An epic birding day just as I use to do: Went on one of my epic bird tours on Sunday April 23, 2023. I covered over 300kms here in Southern Ontario and was gone 10 minutes shy of 12...

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An epic birding day just as I use to do

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Apr 25, 2023 00:54:14 #

gtilford Loc: Woodstock, Ontario, Canada

Went on one of my epic bird tours on Sunday April 23, 2023. I covered over 300kms here in Southern Ontario and was gone 10 minutes shy of 12 hours but what a day. Started on the back roads in Brant County and found two Trumpeter Swans making their home on a large pond. From there I headed to Ruthven Park and spend a great amount of time here, I managed some great first of the year finds while here and took a few shots of the historic house. From there I headed back west and ended up in Turkey Point where I got to witness an amazing courting display being put on by over 40 Red-breasted Mergansers there may have been more as they were hard to count between diving for food and chasing each other all over the water. Left there and headed to Long Point and was able to see the most amazing display was while I was watching what I thought to be 8 Great Egrets a Bald Eagle came along and scared the group up and into the air where I managed to get a shot of 14 of them gliding overhead. Photos I am posting with this are not the best as the day was dreary, but they show the incredible numbers in a couple of my day's encounters. Then I am including a couple of photos of two birds that have hounded me over the years to try and capture a great shot and it happened finally. Photos shot with the Nikon d300 and Sigma 100-400mm except the last three which I used my Panasonic FZ1000ii, jpegs straight out of camera.

Red-breasted Mergansers fighting over mates with Bonaparte's Gulls overhead