Where Toronto Does Get Ripped Off....

I'm always saying that such and such an animal is all over Toronto, that we're lucky to have so many [insert wildlife here]. But when it comes to hummingbirds, we're like the rest of eastern North America: we stink. Because out of the dozen or so species of hummingbirds in North America we get exactly...one.

Yes, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, a female in this particular case. The males are even harder to find - you can spot them by the reddish-ruby on their throat (see how this works?) - and by this time of year they've left for their wintering grounds on the Yucatan Peninsula. The females will follow very soon, so if you want to see some stragglers move fast.

If you want a picture of a hummingbird, your best bet is a feeder in the backyard. You can also hang a feeder in a local park. Either way you may have to wait a long time. As far as technique you really are better off shooting hummingbirds with flash to freeze the wing motion since the wings move at about fifty beats a second. You can see in this shot (without flash sadly) that the tail feathers vibrate too; a flash should give the tail feathers a much crisper look. If you shoot without flash, make sure you set your shutter speed as high as you can, at least to 1/800th of a second.

The Ludicrously Hard to Photograph Kingfisher

If you go to most any sort of reasonably-sized pond in a Toronto park there will usually be a Kingfisher there in the summer, and where there's one there's usually two, because its mate won't be far. They aren't that small, but they're fast - really fast - and also incredibly quick, and they just don't like coming anywhere close to where people are. It's not uncommon that you can be somewhere near a pond and see the Kingfishers flying all over the place, only to find they instantly disappear when you advance to the pond's edge. It's very annoying.

How quick are Kingfishers? At a park in Vaughn (is that Toronto?--close enough) there's a blind beside a rather isolated pond, constructed so visitors won't disturb any nesting birds. This blind consists of a ten foot wooden wall with some viewing ports cut in, and it's right beside the pond. When I first saw it I guessed that the Kingfisher I could already hear would probably sometimes land on top of the blind to use it as a vantage point to look for fish below. They aren't called Kingfishers for nothing.

So - thinking I was smart - I took a position behind the blind, camera at the ready. Sure enough, not even ten minutes later, a Kingfisher lands on top of the wall, just six feet away from me. But before I could actually take a shot, boom! It saw me and was gone. So when I say these guys are quick I mean they're quick.

I've heard various tips on photographing Kingfishers that aren't entirely ethical, so I won't share any of those. I'll just say if you want to get a shot of one, especially flying, you have to keep at it, fire off as many shots as you can, and just basically hope you get lucky. That's all you have sometimes.

The Kingfisher below is a female based on the dash of red on its chest, Kingfishers being one of the few birds where the female is more colourful than the male. I shot it at Area 51.

The Greatest Great Egret of Them All

Okay, okay, I promise to post no more shots of Great Egrets for awhile or make any more Great Egret puns unless I meet one that talks and/or kidnaps me. But this was too much to pass up, a flight shot of the same Egret in High Park seen perching below in Part II. Like their close cousins the Blue Heron, these birds are easy pickin's for flight shots because they glide in a nice straight line at relatively low speed and because with wings spread they really are big targets.

Click the image to get a better view.

Emergency Ditch

Yes, I'm behind a little. Here's a Common Goldeneye found off the Leslie Street Spit in April, almost certainly on his way farther north.

I have lots of images of these guys and when they land they always look like they're crashing. It must be the big eye. A lesson for all you budding animators out there.

Let me also emphasize (as I have before), if you're using a tripod the chances of getting a flight shot will be greatly reduced. You just can't react quickly enough. If you have a 500mm or 600mm lens then of course you need a tripod. But if not, try to leave that sucker at home.