536 results found

Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
Mar 12 2025
adult, winter plummage, outside normal range
Barraute - There has been a major irruption from the Arctic in Abitibi County. It was my second trip this winter and this time I had 51 birds in two days. The experience was terrific.
Mar 17
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
Copyright Chris
Birdviewing.com
May 11 2024
Long Point, Ontario. It's been at least 5 years since I've been able to capture this species.
May 15 2024
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
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.
Mar 17 2024
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
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.
Mar 17 2024
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
White-rumped Sandpiper (55)
Oct 12 2023
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.
Oct 13 2023
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
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.
Aug 17 2023
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
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.
Jul 14 2023
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
Western Grebe (55)
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.
Mar 30 2023
Copyright Brian Morin
Birdviewing.com
Feb 8 2023
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.
Feb 9 2023