BIRDQUEST2004

I go to Algonquin Park at least 5-10 times a year, there’s always something new and exciting to see.  Its a birding photographers dream.

My friends Mike and Rick came with me, grabbing a Timss in Arnprior….off we went at 5:30am.  Yup, won’t do it for fishing and hunting anymore but for birds, I still get that “I can’t sleep the night before going birding” reaction.

We knew about the Boreal Chickadee’s and Black-backed Woodpecker sightings at Spruce Boardwalk Trail.  Those two species were our main goal ad they didn’t disappoint.  Rick even had one feeding out of his hand, talk about bird whisperer.

A rather tame Red Fox looking for scraps, by tame I mean almost coming to your hand if you held it out….it followed us around the Spruce Boardwalk but gave up after a while, when it realized no food was available.

We totaled 26 species including a first of the year Red-shouldered Hawk near Poland on the way home.

We stopped to see the Great Gray on Huntmar and then found 2 hunting on March Valley Road, well after dark but I just had to try a few images, with not bad results.

Ciao for now…………………

One of the things I like the most about birding is meeting new people.  They come from all walks of life, rich, poor, young, old, male or female and they all have one thing in common, their love of birds.

On this trip I met a birder Steve Glynn, birder, author, husband and father.  He lives about 45 minutes from Cape May, NJ.  We first met up with him at the Lapwing site, where we told him about the Godwit and he passed on some interesting birds at Cape May.  Two day later we met at the Godwit site in Virginia, and spent the day with him.  We looked for the Caracara and had a great ferry ride to Cape May and talked about our birding travels.

Not many people are as driven to find birds as I am, Steve knows exactly where I am coming from.

He wrote a book, check it out on Amazon:

He was really helpful, gave us some great info about Cape May.

We found a few rarities but the big surprises were a lone Cave Swallow (thanks, Steve) and a Common Teal.

The photos below are not my best but they are better than what I had.

Ciao for now……..