Canada Geese could be seen flying in squadrons over head. Sometimes there were just to many to possibly count. Further along we did find a larger area of open water and found where these squadrons were landing. The picture shown is just a small percentage of the geese that were in the area and more were coming in all the time. Also mixed in with the Canada Geese were a number of Snow Geese. These unfortunately were to far away to photograph.

After touring the area for a while and stopping for a bite to eat we were on the way back through the parkway and I happen to spot a Raccoon in a tree. Usually raccoons are higher up a tree but this one was only about 5 feet or so. I have to admit most of my experience with Raccoons is usually in my back yard trying to get into my garbage cans so they are not usually looked on favourably by me or most people. But this little darling must have been a young one, maybe a year or more old. While it did not seem to be too frightened of us we did not want to be two threatening and get too close to it. But I will tell you I was not the only one that wanted to go up and pet it like it was a domestic animal. Which as we all know would not be a good idea. Wild animals are exactly that "wild". They are not used to human contact so always stay a considerate distance away from them no matter how cute they look. It made our day being able to get some good shots of this animal and to just see it in another way other than an urban nuisance. They are actually quite beautiful animals.

All in all with the company of the other two photographers and the photographs we got it made for a very enjoyable day. Time sure does fly when one is having fun.

Merlin the Magician

After disappearing for a number of weeks I am happy to report the Merlin that has been frequenting the Shirley's Bay feeder made an appearance on Saturday March 22. He was being photographed by two other photographers when I drove up. So being the nice bird that it is, it stayed in the cedar tree and allowed us to get some good shots.

Raptors are sometimes difficult to get shots of as most are wary about being observed. Try and take a picture of a Red Tailed Hawk. These birds must be telepathic. As soon as you think about them they seem to take flight. But that is part of the challenge of bird photography.

Sunsets

Sunsets can be a very interesting time to take photographs. As the sun gets further down closer to the horizon the colours keep changing from golden yellow to red. This is due to the amount of atmosphere the light has to go through. There is a whole science around this but to keep it simple the more atmosphere the light rays have to go through the more other colours get absorbed and the golden yellow to red tones get scattered and bounce back to your eye.

While the colours are wonderful to see with the naked eye as a photograph just a coloured sky has a tendency to be a little boring. I find that introducing some item in the foreground adds some dimension and interest to the photograph.

An item I use to shoot a sunset or sunrise as the process is pretty much the same but in reverse, is a polarizing filter or a neutral density filter. I use the Polarizing filter because I have not purchased a ND filter for my lenses. I just find the polarizer brings out the richness in the colours.

When shooting sunsets play around with your exposure or iris if you have one of the older lenses that have an iris ring. You will find that if you close the iris or lower the exposure (under exposing) the colours become darker and richer. This technique can be done to many other types of photography.

Fungi

On Wednesday March 19th I decided to take a walk around the Mer Bleu bird feeders. The silence of the forest is very relaxing, the air was cool and clean that only be had during winter. Of course I happened to bring my cameras just in case I came across something interesting. While walking I noticed a variety of fungi growing off quite a few of the trees and stumps. I am not sure if this is an indicator of a problem with the trees or just a natural part of the forest process.
Fungi is probably the most unobserved items in a forest but if one takes the time it can be quite beautiful. It also makes a very interesting subject for photographs. There forms are infinitely variable even within the same species.

I just thought I would share some of the photographs of the fungi I shot that day. I have others that were shot last year and this year on my website. The address is www.mtcmediaproductions.com.

Another slow birding day

Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the clear weather that has been so rare this winter. I started out by going to find the feeders that are in Forest Park near Embrun to see if the Tufted Titmouse was around. Now I feel something needs to be cleared up as to where Forest Park actually is as most people consider it to be part of Embrun. While its address may be part of Embrun it is not in actuality in the small town. Forest Park consists of 4(four) roads that are on concession road three. This is a continuation of the main Embrun road that runs east-west through the town. You have to cross over road 5 which takes you to St. Albert, which just happens to make some of the best fresh cheese. Like I mentioned earlier Forest Park only has four parallel streets. These are Maple Grove Street, Forest Lane, Larose Lane, and Manitou Street. Each one of these ends in a wooded area. I did not spend alot of time looking for the feeders as the woods are extensive.

I decided to go over to the Snowy Owl area as some Horned Larks were seen in the area. At first I did not see any of the owls or the larks, it was pretty empty of birds. On my way back to Concession 20 coming up Ste Rose Rd, the White Snowy was right on the snow bank the plows made. Unfortunately I did not see it until it took off and flew into the field. Nice to see its still around but would have been nice to get a real close picture before they go North again.

So a little disappointed i headed back into Ottawa and headed out to Bates Island off of Island Park Drive. It was also pretty quiet. Then off to Mud Lake to see if anything was happening there. I was able to get a fairly descent shot of a young male Cardinal. he stayed fairly calm while I took some photos. Also around were the usual Chickadees, Crows and a small flock of Cedar Waxwings.

Next leg of todays journey took me to, where else.......Shirley's Bay feeders. By this time the nice clear skies of the morning had been taken over by a gray-white cloud bank. So shooting was not the best. The feeders were very busy with lots of Chickadees, woodpeckers, red squirrels. The area also had an unusual large flock of Blue Jays. I would estimate there were at least 15-20 in the area. I don't know if you have ever been in an area with 15-20 Blue Jays before all making lots of noise, but let me tell you if you did not have a headache before you got there you surely will if you stay there for long. I did manage to get a few shots of the Blue Jays but the white skies make it difficult to truly capture the beauty of the birds.

My next stop was the Trail Road dump site where a Gyrfalcon had recently been seen. Apparently a couple other birders had the same idea. However much to our disappointment the Gyrfalcon was not evident. There were however a couple of Redtailed Hawks flying around, more than likely hunting. There were also large flocks of Starlings along the road side in the Sumac trees, also the ever present Crows in hugh numbers. This time I was very surprised to see that the gull population had also greatly increased in not only the shear numbers of Gulls but the varieties. Unfortunately I am only beginning to get to know the bird species but I did see some Ring Billed Gulls, and Greater Black Backed Gulls, some others that I am not familiar with that were pure white and a quite a bit smaller than the Black Backed Gulls.

I think I will head back there first next time the skies will clear. Maybe I can get some shots of the gulls for identification.