The Coots Are Back!

When i first began watching and photographing birds it seemed to me that coots were somewhat common and could be seen at local ponds regularly. Last year it seemed coots were almost non existent here on the avalon or as far as i could tell. Now in recent days it seems coots are once again being spotted all over town and this time I'm making sure i get my fill of images before they disappear again.

Besides the few coots around i haven't lucked out with finding any other real interesting birds. On Tuesday fellow photographer Brad James called me with a frantic tone to his voice, "FEMALE LONG -TAILED DUCK AT POND ROAD!!! FULL FRAME SHOTS!!" When i herd those words come out of his mouth i gobbled down my supper and rushed to Kelligrews with hopes of getting some images of this duck. Long Tailed Ducks are quite common around the coast of Newfoundland. However seeing one up close is unheard of. 

When i arrived sure enough the duck was there...but about 200ft away. I decided to wait and see if it would work its way back towards me and Brad. After what seemed like a very long time i decided the light was fading quickly and the chances of this bird staying in the little back pond were slim. So i did what any mental patient or bird photographer would do. I walked across the river in my sneakers and cotton pants in order to be on the same side as the duck. That was a bust, by the time i got in position to shoot the duck had begun feeding closer to the side i was originally on. At this point i really was unsure i was going to get a decent shot. I was wet, cold and far from clean lying in the muddy grass but i walked back around to the other side. Sure enough we got in position and the duck began to work towards us. The sound of our cameras made the duck curious of us. This behaviour is also how i got my images of the coots above. 

The duck made a few close dives before the light faded but in that short time i did get this one image. I cant complain! Not every day you get photo opportunities like this one. It was something Brad & I will certainly remember for years to come.

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Also on Tuesday i filled up a few feeders at Neville's Pond here in Paradise. The feeders have already been visited by the following species:

Junco

Chickadees

Song Sparrow

Blue Jay

Common Grackle

If things keep going the way they are i predict that by winter the feeders will be swamped with birds. Hopefully something real interesting will visit such as a Chaffinch or a Hoary Redpoll. If things go as planned my next post will involve a review of my new Canon 7D Mark ii and possibly some images of my feeder set up!

Purple Sandpipers at Cape Spear

Over the weekend brad and i decided to check out the purple sandpipers that winter annually at Cape Spear. When we arrived the sun was just starting to rise so we waited on the icy rocks and tried to spot the flock being flushed from the large waves. After a few minutes we spotted them flying by, and slowly made our way down to the waters edge which was coated in ice created by the salt spray.

The waves are so unpredictable at the cape making it extremely dangerous to shoot there on even good summer days, so what we do to be safer is one of use goes close to the water to shoot while the other is making sure there are no large waves coming and also looking for other birds in the distance such as dovkies, Black gullimonts, Common Eider and long tail ducks all of which we did see!

Its risky but we are extremely cautious and are willing to do what we have to the get the shot. As you can see we got some memorable shots!

This winter hit hard dumping a lot of snow fast, resulting in the birds to move elsewhere for shelter hopefully soon we will have more to share, expect a post about some feeder set-ups we have been thinking of and maybe some eagle close ups?

 

Winter Time In Newfoundland

 Winter time in Newfoundland is a long cold season filled with storms and constant bitter winds.
December more specifically is a hard month for photography, as I look back through my photos I have very few during this month. Friday I get out of school for Christmas break and I can not wait to have some time to go photographing local birds and try some winter landscape photos.

The cold temperatures this past moth have most bodies of water frozen solid, concentrating any birds to the remaining patches of water. This gives great opportunities for diving duck photography.
In past years Brad and I have photographed mostly tufted ducks in the month of December. This will be my first season using my new Canon 300mm F2.8 is usm ii so I am excited to see what the difference in quality my images will be on this species. All shots in this post were taken with my old 300mm F4 during December.

A few species me and brad are hoping to get the chance to photograph this winter include:

Ivory Gull
Bald Eagles
Common & Red breasted Mergansers
Common Golden Eye
Peregrine Falcon
Dovekie
Northern Shrike (Seen one in my yard in 2012!)

All species listed were seen more then once last year giving us a false hope we will see them this winter. But each season is a new one and for all we know we may never photograph all of these species but that doesn't mean we wont try! Another thing we are planning on having a few outings to photograph are the seals that congregate in Holyrood and the Caribou on the southern shore.

In just a few days the annual St. Johns Christmas bird count will be happening which is always exciting because almost every year there are good birds found. Winter is here and the Holidays are apon us. Keep your feeders filled and enjoy the birds of the winter!