So far, they have successfully raised two broods of little ones in the nest box we put up in the field right behind our mailbox!   Every morning I am home, I go check out their activity on my morning walks.  Below is a photo of one of the young of the first brood.   The juvenile bluebirds have brown/grey streaking on their breasts.

At this point the second brood of little ones has fledged and they are flying around far and wide.   Though my goal this summer has been to get a photo of the parents actually feeding the young outside of the box, I have not achieved that yet!  Regardless, I have witnessed all the different delicious foods the parents are catching and taking inside the box to feed their babies, and have seen the first set of little ones hunting for their own food.   So that’s pretty good.   See if you can figure out what’s on the menu in the photos below.

Raising young is busy work!

But totally worth it- look at these babies!

In the next little while I will be keeping my eye out for the second batch of babies- they just fledged yesterday.  Wish me luck!

The post Life is Better in Blue appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

On our way into Booth Lake we found a baby loon and its parents.

Though the baby loon was occasionally diving under the water, mostly it just bobbed around on top waiting for its parents to feed it little fish and leeches.

We were quite struck by the helplessness of the little creature, floating around out there in the middle of a large lake. But its parents were taking really good care of it, sticking close and constantly calling in low hoots.   That evening we went out looking for the little loon again, but instead found these characters:

A group of adult loons was floating around near the shore, gathering for the night. Your guess is as good as mine as to what they were doing here.

On the way out of the park we found a family with two babies and had a great time watching them. The babies just followed the parents around peeping for food, and taking turns peering down into the water to see what’s there.

The highlight was watching one of the babies climb onto its parent’s back, and settle in. Toooo cute!

Thanks for visiting my blog- I am just beyond excited after having spent time watching these beautiful birds from the bottom of our canoe.

The post Little Loons appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Great Egret

Early in May I headed out for my birding marathon- a highlight for me every spring!   I spend from early morning until evening trying to find as many species of birds as I can in one day.   I spent the morning around my house and the rest of the day down in Brighton, mostly at Presqu’ile Park.    There are a lot of Great Egrets nesting on the lake this year, so it was lovely to see them.

Red winged Blackbird

I saw more Red Winged Blackbirds than any other bird- they are very obvious and loud in the spring!   By the end of the day I had found 96 species of birds- which is very close to the total I get most years.   Very fun!

Barred Owl and Owlet

A few trips to the woods behind the gravel pit near my house yielded a very vocal pair of Barred Owls, and eventually, a baby!   I waited in the woods for hours one buggy May morning and was rewarded with seeing the mother owl hunt a chipmunk and then feed it to her baby.   I love how the baby is snuggled up to the mom in this photo.

Ellie

I took a late May trip out to BC to see my son and his wife, and spent lots of time exploring beautiful BC with my grand puppy Ellie.

Oh my

We even found Sasquatch!

Spring fling

When I got home, life in my neighbourhood was running at full speed!  The highlight is the pair of Eastern Bluebirds who have decided to raise their family in one of the nest boxes we put up in the field across the street.

Mama building a home

One morning I got to watch the female Bluebird carrying nest material to the box.   The male sat up on the telephone wire singing to her the whole time, and catching up to her and mating when he could.

She only took an hour or so to build the nest like she liked it.

Baby bluebirds

This morning I tried to sit still as long as I could, and finally captured the shy baby bluebirds as they surveyed the field near their nest box. The mom and dad are already working on another brood, and don’t seem to pay much attention to them anymore, but they seem just fine and are hunting bugs on their own, especially in the early morning.

I am really looking forward to getting to know these little birds more this summer!

Take care and thanks for visiting!

Leslie

The post And The World Comes Alive ! appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

I’m a spy, an outsider
Armed with telephoto capability
Uninvited I stare
Insulated, from my car

A nine dollar ferry crossing- cash only
Brings me to you
Your all-you-can-eat buffet
And a taste of your wildness

Your golden eyes enchant

Haunt. Stare. Hunt.
Like ghosts you appear out of nowhere
When the sun sinks low in the sky

In the last 90 minutes of daylight
Suddenly your round white forms are everywhere
I lose count
And try not to slide off the road and into the water

Just for now you’re resting here
On this tiny island in the ocean-lake
By the dozens- look at you all!
How can this be?

How do you know to come here
After flying over parking lots, shopping malls, forests
Who whispers of this rural feast
Dinner squeaking and rustling under the grass

How do you know
Do you hear? Do you smell?
Is it passed down from your parents
Or told through screams and flight

You’re on your way home to a place
No human has ever seen
Mysterious, barren, cold
Ellesmere, Ungava, the eternal summer sun

So today I’ll sit with you
Slow my breath
Maybe you’ll habituate to my presence
In other words, forget about me

Maybe I can watch you in your world
For a few moments
Capture it without your permission
And keep it

Hold your image
Captive
In a box of wires and light
Keep you with me forever

The post Wild things appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Where did these mitts and I travel this month and what did we find?

Well, we spent a lot of time down by the north shore of Lake Ontario.   The ice formations there are spectacular!

Paper thin leaves of ice form on calm days.   Over time the ice piles up and the wind and waves build surreal sculptures.

Miraculously, this chilling landscape is home to some very resilient wildlife.

Snow buntings fly overhead in large flocks, chittering softly.   I managed to catch this one by itself for a little photo shoot.

Mute swans feed at the ice edges all winter long.   When it gets really cold, they tuck into a little ball and snuggle into their downy feathers.

I’ve had a couple of encounters with this young female Snowy Owl out on Gull Island.   She is perfectly at home floating around on the chunks of ice on the lake, watching the ducks float by.

Here she is surveying the breakfast menu at Presqu’ile Park.

Foxes can be seen running out on the ice searching for food.   This beauty was seen on Amherst Island, after it came to shore.

I also found this very hungry turkey feeding on sumach berries by the lakeshore.

I spent quite a few afternoons this January chasing sunsets.   I think winter skies are the moodiest and most fascinating skies we get all year.

I have a little glass ball (best $20 I have ever spent) that I have been playing around with to capture the sunsets in a different way.   If you look in the ball upside down, you will see the whole scene captured inside.  A little bit of fun with refraction.

Different day, different sunset.   Softer, cooler colours.   And speaking of cooler- I know my hands would have frozen without my snowy owl mittens this month.

Goodbye January!

Can’t wait to see what miracles February will bring.   Thanks for the mittens, Maria.

The post January Adventures With My Snowy Owl Mittens appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Here’s the ferry.   You can see my little Honda Civic on the left side.   The Frontenac 2 is the only ferry I know where you drive in forward, and have to back up and swing around to drive off.

I had heard reports of numerous Short Eared Owls over on Amherst Island.  As I began to drive the island roads, I looked for any movements or shapes up in trees.   There were 2 Wild Turkeys on the road, 2 Snowy Owls very far away sitting on hydro poles above sheep farms, and this hawk sitting in a tree with some other kind of birds dive bombing it.   I got out of the car, cold forgotten, and watched these birds, hoping they were “shorties.”  I could hear them calling to each other as well.  Here’s what it sounded like.(barking sounds)

I heard a call over to my right, and all of a sudden a shortie flew right over the road past where I was standing, with prey in its talons.

A quick look around with its piercing yellow eyes, and it flew across to eat in a big tree.

Mealtime.   As I was watching this spectacle, a couple of guys came along who told me that they had seen a short eared owl on the north side of the island.   I left this one to have its meal, and carried on.

As I was driving I saw this one flying around a field and then landing on a post.

As fluffed up as it was, this owl did not seem to mind the cold at all.   Did you know that Short Eared Owls live on every continent except Antarctica?   They must be very adaptable!

I have heard a lot about how these owls fly, but had never had a chance to watch until now.    Their small bodies and long wings make them buoyant and beautiful as they fly.

Here’s one of the last views I had of the owl, just as the sun was setting.    And just for a reality check…

Here’s where I fell into the ditch!  The snow was pretty deep.   Nice shot.

On my way back out to the ferry Snowy Owls started popping up where I had never seen them before.   As the sun goes down, these white ghostly owls come out to hunt.    Overall I believe I saw 6 Snowy Owls and 6 Short Eared Owls on my little safari to Amherst Island.

I made it to the 5:00 pm ferry, just as most of the light was going out of the sky.

As I looked back on Amherst Island I could see the shapes of silos, surrounded by the cranes they are using to build a new ferry dock facility.    A couple of dozen wind turbines are being constructed on Amherst over the next few years, and there is construction all over the island.  But that’s another story.

Amherst Island is only a 60 minute drive and a 20 minute boat cruise away from my house.   I sometimes wonder why I don’t go there more often.   It’s amazing.

The post Polar Vortex Car Safari to Amherst Island appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Spectacular!

I got down to Presqu’ile Park as the sun was rising and headed down the beach.   The day was calm and warm, so I knew the crossing to Gull Island would not be too crazy.

The water between Owen Point and Gull Island was still up to my knees, but with little wave action the crossing in chest waders was easy.

Halfway across the water I could see a lone Snowy Owl perched on a post, lit up by the rising sun.   That beautiful bird was only a hint of things to come.

As I walked through the water and drew closer to the island, I noticed two owls flying around on the near shore.   The younger one on the left moved towards the one on the right and made all kinds of bobbing and beak opening movements.

The other owl really wanted little to do with the young one, and flew to a perch nearby.

I really think they look like angels when they are landing.

As I finally stepped onto land on the island, I could see 6 Snowy Owls right from where I was standing.   Some were hidden, like this one who was hunkered down in an old Cormorant’s nest.

Some were right out in the open, bathing in the morning sun.   What a beautiful sight.

Speaking of bathing, I got to see two different owls taking baths in the calm waters of the lake.   The one above was surrounded by Snow Buntings as it flew and landed in the water.

I have never seen this behaviour before!   I watched fascinated as the owl dipped and bathed, perched in the shallow water on a small rock.

Every once in a while it would look around, the continue with its business.   I sat on the shore, as still as I could despite my excitement.

Later that same owl flew up onto one of the duck blinds on the island and began to try to regurgitate a pellet.   It looks like it is yelling or singing, but what it’s really doing is trying to make room for the big pellet to come out.   Since owls eat their prey whole, they have to get rid of the bones and fur and other hard parts of what they are eating in the form of a tightly packed pellet.   Snowy owl pellets I have found are around 10 cm long and 2 cm wide.

Not out yet!

Can you see two owls in this tree?

I was amazed how many of the owls were hanging out together in pairs.   In the past I have almost always seen them by themselves.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, and the white owls against the blue sky and blue lake looked stunning.

This one flew off to have a bath in the lake.   It came straight up from the shore and begin to shake and preen its wet feathers.

What a privilege to see these beautiful birds from the arctic.  This must have been one of my all time best mornings photographing wildlife.

I don’t know if these snowies will all stick around at Presqu’ile for the winter, but if they do there are plenty of voles and waterfowl for them to feast on.    Here’s hoping!

The post Spectacular Snowy Owl Sunday appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Please join me as I take a look at the fine balance all creatures on earth need to strike to ensure their current and future survival.   Explore how our actions and daily choices can have a big impact on lives of the creatures that live in nature with us.

All proceeds to Fixed Fur Life.    A limited number of prints will be available for purchase, as well as my 2018 wildlife calendars.

Please contact me with any questions or if you’d like me to reserve  you a calendar.   [email protected]

The post Photo Show December 9 to benefit Fixed Fur Life Animal Rescue appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Imagine a bunch of people all heading out into the same area for a day, trying to find and identify as many living things as possible.

Me- dragging the bottom of the Grand River

That is my kind of day!

Electrofishing

Different groups and individuals go out looking for different flora, fauna and fungi, such as aquatic invertebrates and fish, insects, birds, plants, fungi, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.   Local experts help out with the identification.

A little taste of what we found

I’ve been lucky enough to take part in two Bioblitz days in the last couple of months,  organized through rare Charitable Research Reserve.   My daughter works there so I guess you could say she dragged me into it, but that would be far from the truth.

Set me loose in the woods, fields and streams and let me learn about nature- I’m in!

Another river dweller

The first Bioblitz was right at rare Charitable Research Reserve itself, in Cambridge, Ontario.    We had a beautiful summer morning to plunge into the river with our hip waders and nets and see what we could find.

And then the tiny things…

My next quest of the day was a to go looking for insects, and the day had warmed up enough that we had no trouble finding a huge variety of insects and arachnids in my group, and swamping our expert with questions and requests for identification.

Fun with the smallest of the small

It was so fun to see kids and families getting all excited about nature and enjoying a day out.   Not only kids are curious- everyone there was eager to learn.

The Cambridge area is a busy, developing part of Ontario and it is so important to preserve and keep track of the species that live there.    I know that species are monitored all year round on the reserve, but the Bioblitz gives a snapshot of a day,   and with so many people looking, and finding, it is exciting to be able to add a few more species to their site list every year.

Yellow rumped warbler

My second Bioblitz was October 1 in Norval, the outdoor education centre for Upper Canada College.     It is a beautiful property in Georgetown, but once again right on the edge of a heavily populated area.   Planes from Pearson International airport flying overhead were a common sight throughout my day there.

Red bellied woodpecker

My purpose for going to the Norval bioblitz was a little bit different.   Rather than go out in a group and find a variety of creatures, I was tasked with finding birds.

Early morning Osprey

I got up early in the morning and headed down to Norval so I could bird on my own before the crowd of people came.   I was rewarded with a beautiful view of an Osprey by the river as the sun was rising.   Moments later a deer crossed my path.    Chipmunks were everywhere!   But back to the birds.

Flicker

Norval had a wide variety of woodpeckers, as well as migrating birds passing through.

Swainson’s Thrush

I did see one bird I had never seen before, a type of thrush that does move through my area of Ontario but is not very obvious due to its habits and colour. In birding this is called a “lifer!”

Cedar waxwings

Birding in the fall can be fun, as many trees and shrubs are fruiting and it is possible to come across large flocks feeding such as these Cedar Waxings.

Overall I found 35 species of birds at Norval and was happy to hear that other people there found some different birds than I did to add to the Norval list- one person even saw a Bald Eagle circling overhead, and I know that pre-dawn listeners were treated to the calls of a Great Horned Owl and a Screech Owl.

Painted lady

Knowing me, my daughter was a little bit concerned that I would get lost wandering around in an unfamiliar place by myself, and admittedly I did get a bit off track a couple of times.   However, one detour took me through a field full of painted lady butterflies- an absolutely magical sight.

Insect hunters

As the day warmed up, groups of people headed out to look for insects, and try their luck in the river.

October fishing in the Credit River

As part of the Canada 150 celebrations, numerous Bioblitz events took place all across Canada this year, sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Federation.

http://bioblitzcanada.ca/events_calendar.aspx

One result will be a “snapshot in time” inventory of Canadian species in significant natural areas.

But perhaps an even more important result will be the curiosity and connection to nature that was ignited in the citizen scientists, young and old, who took part in the community Bioblitz events across the country.

To learn more about rare Charitable Research Reserve and the work that they do: http://raresites.org

Thanks for visiting, and if you ever get a chance to participate in a Bioblitz, give it a try.   You will learn so much!

Leslie

The post Bioblitz! appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

These photos were all taken on my property, or just across the street in the field.

You may have noticed a lot of birds passing through lately.   Believe it or not, birds are already beginning their southward movement.    That takes a lot of energy, which means eating as much as they can right now!

We share our blueberries with the robins.

There are also a lot of baby birds around- birds that have grown up in our area and are now fattening up for their first journey south.     Let me introduce you to some of the visitors to our garden.

Unbelievably cute baby Eastern Bluebird

Although the bluebird boxes on our property did not end up housing any little families of bluebirds, our neighbour’s boxes did, and now the little bluebirds visit our yard for a snack, flitting down from the branches to catch insects, then back up again.

Great Crested Flycatcher

We welcome the families of flycatchers as well, who nested in a hole in a tree near our house.

Blue winged warbler

Local birders know that if they want a guaranteed sighting of a Blue Winged Warbler, they need only visit my neighbourhood in the summer.   Right now, the families are stocking up on food for their journey south.

Cedar Waxwing

Our blueberry patch is definitely a hit.  Especially with the Cedar Waxwings  Luckily once our elderberries fruit, the waxwings much prefer those berries.

Feed me! Baby Catbird

The young catbirds flap their wings and literally “meow” for their food.

Baby Eastern Phoebe (I think)

I’m pretty sure this is one of the baby phoebes who grew up under the awning on our neighbour’s porch.   It likes to sit in the dogwood bushes in my garden and fly down to catch flying insects.

Juvenile Robin

I think the robins under our back deck must have raised 3 families this summer!

Young red Bellied Woodpecker

I’ve learned a lot too.  For example, I had no idea that woodpeckers ate berries until this year- photo evidence!

Everyone loves the blueberries.

I also never knew that chipmunks do this.   It waits on the ground for the birds to drop the berries, even though I know it is perfectly capable of climbing up into the bush.

If you want to go out and take a look to see what you will find in your neighbourhood, most bird and critter activity is early in the morning, say around 7 – 9 am.   Not too too early these days, as the mornings are darker, and chilly.

Stay tuned for my next couple of blogs- “Pollinators” will be next, and then I will have to do something with the hundreds of praying mantis pictures I have taken of my baby mantises growing up in my garden.

Thanks for visiting!

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