The Winter Kinglet at Halls Rd.

Early January, we went for a walk on a really pretty sunny Sunday. We decided to go to our old favourite haunt, that we loved so much, and with the hopes of seeing a lot of birds.

It was so bright and sunny, and right in the middle of our little hike, little flurried began to fall. They were sparkly and gorgeous, back lit by the brilliant sunlight. It was stunning!

There indeed were quite a few birds. Lots of nut hatches, and Downy woodpeckers, there were blue jays, and tons of Chickadees as usual, and Juncos and a couple sparrows. The woodpecker, a boy, actually made the move to come and eat out of the container of seeds we brought with us. I am assuming he was hungry, mainly because in the past, only the females have been brave enough to feed from our hands. That, and it has been maybe twice only in a 5 year period that a woodpecker has even come to our hands to feed.

We actually learned something new this day as well. John spotted a tiny bird hopping around in one of the pine trees. Upon c loser look at it, we were surprised to see it was a Golden Crowned Kinglet. We had no idea they stayed in Ontario during the winter. Once we got home, we were able to research and find out that they actually Prefer colder weather, and they travel further North in Summer, and for breeding.

Old Haunt Visit on New Years Day

Happy New Year to all!

Here's to hoping that 2016 brings only the best to everyone and to our world, Earth.

Husband and I took a walk to our old stomping grounds, Halls Rd., east of Toronto, on our way to an 85th birthday party of my friend's Dad. He is an awesome person and still goin' strong, living life to the fullest, at 85 :-)

It was a fairly dull grey day though the sun did come out After we'd left our walk and were at the party, of course lol! But, it was still an enjoyable time visiting the marsh, the paths, and the shoreline of Lake Ontario. It was not too cold, there was some wind out on the lake which created some nice waves. There were the usual cute creatures, the grey squirrel, red squirrel, the black capped chickadees, one lone little American tree sparrow, the red cardinal flitted by (no pics of the little bugger).

As we left, along the road, we saw a couple photographers standing outside their pulled over vehicle. One person was crouching further away, on the new cement paths that lead into Lynde Shores, apparently he/she had spotted something. These guys had large lenses, maybe 600mm, one with lots of camouflage on themselves and the cameras.

Because we had to slow and proceed with caution I guess is why John spotted a small hawk like looking bird land on a dead upright tree trunk just to our left. I grabbed my camera and peered through my lens. It looked to me to be a small falcon like shaped bird. Right away I'm thinking American Kestrel. It indeed Was! What a treat, and I believe it is a male. I took some pics out the car window, then when it changed to a tree behind, I got out and took some outside the car. The light was too dull for me to get real sharp images, especially given the distance of the bird still was not idea, a bit too far for my 300mm lens, plus the image stabilization made for some not too great haloing sort of bordering around the bird when I tried to correct the values in my RAW image. But hey, we were so thrilled to get to see this gorgeous little bird again! It's been a couple years since we've had the pleasure of spotting one.

I guess what the other photographers saw was probably the mate to this bird, as they were back behind us, and I guess were sighting the female.

All and all, a nice walk in our old much loved conservation area where we used to live.

Eerie, Wonderous Morning Landscapes!

Yesterday was dismal and grey but a neat venture considering our cool large fossil rock find. 

This morning, we were awake at 6:30 again and by 7am we decided to venture out. Lucky we were not put off by the grey looking west sky view.  We saw the most spectacular atmospheric landscapes I think I've personally ever seen. On top of that, we got to see a muskrat, deer, and have blue jays land on John's hand. 

All in all, a spectacular experience all around, at Halls Rd., Whitby, Ontario this morning.