The colours, the light, and the backdrops - dead branches, tall grass, pine, leafy deciduous, or at times, a field of peonies. While I love capturing a bird I’ve never seen before (a lifer in birding parlance), or capturing the sunlight illuminating a colourful warbler, what really motivates me is taming the composition with the bird as a focal point to a broader, hopefully stunning, pattern. Not all the photos below fit that ideal, but you might get the idea.
This is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker I stumbled upon while shooting an Eastern Redbud in bloom. And it goes to show you don’t need to be at the more popular birding destinations (Ojibway or Pelee) to discover a bird you’ve never seen before.
An Indigo Bunting at Ojibway Prairie Complex.
A Yellow Warbler at Point Pelee National Park.
A Pine Warbler at the St. Clair National Wildlife Area in Chatham-Kent.
Two Common Yellowthroats at Point Pelee National Park.
An American Redstart (f) at Point Pelee National Park.
An American Redstart at the Ojibway Prairie Complex.
These photos of soaring Sandhill Cranes are some of my favourite and I can’t choose just one. These were taken at the St. Clair National Wildlife Area.
A Red-winged Blackbird in a field of tall grass on Mitchell’s Bay.
A Baltimore Oriole seen in a field of peonies at Fleur de Roy in Chatham-Kent.
A Red-winged Blackbird seen in a field of peonies at Fleur de Roy in Chatham-Kent.
An Eastern Kingbird seen in a field of peonies at Fleur de Roy in Chatham-Kent.
A Cedar Waxwing on the Chrysler Greenway near Paquette Corners.
This Cedar Waxwing was pictured at Point Pelee National Park.