Migration Highlights 2012
Thursday, 10 May, 2012
The last couple of weeks have been very exciting because, in my humble opinion, it is the most wonderful time of the year. The migration of millions of birds into Ontario is exciting to observe and a challenge to photograph. The wacky spring of 2012 will go into the record books for a variety of reasons, especially the heat wave in March. I was even golfing that week! These above-average temperatures spurred the growth of all the dormant plants including trees and flowers, shortened the maple syrup season and has devastated Ontario’s tender fruit industry.
Fortunately this did not effect the migration of birds whose activities are determined by the amount of light in a day or photoperiod. These photoperiods are very predictable and most beneficial to the birds since the timing of their arrival often coincides with plants flowering and insect hatches. From a photography point of view, this is one of the best times of the year to capture birds in their finest breeding plumage. It is also a great time to find birds that are normally difficult to locate because they stay in the canopy but during their travels they are looking for food closer to the ground.
This year, in our continual quest for birds and photographic opportunities, we travelled to Lake Hope State Park in Ohio and Rondeau Provincial Park in Ontario. Lake Hope State Park is where Matthew Studebaker hosts one of his photographic workshops. Matthew is a most amazing photographer whose work I have long admired and who connected with me through the photo-sharing website, Flickr. Matthew runs a variety of workshops throughout the continent targeting a variety of species. The best review I can give is that it’s not a matter if I take another workshop, it is a matter of when. You can see Matthew’s work at his website www.studebakerbirds.com
At the Lake Hope workshop, we were trying for a number of resident species, a few of which I have never seen before or have only seen high in the canopy. Despite the sometimes inclement weather, the 4-day workshop was a success but I’ll let you be the judge based on the following images. Who knows, one day one or more may appear on a calendar.
Cerulean Warbler - Lake Hope State Park - listed as Vulnerable in the US and Endangered in Canada
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
My first Warbler of 2012 - Yellow-rumped Warbler
Prothonatory Warbler - Lake Hope State Park - listed as Endangered in Canada
Kentucky Warbler - Lake Hope State Park - only rarely seen in southern Ontario
American Redstart - Lake Hope State Park - population is of least concern
Northern Parula - Lake Hope State Park - status listed as least concern
Worm-eating Warbler - Lake Hope State Park - infrequently seen in southern Ontario
Yellow-throated Warbler - Lake Hope State Park - infrequently seen in southern Ontario
Dianne and I took our tent-trailer to Rondeau this year instead of staying in a hotel. Staying in the campground was very quiet and we couldn’t help but notice that the veteran campers had oriole and hummingbird feeders all set up with frequent visitors. The weather was certainly warm enough but we did experience some rain and the dark overcast conditions created some difficult conditions for photography.
Upon reflection I think a few things were against us beside the weather. We had arrived early and the birds haven't arrived en masse yet. The ones that were there were in the treetops. I have a theory that the warm spring has the leaves almost out in full meaning that the insects they are feeding on are up in the canopy so there wasn’t any need to be down low where we were are. Each year we try to visit one of the migration magnetics, Long Point, Rondeau or Point Pelee. We keep coming back to Rondeau for its diversity,trails and relaxed friendly attendees.
We also are amazed at how quick word travels through the park when a rarity is spotted. We just happened to be on a trail called Pony Barn and every birder we came across asked about the American Bittern. As it turns out the Bittern was actively feeding in a shallow pond and it was quite an attraction for an entire day.
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Rondeau Provincial Park
Canada Warbler - Rondeau Provincial Park
Ovenbird - Rondeau Provincial Park
Magnolia Warbler - Rondeau Provincial Park
Scarlet Tanager - Rondeau Provincial Park
I am still working on my new website so you still can’t leave any comments unless you wanted to drop me an email to arni@pixelz.ca
I will have more pictures from our trip up in a couple of weeks, in the meantime, thanks for dropping by!
