Sometimes, not too often, but on occasion, a bird has been in a perfect spot for a humorous quip opportunity. This was just such an opportunity with this mourning dove we spotted on our walk to Whitby Harbour last night. The swan babies were quite funny in their own right as well.
This past weekend, we had to run my son up to a camp for some training. This meant we'd be passing Beaverton again on the way back down. We had wanted to go to a wetlands that has a trail running from Blackwater to Cannington, but we ended up in the town of beaverton instead. Luckily, becasue we walked down to the marina and we spotted cliff swallow nests on one of the houses that sat out over the waterway. They were peeking out and coming and going from their nests. Also, we popped over on the way to friends' again, and stopped to see the Osprey we had seen last weekend. The female was a bit alarmed this time, left the nest and circled us, calling. I took a few shots of her before we thought it better to leave her alone before she has a nervous breakdown. As soon as we got back in the car, she landed on the nest again. We headed over to have a BBQ and spend some time with friends before heading back home.
We had been hearing really close cries of some bird, that definitely is a bird of prey of some sort. Now, last year, it was foxes that we had to figure out what the screeching originated from. This year, apparently, it is Osprey :-) How cool! We had seen them at the pier in Whitby Harbour, flying over head and I managed to get one (mediocre) shot lol! Then, low and behold, my boyfriend goes out in the morn and he texts me, "there's Osprey out here". Wow, they were circling right above the parking lot. So, we figure, There is the source of the sounds! Needless to say, an exciting quick walk the previous evening, netting 2 firsts as sighting goes for us....an Osprey and House Finch.
Both myself and my boyfriend are fairly new to bird spotting, having been introduced to it sort of by accident last summer. Living down by Whitby Harbour was the draw, and walks along the water. Then, the Smew frenzy in December happened, and we began discovering this whole world of avid and serious birders down here, and many from pretty far locations throughout Ontario, that come here.
I do not own a zoom that will fit on my DSLR, as of yet. The best I can get is with my manual Nikon Nikkor 105mm portrait lens that i used on my old FE.
