Spring has arrived !

This past Saturday brad and I spent the morning at a marsh near my house. Our main objective was to capture some photos of a snipe calling from a post. However that is not as easy as you would think. Snipe are renowned for being probably the most secretive bird out there. They can throw there voice as we found out real quickly and they also are extremely good at blending into there environment. But then again that's how they survive!

The shot above I got Thursday afternoon after school. It may have been a fluke because we did not get the same opportunity to get a shot of a snipe like this on Saturday. We will be keeping our eye on this wetland by my house in hopes of getting a photo of a snipe calling from a post !
So Saturday we did not luck out on the snipe...so we did what anyone else would of, we photographed what we could. Which wasn't all that much but we make the best of our outings because we only get out on Saturdays ! Savannah sparrows were looking great amongst the cattails so we did get some shots of them. I think they are probably the best shots we have ever gotten of this very common species!

 

 

 

 

The tree swallows are slowly coming back and they have not been wasting any time. One pair has been back for only a few days and have already began nest construction !

June is only a few days away and it is by far the best month of the year for photographing birds on the island of Newfoundland. Of course brad and I are EXTREAMLY busy this up coming month. I have exams in school and brad has some traveling to do. So by the sounds of it the blog may be a bit slow. BUT I am having a member of parks Canada check some of our owl boxes in a few days and we also have a little announcement to make eventually. Stay tuned its about to get crazy

A look ahead into spring

Spring is making its self known on the island of Newfoundland. Over the last few warm days buds on some trees are looking like they are ready to pop. Some year round birds are singing along with a small number of early arrivals and the grasses are getting their rich green colour. Yellow-Rumped warblers are now returning and the first broods of ducklings are emerging.
Nature photographers like Brad and I (Brendan) have been highly anticipating the southern winds to bring the song birds of summer back to their breeding grounds. Some of the first songbirds like Tree swallow's, Yellow warblers and sparrows should be well on their way back to the island by mid may. When they arrive the race is on to find a mate, claim territory and begin the duties of nest building.

One thing Brad and I have been doing differently this year compared to other years is visualizing shots we would like to get and then doing things in advance before the birds arrive to ensure we are going to get the shots we had in mind. Such as putting perches in place for the birds to land on near the nest boxes or even scoping out locations we are going to be shooting before we go to shoot there in summer so we know which way the sun will rise and set, also small things like what kinds of flowers will be growing there or what species we have seen there in the past. All this adds up to make sure we get the most out of the few days we get to shoot.

We have decided to focus on common birds this year more then we usually would because really these birds are very often over looked and can make great subjects ! Some of these birds include: Swamp Sparrow, Yellow Rumped Warbler, American Black Duck, Northern Pintail, Northern Flicker. Also this year we are planning on really getting into using camo gear as much as possible because thinking back on last year; we missed a lot of shots that we could of easily nailed had we been camouflaged.

 

As promised here is a quick review of the jobu Jr.3 Gimbal head that is used by both Brad and I.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9DvkFxUfiQ

 

Cape St.Marys Ecological Reserve!

As promised, Brad and I (Brendan) headed to Cape St.Marys for our annual spring trip to photograph some sea birds and horned larks. When we arrived at the cape (7:30) we got out of the car and it was similar to being in a wind tunnel.....WINDY! we had hoped for no rain or fog and lucky enough there was not any rain or fog but be had not planned on gale force winds... We had planned to use our Kiwk camo blinds and my Bluetooth speaker to photograph the Horned larks but we knew that the wind would simply blow our blinds away and with so much wind the larks probably couldn't hear the speaker anyways. But we did get a couple shots, not the quality we were hoping for but at least its something !

After we scraped the idea of photographing larks we headed over to bird rock which as you can see from the picture below is home to hundreds of nesting gannets for the next few months. The over cast day was the type of lighting we needed to get the exposures of the white birds just right.

 

 

              While at the cape we were able to see multiple birds of prey including many eagles, a peregrine falcon and what we believe to be a Gyrfalcon ! With such a concentration of nesting birds its easy to see why these raptors would hang around for an easy meal !

Me and brad have seen numerous pictures of gannets and their colonies but we tried to get something "different" and unique so we tried a lot of different angles.

Later this upcoming week we will do a video review on the tripod head, the Jobu Jr Gimbal head ! and maybe our Kwik camo blinds !

The slow return of spring & a nest box update !

Brad and Myself (Brendan) have been blocked with building nest boxes and other nesting structures so far this spring. We are expecting the return of tree swallows by the end of this week or early next week so we are in a rush to get the boxes up and ready to go. There is a lot more work in maintaining over some 30 owl boxes and countless tree swallow boxes because every spring we must clean them out and repair ones that people beat up or that naturally rot over time. I also have repaired 2 "hen houses" for black ducks and mallards to nest in. Below are a few shots of hen houses being built and in action.

Also Brad and I were able to get out over the weekend in the rainy weather to check out some of our boxes. Although there are none in our boxes yet, Keith Brown at butterpot park has a male owl hanging around one of his boxes so, now we wait to see if he will find a female !
Below is a short video we took on the lower salmonier line while checking boxes.

You can expect to see some bird pictures in the upcoming week of some new migrants and maybe a review of my NEW canon 300mm f2.8 is L usm ii. We will also try to do a review of the Jobu Jr3 Gimbal Head that both Brad and I use.

 

Junco Taken at Nevilles Pond

 

 One of many Wigeon at Nevilles Pond


Osprey Nest in Terrenceville where we have a photography blind setup

Also this weekend we are making our annual trip to the famous Cape St.Marys Ecological Reserve for some shots of horned larks, gannets, kitty wakes, murres and maybe caribou ! Stay tuned, spring has arrived.

 

Life On The Edge - Purple Sandpipers !

Saturday morning me and brad made our way out to butterpot park to do an early check of our boxes. We were there before the sun was up so we would have some time for photography later in the day. Although there was no sign of owls in our boxes that doesn't mean we wont get any. After all it is still pretty early in the year. Next weekend me and my dad are heading to Terra Nova National Park to set up some boxes for owls an common goldeneye with the help of some park rangers and a federal permit we are on our way !

After we checked our boxes we decided to head to cape spear to have one more secession with the purple sandpipers that call the rocks around cape spear home for a few cold months each year. We knew that the birds would soon be migrating north and we wouldn't see another one until next winter so we were really hoping to be able to see them one more time.

 

And see them we did ! There had been 40-50 reported to be left at the point but from my photos i took of the group in flight we had somewhere around 70-80 birds which was defiantly a plus !
Purple sandpipers are medium sized shore birds that live on sheer rock faces literally feet from the raging north Atlantic. They breed in the high Arctic during the short summer season up there and then make there way to the cliffs around cape spear to feed and spend the winter
Photo from here: https://www.google.ca/search?q=purple+sandpiper+migration+map&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=1MBFUauJC6mU2QXro4G4DQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=783#imgrc=vuYmUd3rdQIxXM%3A%3BA_sc-phqS2LNCM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fsdakotabirds.com%252Fspecies%252Fmaps%252Fpurple_sandpiper_map_small.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fsdakotabirds.com%252Fspecies%252Fpurple_sandpiper_info.htm%3B421%3B300

Purple sandpipers are easy birds to photograph but they are always in difficult places to get to and often very dangerous. But like any birder or bird photographer the excitement of seeing purple sandpipers is defiantly worth it.

Below are some of mine and Brads Favourite shots of the day !

 

 

 

 

Third Boreal Owl Nest Box Outing

Well this past weekend brendan and I got out to setup a few more boxes. It was such a beautiful day. Barely a cloud in the sky and the tress were covered in snow. We didnt get out as many boxes as we had hoped but we did put together this video from the days adventure. Hope you enjoy it and we should soon have a section up showing step by step on how to build a nest box. We're also included some photos from the day.

Here is a view from the road side as you head to Cape Spear

Female Pintail from Bowring Park

Next weekend we will be heading out to either butterpot park to check our boxes and maybe place a few more there or we will try and do some photography. we are both very excited for spring but with the dead of winter apon us its hard to think about nice hot sunny days shooting for hours without feeling like you have frostbitten hands and feet.



Below you can clearly see where an owl has swooped down and captured s vole !

Bird Feeding

Backyard bird feeding can be a great way to attract a variety of birds that you can photograph with a few tricks. The best thing to do first is to establish your bird feeder to the birds, basically let the birds get comfortable in your yard. Its always good to provide shrubs or trees in your yard so the birds can hide in them if a hawk comes..and believe me they will !

Over the last 3 years i have seen 12 species of birds and have been able to get some nice views from my window !

Below i am going to explain how i have attracted these birds to my yard and how you can too !

1. Trees and Shrubs I have only one tree in my yard and i get such a large amount of snow in my yard in winter that most trees don't make it even when i cover them up. So i did the next best thing and that was to bring trees i cut down from behind my house in the woods. The trees i have in my yard have been there for 4 months and are still green and look natural.

2. Multiple Feeding Stations I know many people that have had great success from placing only one feeder out and get lots of birds. But i am going to exlpain what works for me. I have 6 feeding stations so that when bigger birds like Starlings or Northern Flickers come to feed they wont scare away the smaller birds like juncos or goldfinches. The idea basically is so that they can go to other feeders and keep their distances from the bigger birds

3. Providing a Range of Bird Food I offer the most common and most effective bird seed Black Oil Sunflower Seeds which are the norm for almost anyone who feeds birds. If you want to get real into it and are planing on feeding the birds for while then you can offer Suet for Woodpeckers, Peanuts for jays and chick-a-dees also nuthatch come for them too.Nijger seed is a little pricey but is a very small seed that pine siskins,goldfinch and purple finch love!

4. Have Patients !!!It might take sometime before the birds become frequent at your feeders but they always remember where they have fed in the past and are sure to return.


Both Brad and I have had sucess at bird feeders and capturing amazing images !

The most hated bird at my feeders....Starlings, AKA black birds. They destroy the suet blocks i put out for the woodpeckers.