***Disclaimer 1*** below are not some of the nicer/pretty pictures from 2013; they're rustic/documentation style-pictures, that for some reason I really like. I'll do my best to tell you why I like them with a brief paragraph/caption. If you want to see pretty pictures from 2013, check other people's blogs out...! :)
***Disclaimer 2*** these aren't all the highlights (obviously) from 2013; just the one's that I have pictures.
***Disclaimer 3*** some of these pictures aren't mine, however, I have provided ownership to them.
***Disclaimer 4*** and yes, I do, still have a blog, that I occasionally write in...
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| Alvan Buckley and I found a spanking male King Eider, no less on Lake Huron, in the marina of Goderich in early January! |
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| My old roomate, Andrew, and I were heading back from the Windsor area working. We checked out the Ridgetown lagoons, where I picked out this bad-boy, 'Bewick's' Swan! Pretty darn sweet! There are 2 historic records of this subspecies in Ontario! Photograph by Mark Cunningham. |
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| Another 'work adventure', I found this drake Eurasian Wigeon in late April near Grand Bend. |
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| My Dad, Jim, and I were birding the lakeshore along Haldimand (a great place to go birding!), where I picked out this female Eurasian Wigeon! I must say that this was a really satisfying bird! |
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| My girlfriend, Lillian, and I spent a weekend tearing up Pelee Island in late April. Besides these 24 Willets, we found PROW, LOWA, BLGR(!!!), LBDO and twitched Vandermeulen's LASP at Erieau. A pretty solid start to birding with the ole gf! |
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| This is a shitty pic (no offense Josh!), but one I really like for 2 reasons: 1) its a Prothonotary! and 2) it essentially captures the essence of my Masters (which I completed in 2013!). Photo by Josh Vandermeulen. |
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| Not too many people get to see baby Prothonotaries...! These are the eggs from Pelee Island. Photo by Graeme Gibson. |
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| A bizarre location for an American Bittern, no? This one was in the Sparrow Field, at Point Pelee in early May. |
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| There's a theme here...alot of these pics were taken with my phone...through my scope...! I really like taking pictures thru my phone, as I really like 'documentation style' photos! This, a Laughing Gull, flew into the tip at Point Pelee in early May. |
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| We found this swanky Hudsonian Godwit near Lake of the Woods, on May 21st, 2013 in a flooded field. The drake BWTE provides some decent size comparison. |
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| I really like this picture. This Brewer's Blackbirdgave some stellar looks, as we watched the HUGO (above) near Lake of the Woods. |
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| My Dad and I spent a nice weekend up north on the Canada Day long weekend, basking in Breeding Bird Survey awesomeness. We had 2 routes that were really different, but just nice to bird. We had most of the Boreal specialities, like this loud Greater Yellowlegs! |
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| After successfully twitching the Brown Booby in Fort Erie in early October (I was there on the 1st full day after it was found), I was pretty shocked as it flew by me at the tip of Long Point on October 31st! It was actually kinda funny seeing it. I wasn't super pysched, I just thought it was funny, and pretty cool that I 'got' another new Long Point bird! |
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| While I know other people could get WAAAAYYY better photos, I was happy with this Purple Sandpiper, my first at Long Point. |
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| What would be a year without out "the" Red-shouldered Hawk???!!!! I first found this guy back in high-school (2003); he's still hanging around every winter. I sure hope he'll keep coming back for a few more winters! |
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| Rough-legged Hawks are darn common in north Waterloo Region. This year, the Linwood CBC had 119!! Pretty darn high! Photograph taken by Mark Cunningham. |
