Busy times. Busy, busy times.
A Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) asleep in the sunshine and unseasonal heat. Grimsby, Ontario. All images, unless otherwise noted, are © John Degen.
When work keeps me from getting out into nature, I really feel it. This fall has so far kept me mostly in southern Ontario, with a brief, blissful visit to Sudbury for the annual Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival. I was reminded of the massive size of this country when, having left unseasonably warm weather in the south, I parked my car at the Sudbury Radisson in an intense snow flurry.
My bird count for 2024 stands at 154 species, fully 41 behind this day last year. Not only is that an indication of how little I’ve been able to get out there and track down the flying creatures, but it’s also a sign that I’ve been sat for too long in my own country. By this time last year, I’d enjoyed a couple of weeks in England and Iceland, padding my count with birds that just don’t make it to my own neighbourhood.
I’d hoped a spring journey to New York might bring me some coastal birds. Alas, that trip was cut short before I could really take advantage of the territory.
Glorious Central Park in April… alas no new birds for my list.
Nevertheless, the joy of spotting a beautiful bird cannot be reduced to mere counting. If I don’t manage to beat last year’s 202 species count, I will still have many, many photographs and memories to console me. There is a quick work trip to the Guadalajara Book Fair in central Mexico coming up in a couple of weeks. It seems doubtful I’ll manage the several dozen extra birds I need from the limited free time I’ll have there, but you can bet I’m taking my camera and bird guides with me. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, here are some of my favourite shots from recent weeks when I did manage to get myself out the door. I’ve been experimenting with manual settings on my camera, rather than just staying on auto-mode and letting the camera determine shutter, lens, and light sensitivity for me. These are skills I used to have with my old-school film camera back in the 80s and 90s, so I’m looking forward to rebuilding those muscles.
I love the rich tones of this Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca). I did see the Cinnamon Teal (Spatula cyanoptera) that visited Grimsby, but didn’t manage a usable photo.
The long lenses of Etobicoke were out recently for this Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) far from its coastal Atlantic home.
A Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) hunts a pond on Lake Ontario’s north shore.
This Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) gave me all the time I needed for my manual settings.
A fly-by of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator).
A red Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) on my northern feeder early in the year.
Read the full poem here. If you so desire.