Horned Owl

Chores at home have kept me away from my photography, but today I was determined to get some fresh air and take my cameras with me. I set off on foot in the direction of the Borden Wetlands which are but a stone's throw away from my house, although the walk is much further as I have to walk around the seemingly endless wall which borders the Fischer Hallman road:


The wetlands are not really user-friendly and I honestly did not hold much hope of seeing anything other than this little chickadee, which I photographed as it performed acrobatics in its attempts at getting to the seeds in the photos:


The wetlands are just that, very wet in the open areas and elsewhere are shrouded by a high canopy of leaves held up on the branches of some really tall trees. It does not have the same friendly feel as Lakeside Park. Every step you take comes with the snap of a broken twig or rustle of dead leaves. The ducks and geese there are very wary of any noise or movement, and rightly so. With no forewarning, a large hawk flew past to my left and landed some distance ahead of me. I approached as near as I thought I could without spooking the bird and took a solid stance to be sure of no camera shake at that distance. I focused in on something with ears. This was no hawk, it was a horned owl, another first for me:


I attempted to get closer for a more detailed shot and kept behind the tree trunks as I stepped closer. I looked out but somehow could not see the owl. Had it flown away or was I just unable to locate the horned owl? I pulled up my camera and used it as a telescope. I scanned the branches ahead and saw the blurred wings of the owl as it flew towards me. Its camouflage had me fooled. I was disappointed with myself and started the walk home. Crunching my way on a carpet of fall leaves which suddenly came to life as this garter snake quickly got out of my way:


Copyright © wildlakeside.blogpot.com 2019 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.
Location: Borden Wetlands, Kitchener, ON N2E, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thrushes and Blue-Winged Teal

Image
I must admit that I am no expert when it comes to thrushes in Ontario. I am well acquainted with thrushes in the UK, but these guys have completely different names. I will do my best to hopefully identify correctly. There are I believe two possible candidates,  Swainson's thrush and the hermit thrush. Very similar-looking birds. One outstanding difference between them appears to be a white ring around the eye of the hermit thrush compared to a buffy eyering on Swainson's thrush. Another distinguishing detail is the colour of their tailfeathers. The hermit thrush has more of a cinnamon colour to its tailfeathers, and this photo does show that. A white eyering and cinnamon tailfeathers, I'm going with a hermit thrush. This photo also shows both the cinnamon tailfeathers and the white eyering. There were many of these thrushes working their way through the leaf litter of the woodland on the far side of Shoemaker Lake. They were very sensitive to any movement. I h
Read more

A Coyote, an Osprey and a Goldfish

Image
I never know what I'll find when I go to Lakeside Park, and sometimes it isn't what I find, rather what finds me. Partly hidden behind the woodland's latticework of twigs and fallen branches, this coyote knew I was there. It could definitely hear my clumsy rubber boots and with the wind coming from behind me, it also had the advantage of scent, but it hadn't seen me yet. I knew that I only had a few moments, if that, to capture some photographs. My autofocus struggled, as did the coyote's sight, to cut through all of the obstructions between us, but I did somehow manage a few shots before the coyote disappeared into the undergrowth.  The unexpected often catches me unprepared. A little earlier in the morning, I was attempting to take a photo of the first migratory warbler that I have seen this year, a yellow-rumped warbler. The warbler would not sit still for an instant, and in the course of attempting to relocate the warbler, I was entirely ta
Read more

A Welcome Return

Image
Lakeside Park has always felt welcoming, and it was an unscheduled return on a dull, misty morning in September that saw me tracing my steps from a year ago. I wondered what would be different and what would be unchanged. The black-crowned night heron's willow tree was uncustomarily empty. The long outstretched branch of the willow which reached out over the water had been a favoured roost, but it held nothing. Perhaps I'd catch sight of the beaver out amongst the lilypads, bobbing up and down as it dabbled in the shallows with its feet, searching for tasty roots. But again, there was nothing. The lake appeared eerily still.  And then my vision started to return. Through the mist, a familiar shape came into sharp relief. A grey silhouette dwarfed by the tall reeds on the far bank. It was tiptoeing its way along the length of a partly submerged branch. I had never observed the night heron hunting, but there it was. There was no light, no detail, just grain and layers in shades o
Read more