Merry Christmas!

 

Photo of Hooded Merganser

This duck has eluded my camera for years. Either I don't have a camera with me when I spot one or it's out of range. This fellow was just barely in range for my latest walking-around set-up (70-200 + 1.7x TC), but it's the best I've got …so far.

HOODED MERGANSER (Lophodytes cucullatus)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
+ TC-17E II 2x teleconverter (handheld)
1/800 sec, f/4.8, ISO 320

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of Eastern Phoebe

The Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) is a small passerine and one of the flycatchers that breeds in eastern North America. The Eastern Phoebe sings its familiar “fee-bee” song throughout Ontario in spring and summer. They arrive early in the spring and their late departure allow them to nest twice a season. Bees and wasps are favorite food of Eastern Phoebes, along with beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers and flies. These birds have a wide, flat bill, and hairy bristles at the base of their bills to help them funnel insects into their mouths.

EASTERN PHOEBE (Sayornis phoebe)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens
+ TC-20E III 2x teleconverter
on tripod with Jobu Black Widow HD gimbal head
1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Mallard and friend

The following photos are of a Mallard drake (Anas Platyrhynchos) and a domestic duck that seems to have joined the flock of wild birds. Almost all varieties of domesticated ducks are descended from the Mallard, apart from the Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata), so it’s not so unusual for a domesticated duck to return to the wild and join it’s free-roaming relatives.

The domesticated duck seems to be female as it lacks a curled feather (the drake feather) on top of its tail. I also saw it flying alongside an obvious male as though the two had paired up (see last photo in this sequence).

 

 
MALLARD DRAKE (Anas Platyrhynchos)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens
+ 1.4x teleconverter (handheld)
1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 320

 
DOMESTICATED MALLARD DUCK (Anas Platyrhynchos)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens
+ 1.4x teleconverter (handheld)
1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO 400

DOMESTICATED MALLARD DUCK (Anas Platyrhynchos)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens
+ 1.4x teleconverter (handheld)
1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO 400

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photos of birds in flight

Here is a sequence of several birds in flight that I took over the past couple of weeks. Birds in flight give one the opportunity to discover areas of the plumage of various birds that are not always obvious when the bird is perched or swimming, and colours that are not otherwise seen become visible. These are wild birds, but in the final image there is a domestic duck (left) beside a Mallard drake. Apparently these two have paired up.

 
CANADA GOOSE (Branta canadensis)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
+ 1.4x teleconverter (handheld)
1/2000 sec, f/4, ISO 400

 

MALLARD DUCK (Anas Platyrhynchos)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
+ 1.4x teleconverter (handheld)
1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO 400

 

BELTED KINGFISHER (Megaceryle alcyon)

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
+ 1.4x teleconverter (handheld)
1/2500 sec, f/4, ISO 400

 

MALLARD DRAKE (Anas Platyrhynchos) AND DOMESTIC DUCK

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
+ 1.4x teleconverter (handheld)
1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO 400

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Great Egret

The Great Egret (Ardea alba) was a common sight this past fall in Burlington. These birds were seen in the shallow ponds at the widening of Grindstone Creek at Valley Inn on the border of Hamilton and Burlington in Ontario, Canada. At one point, I observed 11 of these giant white beauties all within camera range.

Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens
+ TC-20E III 2x teleconverter on tripod with Jobu Black Widow HD gimbal head
1/200 sec, f/8, ISO 200

 

 
Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens
+ TC-20E III 2x teleconverter on tripod with Jobu Black Widow HD gimbal head
1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 200

 

 
Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens
+ TC-20E III 2x teleconverter on tripod with Jobu Black Widow HD gimbal head
1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 200

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of a Chickadee

T he Black-capped Chickadee is found throughout Canada, from the island of Newfoundland to the British Columbia coast (except for the coastal islands) and northwards to the southern Yukon and Northwest Territories. It lives in tree-covered areas, including woodlots and orchards, often digging nest-holes in the rotting wood of trees. They are a common sight in my area year-round. They are tiny, measuring only 12 to 15 cm from bill-tip to tail-tip. The best known of their 15 different calls is the chickadee-dee-dee call that gives the bird its name.

 

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (Poecile atricapillus)

Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon
Nikkor AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 lens 
1/640 sec, f/4, ISO 320

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Peregrine Falcon

This shot, taken in the rain, is of a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) who lives at Mountsberg Raptor Centre, a part of Mountsberg Conservation Area located at Campbellville (Milton), Ontario, Canada. Unfortunately, many of the Raptor Centre’s resident birds have injuries that have left them incapable of surviving on their own in the wild.

PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco peregrinus)

Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon, AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8 lens 
on tripod with Jobu Black Widow HD gimbal head
1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of Bufflehead ducks

Late-fall and cold winter days are made more pleasant by the presence of the sort of waterfowl we do not see in the warm weather months. At this time of the year, ducks, geese, swans and dozens of other types of waterfowl flock to our corner of Lake Ontario either as transients or as winter residents. Among these are numerous Bufflehead ducks. From a distance, Buffleheads might look like black and white birds, but the right light and the right angle reveal a different story.

BUFFLEHEAD (Bucephala albeola)

Nikon D300 DSLR
AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G IF-ED lens
Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 1.4x Teleconverter
1/1250 sec, f/4, ISO 400 (handheld)

 

BUFFLEHEAD (Bucephala albeola)

Nikon D300 DSLR, Nikkor 300mm f/4 lens
Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 1.4x Teleconverter
1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 (handheld)

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photos of Goldeneye ducks

We who live in Ontario are fortunate to have so many types of waterfowl over-winter in our province. Burlington, situated as it is at the extreme north-western end of Lake Ontario, becomes the temporary home of hundreds of waterfowl covering dozens of species.

Among the nicest to photograph is the Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), a medium-sized duck with a chunky body and large greenish-black head.

COMMON GOLDENEYE MALE

Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon, AF VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens
400MM, 1/750 sec, f/11, ISO 200

 

COMMON GOLDENEYE FEMALE

Nikon D300 DSLR Nikon, AF VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens
400MM, 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of a Bufflehead duck

The more I use it, the more I like the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Its versatility is virtually unlimited, especially when mated with teleconverters of various strengths and the 1.5x crop factor of Nikon's DX format. I used a 1.4x teleconverter for this image at La Salle Park.

BUFFLEHEAD (Bucephala albeola)

Nikon D300 DSLR
AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G IF-ED lens
Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 1.4x Teleconverter
1/1000 sec, f/4, ISO 400 (handheld)

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of Trumpeter Swan cygnet

This cygnet is a member of the herd of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) at La Salle Park in Burlington on the shores of Lake Ontario, and is a product of Ontario's Trumpeter Swan Restoration project. Swans from the restoration project don't know how to fully migrate. However, they need to winter in a place with open water shallow enough to tip to the bottom for food. La Salle Park provides just that.

About 200 swans winter at LaSalle Park, arriving in November. They practise a small migration, coming from other places in Ontario like Wye Marsh near Midland or Kirkland Lake or North Bay. Volunteers, Beverly and Ray Kingdon, spend hours banding and registering tag numbers to identify individual birds, their nesting and migrating patterns, their mates and their longevity. The Kingdons also feed the birds about 100 lbs of untreated corn a day (always corn never bread).

Thanks to Beverly and Ray's efforts and to other volunteers of the Trumpeter Swan Restoration project, the endangered Trumpeter Swan population in Ontario is now well over 1,000. When Harry Lumsden started Ontario’s Trumpeter Swan Restoration program in 1982, Trumpeters had not been seen for almost 100 years.

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of Kokanee the Cougar

The Cougar (Puma concolor), also known as puma or mountain lion is our country’s largest cat—and a beautiful one at that. This eight-year-old is named Kokanee. He was born in captivity and hand raised. For this reason he cannot live in the wild and so he is a permanent resident at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre in Ontario, Canada.  Quite extraordinarily, Kokanee is housed with his best friend Kootenay, a large Black Bear.

According to the Muskoka Wildlife Centre, evidence of cougars has recently been found in Ontario, though scientists aren’t sure whether it is from a remnant of the original population or from cougars that escaped from zoos or private owners. Cougars are elusive animals and will usually be found in wilderness areas far from human development.

I took this photo while attending a photography workshop several months ago led by wildlife photographer Raymond Barlow (http://raymondbarlowworkshops.blogspot.com/). Workshop participants were not allowed inside the enclosure with the bear and cougar, but we were allowed inside the outer safety barrier so we could get right up to the chain link fence.

COUGAR

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens
1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 (handheld)

 

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of Grey Wolf

This fellow lives at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre in Ontario, Canada. I attended a photography workshop there several months ago led by wildlife photographer Raymond Barlow (raymondbarlowworkshops.blogspot.com). Some of the resident animals are ex-pets or were abandoned, while others were injured in the wild and are now un-releasable.

For the workshop, we were allowed inside the very large enclosure in which these wolves are kept. Quite an experience being up close to these magnificent creatures.

GREY WOLF

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.

Photo of Chipmunk

This little fellow was seen on a recent walk in the west-end of Burlington, near Lake Ontario. I’m using my walk-about gear which is light-weight for carrying and hand-holding: Nikon D300 DSLR and Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens plus a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter.

 

CHIPMUNK

Nikon D300 DSLR
Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens
Kenko 1.4x teleconverter
1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 320 (handheld)

 

© 2010 Russell G. Campbell
All rights reserved.