The lake had just frozen over and this female mallard was taking her first tentative steps on its surface. She was pretty surefooted and didn’t slip once as I watched her. There are at least thirty mallard pairs that remain at the reserve all winter and we normally see them on the river side of the reserve where some of the water remains ice free. This is the the first of two sets of photographs I took of this mallard which I’ll be featuring in the next week or so.
February 2 was Groundhog Day in Canada and the U.S. and it was reported that the “official” Canadian groundhogs did not see their shadows (yes we have two). The story goes that when this happens we’re in for an early spring. If this holds true, I’ll be featuring ducks in open water before too long!

Nuthatches are tiny aerial wizards and acrobats hanging onto trees at impossible angles. They obligingly remain all year, these first two shots were taken in early January. I like their distinctive nasal call, which is often heard before they make an appearance. Normally quite shy, nuthatches are more assertive during the winter hoping for some seed as I pass them along the trail.

I featured this eastern screech owl earlier in the month. In that series he was inside a tree cavity, on this day he was perched on a broken tree branch nearby. As this owl blends in so well with his surroundings, if I hadn’t been looking for him where I’d seen him before I would have missed him. All three photos had a tremendous colour cast caused by the leaves. In the first two, I used the Color Balance and Hue/Saturation in Photoshop to correct it. The colour cast was too pronounced in the third photo to fix, so I turned it into a black and white using Tonality Pro in Photoshop. As someone said, any day you spot an owl is a good day, this was an excellent day!

When I set up my gear that morning I was hoping to take some photographs of hooded mergansers I had seen the day before. They usually remain just out of range of my favoured lens, so I had my 300mm lens with me instead. There were no mergansers that day but I did come across these wood ducks along the lakefront. I couldn’t move back far enough to capture the entire bird so I took portrait shots instead. No two days in photography are the same. There are disappointments sometimes, but I know before too long something else will strike me and I’m off…

Palm Warblers are known to stay low or on the ground but this bird went his own way and remained high up in the pines, darting in and out of the branches catching insects in mid flight. You have to be patient with warblers but the rewards are worth it. In the eastern part of the country we are treated to yellow palm warblers, the western variety are a duller colour. These warblers migrate through our region in the spring and fall. After spending the winter months due south (the birds not me), I look forward to their return again in May.

Chickadees are the most acrobatic of birds and they’re fun to capture as they fly in and land nearby. They never stay still for long so I’m always pleased to get a decent close up shot. As the weather gets colder they do linger a little longer though hoping for some seed from passersby. They are also one of the few birds that can lower their body temperature to conserve energy on cold winter nights.

Cardinals are “all weather” birds that remain throughout the year and I have photographed them in every season. This was taken in October on a day when the light was nicely filtered and both the bird and the background colour mesh well together. The conditions were perfect with a very cooperative subject in no hurry to leave.

For two years in a row we’ve seen a solitary eastern screech owl in the reserve. As they blend in so well, you have to search hard to find them. We came upon this owl last April, and we continued to see it for several weeks in the hollow of the tree or perched on a nearby branch. I look forward to seeing one again this spring.

Although relatively common, I had never seen a northern shoveler before and couldn’t believe my luck when I spotted this solitary shoveler in late November. Their spatula-shaped bills give them a distinctive and comical appearance. We went back to the same area in the reserve for several days in a row and saw him each time. However, when we returned after a snowfall to check on him he had left. Like other Canadian “snowbirds” he was headed south no doubt.

The eastern phoebe in this photo landed in the perfect place to be photographed. The fall leaves add an additional bit of colour to the scene. This was taken in October. The bird could be looking back at the summer just ended. (I know I was.) Phoebes are a sure sign that spring is on its way as they are one of the first migrants to return to our area. I look forward to spotting my first one of the season.

I usually see downy woodpeckers on the vertical as they work their way up and down tree trunks searching for insects. So it was nice to see the first bird in a landing pattern on the tree branch if only for a minute. It was windy that day and it had ruffled his head feathers. I came upon the second bird as he was feeding on Staghorn Sumac something I’ve only seen in the fall. Most of the year they seem to prefer an insect diet.

The owl was perched in a tree just off the main pathway when someone pointed it out to us. We had walked by minutes before and hadn’t seen it. We took our share of photographs, the owl was quiet and watchful but in no hurry to fly off. The light was tricky that morning, so I made some exposure, contrast and highlight adjustments in Lightroom.
This is not the first time a stranger in the park has shared what he had seen with us. You often meet the nicest people in the most unexpected places.

These yellow-rumped warbler photographs were taken in April during the spring migration. It can be a little easier to capture them when the trees are just budding than in the fall when the leaves provide them with cover. (Spring takes its time arriving here.) As with all warblers, they’re lightening fast and can take off before you raise your camera to your eye. It’s always a good day when you catch a few of these warblers on the fly!

I love these conspicuous birds. Cardinals are hard to miss and now that the trees are bare and there’s little snow cover to brighten things up, they add some colour to a flat, dull landscape. They are one of the few birds that don’t migrate so I hope to see more of them as winter progresses. A nice reward for tramping through the woods at -10 Celsius!

With the cold weather here the reserve is pretty quiet but the mallards are a constant presence and quite a few pairs remain throughout the winter months. These two photos were taken earlier in the fall. The lake now has a sheen of ice on it but even when it freezes solid a thin stretch by the shore remains open; luckily for the ducks and other animals who inhabit the forest year round. You often hear the the ducks before you see them these days, a cheering sound that slices through the cold December air.

We were coming to the end of our walk when I spotted this peregrine falcon perched on a log in the water. It’s a lucky spot as over the years a number of animals have stopped by it, from frogs and turtles to mink and birds. But that day the log belonged to this peregrine beauty. He stood there, walked around a bit and cooled off in the lake. I fired off as many shots as I could in the 15 minutes he stayed put. I have seen these birds flying overhead, or up in the tree canopy but never this close up. Have to say it was a bit of a thrill.