Winter is one of my favourite seasons to head out birding and photograph the many species found throughout our area at this time of year. Unfortunately, with winter now half over, I have only ventured out a few times with my camera. It’s not that I’ve lost interest in photography, I have been dealing with some persistent back issues that have made walking quite painful.
Those of you who know me personally are aware that it was because of a back injury I became so interested in photography. Back in 2013 after herniating a disk in my lower back I was told if I walked every day and did physiotherapy the issue would likely resolve in 4-6 weeks. At that time, I spent every day walking with my camera and taking pictures. Each afternoon after doing my exercises I would lay flat on either heat or ice (whichever felt best at the time) and watch YouTube videos about the various elements of photography. The following day I would try to improve on these elements during my walk.
This regimen really helped improve my photography but when it came to my back I had plateaued and surgery was required. Following a successful surgery, I was encouraged to keep walking and exercising to maintain a healthy back. This is one reason why I am now such an avid walker. Walking keeps me active and relatively pain-free. Without it, my pain goes up and my mood goes down, so getting out for a walk every day is very important to me. The combination of physical exercise and being surrounded by nature is incredibly beneficial to my mental health as well. I typically take my camera with me on these daily walks to capture the abundance of wildife I encounter along the way.
Last November, this all changed when walking started to become painful. As a result, my walks have been much shorter, slower, and I have been leaving my camera behind as I have not wanted to carry the extra weight. This is why the lack of blog posts recently and so few Facebook updates. I appreciate everyone who has continued to follow during this hiatus and welcome the new subscribers who have been patiently waiting for a post to show up in their inboxes. More x-rays and another MRI helped my physiotherapist come up with a plan of attack, which resulted in new exercises as well as some old favourites, which to my delight, has me feeling much improved. I decided it was time to bundle up and head out with camera in tow to see what I could photograph.
Wanting to ease myself back into things, I decided to visit Greenway Park, one of my absolute favourite winter birding locations. The flat ground combined with a lack of snow and ice (the City of London does an amazing job keeping the paved path plowed and salted) would make for easy walking and the adjacent Thames River and surrounding woodlots provides the perfect habitat for a variety of bird species.
After parking my car and gathering my gear, I followed the river upstream. As usual, there were plenty of Mallards and Canada Geese in the river around the dock hoping to be fed by park goers. Two Muscovy Ducks sat on a fallen log close to the bank nicely sheltered from the cold wind. I could hear the high pitched calls of a Brown Creeper so scanned the nearby Willow Tree. The bird briefly came into sight, but I was unable to get a photo. Luckily, Brown Creepers are very predictable. If you are not familiar with the behaviour of a Brown Creeper they cling to tree trunks similar to woodpeckers and nuthatches looking for food. After ascending the trunk they then fly to the bottom of the next tree and repeat the process. This makes them easy to photograph once located and as result I was able to position myself for a series of shots.
Making my way past the westernmost soccer field, I noticed a goose with some interesting field marks. The bird’s white cheek patch was larger than that of a Canada Goose and its head and neck were mottled brown and white not black. The body resembled a Canada Goose but the bird had orange legs. A prior report on eBird suggested this goose may be a hybrid between a Canada Goose and a Swan Goose, which seems reasonable based on its appearance. Swan Geese are native to Mongolia and China but have been domesticated in North America. I can’t say definitively what this was, other than an interesting sighting for sure.
Near the small island just downstream from the CN overpass, a single Long-tailed Duck swam amongst a group of Common Mergansers. Common Goldeneyes were also present. These ducks were all a little too far away to achieve a quality image. At the far end of the park, a Red-tailed Hawk surveyed the open meadow from high atop a platform the city erected in hopes of attracting a nesting pair of Osprey.
Heading west back towards my car, a Bald Eagle made its way upstream. I quickly turned my camera’s dial to adjust the exposure to compensate for the heavy cloud cover. Achieving focus, I held down the shutter and captured several images.
Buckthorn Trees line a section of riverbank in the park and as a result, it is not uncommon to find American Robins here in winter feeding on any remaining berries. In one small tree, I counted seven robins. As I walked past, I could barely hear their soft calls. During the winter months, robins are much less vocal than in spring when they are regularly heard calling quite loudly at first and last light. Northern Cardinals were also observed in the park feeding on Buckthorn berries.
Most of the waterfowl on this day were close to the near bank as this provided shelter from the wind. Looking over the edge into the water, I noticed a Double-crested Cormorant standing at the water’s edge. Three Great Blue Herons were also observed along the near bank one of which was struggling to swallow a large fish. I estimate this fish to be about 20″ long and watched for several minutes as the heron made repeated futile attempts at swallowing its prey. Eventually, the heron gave up and dropped the fish. I could see the fish’s white belly on the bottom of the river just in front of the heron. Not wanting to interrupt this bird from a potential meal on a cold day, I carried on.
Before reaching my car, a young White-tailed Buck made its way into the woodlot behind the parking lot. As it climbed the ridge entering Woodland Cemetery it paused long enough for a few photos.
After such a long hiatus from shooting it was absolutely amazing to be back out with my camera at one of my favourite locations. Greenway Park did not disappoint (it never does)! Much of the wildlife in Greenway Park is accustomed to human activity so a long telephoto lens is not necessary to capture images of many of these species. Before upgrading my lens, I was quite proud of the images I achieved with a 250 mm kit lens while birding at this amazing park. If you get the opportunity this winter, head down to Greenway Park and enjoy the vast array of wildlife that inhabits this great park.
Good birding,
Paul
