First Visit to Tiny Marsh

Work took me northwards yesterday, and I spent about 10 minutes at Tiny Marsh (mainly just wanted to see the place!) and was very impressed. I had about 40 Black Terns feeding in a condensed area (60-70 total), a family of Common Loons, American Bittern, Virginia Rail, Osprey, Sandhill Cranes, etc. - all in that very short time frame at mid day. Kind of makes me wish I had a place like this right close to home, as it would be a lot of fun to check regularly.

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This spring on Pelee/Pelee Island, I managed a number of "record shots" of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, which were really moving through (multiple birds almost every day I think). 

In the end, I decided to delete most of them, and really only saved these gull "record shots". Above, is a Herring X Great Black-bakced Gull hybrid (about 2 years old), towards the left. On the far right, is a very bleached Thayer's Gull. Take a look at the below image to see some of the dark wing markings that haven't been bleached yet (because they're protected from the elements by the folded feathers when the bird is standing):

Jenn and I had a Lesser Black-backed Gull in Prince Edward County on June 8th, along with a really late "Kumlien's" Iceland Gull at the same spot! Unlike the bleached Thayer's above, that shows lots of brown, this bird had worn to essentially pure white! No photos unfortunately

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I've been spending some time trying to get my old insect photos online, which isn't done yet, but moving along well. 

(one of my favourite bug photos: Mottled Darner at Algonquin Park)

Not that I've had much time to look, but it's prime time for Dragonflying in Ontario right now! I'm always surprised that more birders aren't interested in insects like dragonflies - they're really just an additional "family" of birds to learn, with all the same excitement (eg,/ shorebirds, sparrows, warblers and dragonflies). 

I help look after a google group, dedicated to dragonflies in Ontario (Ont-odes), and if you're interested in seeing a bit more of what Ontario has to offer, it's a good place to start.. Here's the link:

http://groups.google.com/group/Ont-Odes

We're currently at 63 members, and always looking to grow. Some spectacular (and very rare) dragonfly photos have been sent out in just the last few days, including Arrowhead Spiketail, and Spatterdock Darner! -- But, at the same time, the group is open for any manner of sightings (unlike Ontbirds, which is apparently just for rare birds)...  

Be sure to sign up!

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Hopefully more things for the blog soon.. Some things I hope to get done sometime in the next month or so include:

--- Book review of the "Crossley ID Guide"

--- Book Review of "Hawks at a Distance"

--- Equipment review of the new Vortex Viper HD Binoculars (just got my hands on them a few days ago)

--- my thoughts about online Nature photography forums

--- and I still have a good collection of photos taken from spring migration!

And more! So keep checking back. A day or two ago the blog passed 30,000 visits, so I'm glad to see some people are reading these ramblings!  :)