Unforgettably, I missed the good days... Yet I was out to catch it in reverse. A top secret site on the great lake shoreline provided me a prime place to observe several record early FALL migrants, returning southwards as the cold air returned to the province.
All from the date of Jan 27, 2012:
Canada Goose - 9000 (many were "fall migrants" but not all)
Mute Swan - 8
Gadwall - 10 (Some were "fall migrants" but not all)
American Black Duck - 100 (many were "fall migrants" but not all)
Mallard - 2000 (many were "fall migrants" but not all)
Northern Pintail - 12
Redhead - 4
Greater Scaup - 300
Lesser Scaup - 15
Red-breasted Merganser - 20
American Coot - 5 (a surprise species on the list).
One of the coots was way out on the open lake water with a Long-tailed Duck! Birds sure do strange things on fall migration.
Obviously a new thing, but not totally unexpected. Cold weather has caused "record early" fall migrations in Ontario pretty much continually from this time (late January) right through until late December... A pretty obvious pattern, from these ducks (Jan), to blackbirds/killdeer in February snowstorms, meadowlarks/tree swallows in March/April... to neotropic migrants fleeing cold spells in May, to shorebirds in June!
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If you haven't had enough fun already, here's some food for thought:
Anyone think that is worthy of copyright infringement?
If so, I sure hope Bruce Mactavish (Nfld) doesn't sue me, as I went to Newfoundland to try and imitate his spectacular Ivory Gull photos........
That's funny, the bird, the ice, the light all in the style BM would use. A potential copyright infringement. I don't remember but if you did Mactavish's impersonation of a dead seal you are in trouble.
ReplyDeleteThe article from Amateur Photography Magazine is a little misleading...from what I understand, the copycat (a tea company) stole the first image from the photographer and used it for its own advertising purposes. The tea company was sued, a settlement was reached, and they stopped using that image. The tea company then got its graphic designers to create a slightly different image by stitching together 4 photos of the buildings and adding a stock photo of the red bus.
ReplyDeletehttp://travelphotographyreview.com/uk-copyright-case-different-same-same
So I think its ok to take a photo like Bruce's Ivory Gull :)