Blue Jay

These pictures were taken on 11th May, 2008 in our back yard. They're very noisy but pretty to look at.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak, male

These pictures were taken on 8th May, 2008 in our back yard.

Goldfinch

These pictures were taken on 11th May 2008 in our backyard. I took a few pictures of these guys while we were in Texas. They sure are a lot more colorful at this time of year.

White Crowned Sparrows

These pictures were taken in our back yard on 6th May, 2008.

American Robin

This picture was taken in our back yard on 27th April, 2008. Robins usually migrate, but occasionally you'll see one that stays north all winter. It is believed that these are older Robins that just don't have the stamina to migrate.

Dark Eyed Junco

This picture was taken in our back yard on 26th April, 2008.

Sharp Shinned Hawk, male

This picture was taken on 21st April, 2008 in our back yard. Females are almost twice as large as males. Once their young have fledged, they continue to feed their young, but they do it in mid-air. The first of their offspring to come by gets the catch as the adult will sort of toss it in the air for the young one to catch.

Canada Goose

These pictures were taken in our back yard on May 1st, 2008. In our back yard we have three ponds and the largest one has an Island with a Ticki hut (Palapa) on it. This pair decided to nest on the roof of the Ticki hut. The female kept flying up and examining it but the eggs would have just rolled off because there's too much of a slant, so I put a board up on the back side so the eggs wouldn't roll off. Sure enough, she started laying eggs there and right now she's up there incubating them while the male stands guard below. They can be extremely aggressive during nesting. One morning another pair of Canada Geese flew in and the battle was on. The male of this pair got hold of the other ones head or neck (I couldn't tell which) and probably would have killed the other one if I hadn't gone out. When the male finally let go, those two intruders weren't long getting out of here and they haven't been back.

Northern Flicker, Yellow shafted

These pictures were taken in our back yard on 28th April, 2008. They are one of the few Woodpeckers that migrate. As well, although ocassionally they're seen pounding on trees like other Woodpeckers, they prefer eating on the ground. Their favourite food is ants and they're often seen pecking a hole in the ground and then insert their long barbed tongue to get the ants.

Purple Finch

These pictures were taken in our back yard on 28th April, 2008. Purple Finch's have been declining in numbers since the introduction of the House Finch.

Brown Headed Cowbird - Male

This picture was taken in our back yard on 26th April, 2008. Another name for Cowbirds is "Lazy bird". They've earned that title. They don't build nests of their own but instead lay their eggs in other birds' nest who then raise the chicks. Many times the cowbird chick is larger than the hosts' own chicks and will get most of the food and sometimes force the other chicks out of the nest. Not only do they lay their eggs in other birds nest but I've seen them remove and egg from the nest and then come back and lay an egg of it's own.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

These pictures were taken on 21st April, 2008 in our back yard. This is the most common Woodpecker in the southeast and has recently made it's way into southern Ontario. Although it's extending it's range and population, European Starlings take over about half of their nests.

Yellow rumped Warbler, Myrtle race, male

This picture was taken on 20th April, 2008 in our back yard. Audubon's and Myrtle Warblers were recently combined and called "Yellow Rumped Warblers".

Pine Warbler

These pictures were taken on 20th April, 2008 in our back yard. These pictures are quite as clear as I would like but these guys are hard to photograph because they're usually high up in a tree. This guy must be confused: he's a Pine Warbler but he's in a Maple tree.

Chipping Sparrow

This picture was taken on 21st April, 2008 in our back yard. He's a pretty common little guy but kind of cute with his rusty colored cap.

Belted Kingfisher, female

These pictures were taken on 19th April, 2008 at the edge of Lake Huron near our home. The male just has a white belly and the female has a rusty colored belt that circles their belly. On these pictures you can see that the belt doesn't go all the way around. Possibly it's an immature. If you know, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Hooded Merganser, male

This picture was taken on 14th April, 2008 in our back yard. For me, it's kind of a sad picture. For the last three years we've had a pair of Hooded Mergansers nest at the edge of the pond in our back yard. This year there was no female and the male only came once, sat at the edge of the pond for an hour or so and then left. I'm assuming that something has happened to the female.

Common Merganser

These pictures were taken on 16th April, 2008 in Lake Huron near our home. My mentor, Russ Chantler has been harrassing me telling me that if I want a good picture of a bird on the water, I have to get down to their level. These pictures were taken about six inches above water level with me laying on my belly at the waters edge with some blankets over me for camouflage. It wasn't a very comfortable position, but Russ is right, it does make for a much more dramatic picture.

Bufflehead Ducks

These pictures were taken on 16th April, 2008 on Lake Huron near our home. The picture shows two females being followed by a male.

Black Capped Chickadee

These pictures were taken on 19th & 21st April, 2008 in our back yard. These little guys are so tame that they'll land on your hand. I haven't been successful in doing that because I'm usually too busy with a camera in my hand.

Common Merganser

These pictures were taken on April 10th, 2008 in Lake Huron near our home just south of Port Elgin, Ontario. Mergansers are diving ducks whose main food source is fish. They usually nest in tree cavities and the young leave their nest when they are about one day old. When chicks are first born, the parents don't feed them, they forage for water insects themselves and when they're about 10 days old will switch mainly to fish as their diet. The top picture is the male and the lower one is the female.

Red-breasted Merganser

These pictures were taken on April 10th, 2008 in Lake Huron, near our home just south of Port Elgin, Ontario. They are a fairly large diving duck whose main diet is fish and other aquatic insects, crustaceans and frogs. The two top pictures are males while the bottom picture is a female.

Bufflehead Duck

This picture was taken on April 10th at the edge of Lake Huron near our home near Port Elgin, Ontario. Buffleheads are the smallest North American diving duck. They are also monogamus, staying with the same mate for years. They nest in abandoned Flicker tree cavities and cavities made by other woodpeckers.

Purple Martin

These pictures were taken on April 1st, 2008 at the High Island RV Park, High Island, Texas. Purple Martins very seldom ever touch the ground. All of their food is insects taken in the air and they even get water in flight by flying low over water and skimming the water with their lower mandible. Although Purple Martins entire diet is flying insects, they don't eat that many mosquito's. That's because they usually fly higher than mosquito's go. They very seldom take insects at ground level.

Roseate Spoonbill

These pictures were taken on March 23rd and 29th, 2008 at the High Island Rookery, High Island, Texas. I recently published a very similar flight shot to the one shown here. Actually, this shot was taken 1/3rd of a second before the other shot. Double click on the images and you'll see this shot is a little bit clearer and the wings show just a little bit better. The best technique for shooting flight shots is focus on the bird and hold the shutter button down so that you keep shooting as many shots as possible and then hope for the best. If you're lucky, you'll get one or two good ones.