Short-eared Owl (21)

Asio flammeus

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Date taken: Mar 16 2024

Wolfe Island Kingston – It was a good winter for this species on the island. Earlier in the year I had many but while there were only 4-5 remaining on this day, I was very pleased with the result. The nice thing about shorties is that they usually become active before dark, in this case 2 hours ahead, so getting acceptable photos in available light is possible.

Date uploaded: Mar 17

Comments (1):
Chris: A beautiful creature; super capture

Northern Shrike (21)

Lanius excubitor

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Date taken: Mar 16 2024

Wolfe Island (Kingston) - This was one of 5 shrikes I encountered that day, a record total for me. I figured that 2-3 of them were recent northbound migrants.
That is the actual colour of the bird. It's in transition.

Date uploaded: Mar 17

Comments (1):
Chris: Great photo and description.

White-rumped Sandpiper (41)

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Date taken: Oct 12 2023

Details: immature

Presqu'ile Provincial Park - On Gull Island. The walk over was much better than my trip in September. The water was only knee deep instead of waist deep and that was only for about two minutes of the walk. The rest was much shallower. Also the distance across had been shortened by 75%, making for about a five minute crossing.

Date uploaded: Oct 13 2023

Comments (2):
Ahmad Shah: Excellent find, nicely captured.
Brian Morin: I had almost given up on seeing this bird. Others had encountered it when they first arrived but I missed it. As I was leaving, a flock of Dunlin flew in and it was with them. It obligingly walked 3 metres in front of me.

Black-crowned Night Heron (68)

Nycticorax nycticorax

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Details: juvenile

Cornwall - It took me 8 trips to this site 5 minutes from home before I had a chance to get a shot of a night-heron. Persistence paid off.

Date uploaded: Aug 17 2023

Comments (3):
Chris: Love the contents of the photo!
Sue Bishop: Such a cutie. It was worth the effort.

Sandhill Crane (75)

Grus canadensis

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Details: adult

South Lancaster - I had to be at the site by 5:15 a.m. to make sure I'd see the crane family head from the marsh to an adjacent soybean field. My shooting window today lasted about 3 minutes with the best shots in the first minute. Usually it is about 20 seconds.

Date uploaded: Jul 14 2023

Comments (3):
Sue Bishop: Excellent capture, Brian. It was worth getting up for.
BrianMorin: It was. This was across from Cooper Marsh.

Western Grebe (41)

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Details: adult, outside normal range

Port Credit - This bird has put in an annual appearance for four years. It usually sticks around for a few weeks then moves about Lake Ontario and eventually heads to the Prairies. I went to see it last year but it was 150 metres out in the lake. Needless to say the speck in the middle of the shot was not very convincing. I spent the entire morning hoping for a close approach and had success a couple of times as it moved from far out to shore. It was always on the move and usually that was underwater. It can easily swim beneath the waves for several minutes and cover a great distance. It prefers underwater to flight or even swimming. It never flew.

Date uploaded: Mar 30 2023

Comments (4):
Sue Bishop: Wonderful find and capture Brian!!
BrianMorin: It was worth the trip and the delay of a year to have it at less than 8 metres.

Snowy Owl (216)

Nyctea scandiaca

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Date taken: Feb 8 2023

Details: male, adult

Kingston - Wolfe Island - I had 7 owls of a probable 8-10 birds there this winter. Most did not present very well and adult males are notoriously skittish making shots like this a challenge. Their caution is for good reason because females always chase them away and wouldn't hesitate to have one for dinner. This is a very poor year for Snowy Owls, with most remaining in the Arctic. The area had the North American high for Christmas bird counts this year (8 birds). To show the potential, I think the all-time record was 80+ birds some years ago. I had 53 in 2014. When there is a bumper crop of voles in the area coinciding with plenty of owls heading south we can get results like that. This is the third consecutive year with low numbers in all of Southern Canada.

Date uploaded: Feb 9 2023

Comments (2):
Chris: Terrific to see and hear the background. Looks like an old male 😊
BrianMorin: Old indeed. Surprisingly there were three withing a few kilometres. That's a high percentage of birds in the area compared with the ratio I usually see in Eastern Ontario when males represent one in 10 females at best and sometime one in 20.

Great Hornbill (8)

Buceros bicornis

(Near-threatened)

Krish

India

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Date taken: Jan 18 2023

Details: adult

They are large birds with a wingspan of 152cm (60inch). The casque on top of their bills are hollow, concave and serve no known purpose. They are monogamous and often build their nests in the same place every year. Before mating, they clean up the nesting hollow and engage in a little courtship involving food exchange. The female will spend increasing amounts of time inside the nest. When the eggs are laid, she sheds her breast feathers and seals herself inside the nest, leaving a vertical slit for the male to feed her. Here we see their pre-mating preparations.

Date uploaded: Jan 19 2023

Comments (5):
BrianMorin: Stills can be excellent but in this case the video does a better job of capturing the action.
Chris: Fabulous bird and video. Really good to see they continue to survive with their habitat requirements…despite our ongoing encroachment in many places

Anna's Hummingbird (27)

Calypte anna

Chris

Canada (British Columbia)

After an unprecedented week of extreme weather, with temperatures below -10C and a snow storm of 35cm, the Anna's Hummingbirds were pushed to the limit. I found this one hiding in a hedge. We've kept the water from freezing as much as possible. As with so many bird photos, the story behind the photo makes for a lasting memory. Happy Holidays to all.

Date uploaded: Dec 23 2022

Comments (4):
BrianMorin: Believe it or not your situation at the time was a carbon copy of our own, right down the the amount, which fell the day before our Christmas bird count. I hope your little guy makes it through. At this point for him it is all about food.
Chris: Stay safe out there, especially with this latest storm.

Purple Gallinule (15)

Porphyrio martinica

Brian Morin

Canada (Ontario)

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Details: juvenile, outside normal range

Oshawa - The bird has been present for several days and remains in a tight area for viewing but you may be waiting for an hour or two while it makes the rounds in the cattails. I waited and it walked very close several times, once at 3 metres. I got it as soon as I arrived but after 15 minutes of on again off again viewing it disappeared and I left after an additional hour of waiting.

Date uploaded: Nov 10 2022

Comments (6):
Chris: What a find. I don’t recall details on Canadian records…but assume very rare.
BrianMorin: There have been a few Ontario records, usually juveniles, but they are still rare. This was a life bird for many new birders and a new Ontario bird for me. I missed an adult five years ago despite two attempts. Yesterday the bird was literally seconds from being lunch for a Cooper's Hawk. The bird had it firmly clutched in its talons and was taking off when it was startled to see an observer very close by. It dropped the bird and the observer picked it up, examined it and noting no issues, released it into the cattails. That's as close as it gets.