Spring birds #1

Rather than share another card (wedding cards that I made a few weeks ago) I decided to share some of my photographs from this spring.  I had mentioned a few weeks ago that Bill is teaching me how to process my pictures.  It's not easy, and lots to learn, but slowly getting there. 

The first 4 pictures were taken at Pt Pelee National Park in May. Love these warblers, but they are very hard to photograph as they never sit still. So lots of pictures are taken but good thing for digital as you can just delete the bad ones!

(click on the picture to enlarge)

 

The next two were taken up north as this is where more of them head for breeding. Bill and I took a day trip up just south of Tobermory ON (4.5 hrs each way) and we did this in a day. Let around 3:30am and left to come home around 4 pm.  It's a long day but so worth it.  I took many more pictures up there but just don't have them all processed yet. One of my favourites was this cute little wren. I have the wrong name on the border which I need to change. This is actually a house wren not a winter wren.

Hope you enjoyed these.  I'll have more soon to share.
Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Sandhill Cranes Part 2

Hello everyone! Well winter struck again.  Yesterday we had a day full of rain, then turned to a heavy wet snow late afternoon and into the evening.  The flakes were so big almost golf ball size, it was very pretty if you didn't have to drive in it. This morning everything is covered in white, so heavy the the branches are all weighed down, but it does look very pretty.   Looks like warmer weather for this week, hopefully that is the end of the snow.

I stepped outside early (still a bit dark) and took these pictures with my Tablet, so not the best quality, but just wanted to capture the snowfall.

Rather than a card today, I thought I would share some more of Bill's and my photo's from a few weeks back.


Mine:

 Bill's:

Thanks for visiting today.  Enjoy your day!

Pauline

Sandhill Cranes & More

Well here we are the start of another week.  Hope you had a good weekend.  Rather than a card to share with you today, I decided to post some of Bill's and my photos from the last month or so.

Yesterday during one of our outings we came across a couple  Sandhill Cranes - we did not expect to see these as were were looking for hawks. I have quite a few pictures to share so will spread them out over a couple of blog posts.

Enjoy the show, click on them to enlarge:

Pauline's:

 

 

 

Bill's

 

 

 

Up next, I'll be posting my St. Patrick Day card, then some  more photo's.  Stay tuned!

Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Birds #3

Hello all, and happy Labour Day! It's nice to have an extra long weekend isn't it?  And back to school starts tomorrow as well.  I know in the US a lot of schools have already started their school year in August.

Well it's been quite a day so far.  I was doing a load of laundry and my drier died! :(.  So good thing I have clothes lines. It's over 100 again today, so with that heat it dried them pretty quickly along with the bit of breeze.  Then about 5 min ago winds picked up and the sky darkened, thunder and lightening,  and then the heavens opened up - torrential downpour and strong winds.  When the weather gets this hot it's always a trigger for Tornadoes! (I did manage to grab the clothes before all this started.) The heavy winds also tore off our Gazebo top ( canvas), ripped the 2 corners and away it went!

Well lets get back to why you are really here - too see some more of our photographs.  These were taken around our area over the last couple of weekends. Enjoy the show.  (for larger image please click the picture).

 

 I was at the kitchen sink and just happened to look out the back kitchen window and saw this guy sitting looking for his dinner! Bill was able to capture some pictures of him.  He wasn't successful in his catch so off he flew after about 10 min.  We get these guys a lot especially fall and winter. 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  I'm sure I'll have more to come soon.
Have a great day!

Pauline

Summer birds #2

I don't have a card to share today, but I do have some more of our birding photographs.  These were taken over the past few weekends. Most of these are Bill's photo's, to tell the difference between mine and Bill's, if you look at the bottom right hand corner of each photo, if my name is first, then I took it, if Bill's is first then he took it! Fall migration is starting to happen, as we are seeing more birds each weekend moving through the area and heading south for the winter. 

So sit back and enjoy the show! (click each to enlarge).

 

I have a few more pictures, but for some reason they wouldn't upload.  I will have Bill take a look and do another post next week.  I hope you enjoyed these.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pauline

Birds of Summer

I thought I would give you a break from my cards and decided to share some bird photo's that Bill & I took back in July. These were taken in Northern Ontario.  It was a long drive 5 hrs each way, and we did these on Saturday day trips. Left at 4am and got home around 9 pm.  Yes, we are a bit crazy aren't we? Hey, if you want to get certain birds you need to travel to where they are.

The first section are pictures that I captured, and the second is what Bill took. I had a hard time deciding on which ones to post as we have many to choose from.  These are some of our favourites. To see a closer up view you can click on each picture.


My pictures:

This juvenile male wood duck was just moving ever so slightly across a small little pond just off the road way when we arrived. 

 

 We were sitting in the car on the side of a dirt road, and I happened to see something moving in the trees behind the fence line.  All of a sudden this Flicker was flying toward the car, and he landed about 20 feet in front of me on top of a bird house! How cool was that?  Bill is saying "there you go, he is right in front of you, hurry up take the picture" as these birds are very skittish, so I was panicking, trying to focus and click away, I managed 3 good pictures of this guy! I"m surprised he sat as long as he did.

 

This next bird, is the whole reason we traveled so far .  This is a Golden Winged Warbler,  and we were thrilled beyond words when we found him.  We have tried to see this bird during spring migration here in SW Ontario at Pt Pelee, but always seemed that  we were never in the right spot at the right time when it is spotted.  So after a few years of trying to photograph this beautiful bird we were successful! If you look closely you can see his tongue as he is singing!

 

A Common Yellowthroat Warbler landed on a branch as he was fluttering around.

 

Another pose of the Golden Winged Warbler - looks like he has lunch in his beak!

 

As we decided to head home (on our 2nd visit to this area)  we were traveling down another dirt road and Bill happened to see this guy wandering around in the meadow.  This is a Sandhill Crane. 

 

Next up, and last for my photo's is the Male American Redstart.  

 

 Bill's Photos:

A Common Yellowthroat Warbler - looks like he has his meal all planned! Not one but two worms!

 

Sandhill Crane - this was taken the first time we ventured up to this area. 

 

The Golden Winged Warbler - love him perched against this branch covered in lichen. He sat for quite a while as we photographed him .

 

And lastly, another pose of the Common Yellowthroat Warbler.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  I have some more to share of this past weekend.  Will post those next week.

Have a wonderful day!

Pauline