A great day to play with a new toy

Today was a relatively nice day to be out. Bright sunshine, winds that were tolerable from the ENE, and temperatures...well they were still well below normal, reaching a high of only -11C, but that is a lot better than most days!

Part of my goal today was to try out a new lens. I had been planning on getting the long-awaited Canon 100-400mm L MK II lens for awhile. I thought I might not get it until the spring, but when I got a whiff of a reasonable sale price a few weeks ago, I jumped at it. Who knows the way the dollar is going what it might increase to in a couple of months. And maybe there will be another earthquake in Japan that will seriously hinder production, and I would have to wait another year. It all sounds like pretty reasonable rationale, doesn't it?

As versatile, practical and amazing as the initial version of this lens has been, and I have enjoyed it for almost 8 years, the design and technology of it goes back to 1993. Needless to say there have been some fabulous increases in technology since that era. This lens had been rumoured to be in the upgrade mill for more than a decade, and that upgrade was often dubbed a unicorn, since it never came to light.

Fast forward to the early fall of 2014, and Canon announced it! And what amazing improvements in the features: better optics, Image Stabilizing good for 4 stops, faster auto-focus, ability to maintain auto-focus with a teleconverter (on my 5D MK III, not the 7D), an even more rugged build and, what was really a major upgrade, a minimum focus distance even at 400mm of only 3.2 feet! That is insane. The first version had excellent minimum focus of 5.9 feet, which was very useful when photographing butterflies and even flowers. But 3.2 feet!!!!!

So this new lens arrived via Canada Post a couple of days ago, and I could hardly wait to put it to the test. My first task was to do some tests and make adjustments via the Auto-Focus Micro Adjustment feature, an absolute necessity for today's photographic equipment. So I got that looked after, and true to form, the lens, when matched with my 7D, needed a bit of tweaking.

Today I decided to do some field tests with it, even if there wasn't anything too exciting to photograph. I mean it wouldn't do to really need it for something exciting and not know how it was going to perform!

I headed to Rondeau since I thought at least the bird feeders would have some action. Besides, I hadn't been to the park for at least two weeks, and I desperately needed my Rondeau fix! On the way, I noticed about 8 Wild Turkeys in a field by a busy road. I find that normally when a vehicle stops along the road, turkeys leave in a hurry. This particular group did not seem to be very concerned, however, and didn't appear to move any more than they had before I stopped the car. The conditions were not great for attempting to photograph them: a black bird, backlit by a bright sun, against a snowy background, so it was a good test for this new lens. In addition, there was enough traffic that I couldn't get out of the car, so I shot the turkeys from inside, which is a no-no.....the temperature difference and the heat escaping out the window can play havoc with the auto-focus. But one of the shots was reasonably acceptable.

I got to Rondeau, and only saw two other hikers. My kind of day.

Kudos to the staff at the Visitor Centre.....the feeders have been well-stocked for the past few weeks, so birds are able to survive this cold, snowy winter. I saw or heard 18 species of birds, just while I was standing there: three Wild Turkeys were skulking just outside the feeder area; I heard a Pileated Woodpecker drumming not far off; there was the usual Red-bellied Woodpecker (1), Downy (2) and Hairy (1) Woodpeckers, American Goldfinch (4), Dark-eyed Junco (6), Black-capped Chickadee (3), Red-winged Blackbird (2), Brown-headed Cowbird (2), House Sparrow (2), White-throated Sparrow (1) and White-crowned Sparrow (1). In addition I got shots of:

American Tree Sparrow (35)

 

Common Redpoll (7)

Northern Cardinal male (1)

Northern Cardinal female (1)

White-breasted Nuthatch (2)

Eastern Towhee (1)

Interestingly there were no Blue Jays or Mourning Doves observed.

There is usually one or two Gray Squirrels around. Hopefully it won't be too long until Eastern Chipmunks emerge from hibernation!

Gray Squirrel

All of these photos were cropped, some quite a bit. The bottom line is that I was quite pleased with the results of my first time with this new lens. It is definitely a keeper, and I can hardly wait to take it with me along the trails, and in the kayak exploring those out-of-the-way places around Rondeau Bay. That latter activity will have to wait awhile....there is at least 2-3 feet of snow-covered ice...but hopefully by late May when lots of shorebirds and gulls are using those out-of-the-way places.

And in case you are wondering, my original Canon 100-400mm L lens will likely be on the market before long. It is still a great lens, and is especially handy for hiking. But with my new one, chances are the original one that has been so faithful since I first purchased it in 2006 will not be needed. I have taken more bird and butterfly shots with it than any other lens, and it is capable of lots more. If you are interested, let me know.

A National Bird...My Choice

You have probably heard about the National Bird Project sponsored by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. It seems to be a popularity contest, which is not without merit, but overall the criteria described on that site are vague.

Currently, and for most of the duration of this project, Common Loon (6820 votes) is the leader by a comfortable margin, tallying about 26% of the total votes so far. Probably it evokes memories of its haunting wail call on a northern lake, certainly an appealing aspect during enjoyable summer vacation for many. And it is on our currency. Snowy Owl (5132), Gray Jay/Whiskey Jack (4588), Canada Goose (2083) and Black-capped Chickadee (1740) round out the top five.

Any of these would be a decent choice, but I often root for an underdog. Hey....I've been a Toronto Maple Leafs fan for more than 55 years, but at least I can remember the last time they won the Stanley Cup :-). That memory is getting fainter as the years go by......Toronto's hockey team will be celebrating its centennial in 2017....maybe it can celebrate a Stanley Cup while they are at it? But I digress.....

If I had my choice, I might nominate Pileated Woodpecker. Unfortunately it has only tallied a mere 268 votes so far.

Here are my criteria for choosing Pileated Woodpecker (PIWO):
1. It is a permanent resident of Canada. Two of the top 5 (Snowy Owl and Gray Jay) are also permanent residents. Snowy Owl is migratory to some extent, but even at that, it seldom migrates out of Canada. Common Loon is strongly migratory and during the winter months, there are very few if any in Canada except maybe off either east or west coast. They are virtually non-existent on the southern coast! It isn't as hardy as most Canadians! Most Canada Geese migrate south during the harsher winter months, and many people would like it if they stayed away for longer. Even chickadees migrate to some extent, although the numbers that linger in winter vary from year to year.

2. It can be found across Canada. In looking at the range maps, PIWO is a resident of all provinces and territories except for Nunavut. In looking at a Nunavut checklist, there are no woodpecker species recorded. Maybe PIWO just hasn't been documented there yet, or perhaps the checklist I referred to is not up-to-date. Of course it helps if you have trees, as woodpeckers peck wood, and that landscape has very few compared to all the rest of Canada. PIWO has been recorded from as far south as Pelee Island, the most southerly inhabited part of Canada, to as far north as the territories. It is a denizen of the deep, northern woods, yet can survive in woodlands within or at least close to some of the most southern urban settings where people sometimes see them in their back yard.

3. It is easily recognizable. It is large and distinctive. Many people are familiar with Pileated Woodpecker, even many people who are not birders. It is the 'Woody Woodpecker' character that lots of folks will likely remember.

It isn't clear, when the survey is completed, exactly what Canadian Geographic will do with the results. Presumably they will lobby the federal government to pass a bill with the most popular bird becoming our national one.

An important reminder to all bloggers and photographers

The internet is an amazing resource for sharing and obtaining information. However it is not without risk to a blogger's or photographer's intellectual property, that is, the personal posts and photographs that end up on the web. Whether it be a blog, such as this one, or a photo based site such as flickr, or even on social media sites, photos in particular are potentially at risk of being stolen.

I had this brought home to me, once again, this past week.

As regular readers will know, I have a long time, serious interest in Rondeau Provincial Park. And I have a ton of photos. Some end up being used here on this blog. I also have a lot on the Canadian Geographic Photo Club site.

While searching the internet a few days ago for photos on Rondeau, lo and behold, I found one of my photos pop up. But it wasn't on the CGPC site or anything connected to me. Instead it was connected to an article featured on a local Chatham media outlet's on-line news edition, about cottages and Rondeau. Someone from that media outlet apparently searched on line for a photo depicting Rondeau, and found one of mine on the CGPC site. And even though my name was attached to the one on the CGPC site, and my home town of Chatham was listed, the media outlet gave a photo credit to the photo club site and never made any attempt to contact me for permission.

Here is what it looks like on the CGPC site:

Here is what part of the article on the media outlet looked like (without the title, the main body of the article and the reporter):

So far I have had contact with the news reporter (who isn't currently employed at that media outlet) as well as the News Director and their Director of Interactive Media. Since they had had the use of it on their web site for over a year, and they are a commercial business, I feel that just taking it off their site is not satisfactory, but an appropriate photo credit is, along with some financial compensation.

Here is what a better resolution of the image looks like:

So far no one from that commercial media outlet has really explained how they obtained it or even made much of an attempt at an apology, but have taken it off their web site and offered to send it to their legal counsel for advice.

Really?

I mean, they pirated my photo, which was clearly marked with my name as the photographer, my home town was listed and it is in the same town as the media outlet, my phone number is in the local telephone directory and they didn't bother to contact me and ask for permission, let alone offer some financial compensation? And they have to send it to their legal counsel? I mean if that isn't blatant theft, what is???

Deflection, deflection and little or no responsibility.....yikes!

I'm not sure where this will end up, as I haven't heard anything from their legal counsel. I'm sure they will be sending a cheque in the mail almost immediately. Yeah, right. Knowing in general terms how much lawyers charge for almost anything, it would probably be less expensive for the media outlet to just fess up, send me the $$ that they will be paying their legal counsel, save the legal counsel some time, and everyone will be happier.

To add insult to injury, the article did not even support something that I would be in favour of.

This is not the first time I have had this happen. A couple of years ago I noted one of my photos was being used by a well known hotel chain, advertizing in a well-known birding magazine (which some of you no doubt get). This is the photo that appeared in the birding magazine.

No contact was made and I wasn't even credited as the photographer. After contacting them, I did get to find out that they had obtained it from a third party within the municipality. According to the hotel chain advertising folks, they thought that they had permission to use it.

In addition to an eventual apology, I got some financial compensation for its use. I can see where a third party may have been responsible for making it available. So even though it was apparently no fault of the hotel chain, they did come through with an apology and some $$.

I do donate many photos to several charitable nature type organizations to use, for their advertising, for their natural heritage education and such. I am happy to do that, as the intention is to get the general public to be more aware of the natural world, and hopefully the natural world will have a better chance of survival. But if a commercial business needs a photo, then why should I donate my time and expertise and sizable investment in expensive camera gear to help their bottom line? They should pay up and be willing to do so.

If only we lived in a perfect world........

So consider this as a general reminder to all you bloggers and photographers who post anything whatsoever on the web......it may be getting a far greater audience than you intended, and someone may be using your efforts to pad their bottom line!!

The depths of winter at Rondeau

I don't need to post any reminders that it is still winter. And it looks like the ground-hog prognosticator that foretold of a few more weeks of winter is likely correct. It is expected to remain below normal temperatures for at least the rest of February.

Having said that, it is still nice to get out and look for whatever is around. So a day or two ago, I headed south to get my Rondeau fix.

The weather was snowy, and the park was quiet. During the several hours I was there, I only saw two people who were not park employees.

The forest was still, other than zillions of small flakes drifting downwards to add to the already considerable blanket, and giving a hazy appearance to the landscape. The above photo is of a slough along Bennett Ave. Hard to believe that in less than three months, Prothonotary Warblers will (hopefully) be back nesting in this slough again. At least with all the precipitation, it appears that the sloughs will have lots of water this year, so there will be no shortage of Prothonotary habitat.

Even though there wasn't much overt action in the woods, one could see where wildlife had been active. This next photo is of a very freshly worked trunk of Sassafrass, where one of the resident Pileated Woodpeckers had been digging for a meal.

An Eastern Cottontail was hunkered down under a bush.

Bird feeders are where some wildlife action is virtually guaranteed, so a stop at the Visitor Centre was in order. At first it was quiet, but the 'locals' arrived all in good time. With the snow falling steadily, the continuous movement made the auto focus of the camera challenging.

American Tree Sparrow and Northern Cardinal

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

 Note the extra white spots on the sparrow above....complements of the falling snow!

Red-winged Blackbird

There aren't many Red-wings around this time of year, and I was a little surprised to see this one come in. There were lots of Brown-headed Cowbirds, and the usual juncos, goldfinches, nuthatches, red-bellies, etc.

The male Eastern Towhee made an appearance in the background, but I never saw it come right in to the feeder while I was there. This shot is from a few days ago.

Winter can be tough on wildlife, as you know. My previous post discussed some of the ways they cope to survive.

But I wondered about another 'resident'.......I'm not sure how many of you have heard of the legend/story/myth of Bruno? There was a work camp at Rondeau in the first part of the last century, where men were employed to build facilities, clean up fallen trees and such. One time a worker of German descent was injured out in the bush. His co-workers went for help, but when they came back, he was gone. And he was never seen again. But rumours persisted that he was still roaming the wilds of Rondeau, and someone even found where his camp was!

So you can ponder the validity of this story, as well as how he might have survived without ever being seen.

Please note: this is a long weekend, beginning tomorrow, as Family Day is on Monday, February 16. The Rondeau Visitor Centre is open Saturday, Sunday and Monday, from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. There are special programs planned, so if you are looking for an excuse to get out to enjoy winter at Rondeau, this is the perfect weekend to do it! Check out this web site link for more details:
http://www.rondeauprovincialpark.ca/2015/02/hear-ye-hear-ye-family-day-weekend-is-fast-approaching/

On the 'this and that' front, earlier this week I was out east of Thamesville. I had noted a Bald Eagle nest here quite awhile ago, and it is quite visible from Longwoods Road especially when the leaves are off. It is exactly 5.8 kilometres east of the railway tracks at the east edge of Thamesville.

 At first I thought it was right along the river, but upon closer examination, it is at the edge of an old oxbow of the river. This particular day I just had my point and shoot with me, but I managed to get a photo of the nest while an adult perched in a tree nearby. The local Bald Eagles are strengthening their pair bonding right about now, and it won't be long before an adult will be on this nest incubating eggs.

And an update on the Pine Warbler which was coming into a feeder at the south side of Chatham. The bird initially survived the storm of the Super Bowl weekend, but was last seen on the Monday afternoon following. Hopefully it has found a place to survive!

Pine Warbler

How Birds Do It......

.....keep warm in the winter, that is.....just in case you were expecting something a bit more 'racy' :-).

I'm not really as much of a winter person as some people are. I don't mind a bit of it, and I used to relish winter for tobogganing, playing hockey on the pond, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and the like. But I am fascinated by the way the numerous types of plants and wildlife survive the wintry elements, and I don't mind sitting in a warm environment pondering some of these mysteries.

I have been reading a book entitled "Life in the Cold: an introduction to winter ecology", by Peter J. Marchand, a professor in Vermont. It deals a lot with the physics side of things, regarding heat transfer, the effects of short-wave vs long-wave sunlight radiation, etc. and how the many species of flora and fauna deal with the cold. Physics was never one of my strengths, and I found my eyes glazing over in some parts of the book, but other parts were much clearer to me. So some of the following is what I learned from this book regarding birds.

Of course as we know, many birds fly south, especially those which require insects or open water. But we have lots of resident species which may alter their diet from insects during the warmer periods to seeds during the colder months. By not flying hundreds or thousands of kilometres south to avoid winter, they save a lot of energy. Those that do migrate risk numerous hazards along the way. That isn't to suggest there aren't hazards by staying here in the winter. And to some of the really northern species, such as this Snow Bunting in the following photo, southwestern Ontario is already hundreds or thousands of kilometres south, so they've already experienced some migration hazards and may experience more while they are here.

The key to survival is to minimize heat loss. For mammals, eating enormous amounts of food in the fall to add fat layers is a common strategy. Birds cannot add much fat, however, since it would interfere with the mechanics of flight. In most cases, especially for smaller songbirds, they can only add enough fat to enable them to survive for a day or two before refuelling becomes more critical.

Dark-eyed Junco

Song Sparrow

Tufted Titmice

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Therefore once birds have discovered the sustenance at your feeders, it is imperative to keep the feeders well stocked for the winter. If they go empty and there aren't good alternatives, they just might perish.

Some birds will find places of shelter in which to roost. It may be an old woodpecker hole, or a dense evergreen from which to escape the effects of the wind and extreme cold. On occasion, more than one bird will use the same shelter, using the 'huddling' effect to share heat and conserve energy. However they had better ensure that a Raccoon or an Eastern Screech Owl isn't already using the hole!

used Pileated Woodpecker hold

 Some birds, like American Goldfinches and their relatives, actually increase the amount of feathers, which enables them to be better insulated.

Winter goldfinch

Fluffing the feathers increases the thickness of the layer of insulation between the body and the cold. This Pine Warbler isn't normally around in the winter, but it found a home in a friend's backyard and adjacent area, where it has survived some of the recent very cold weather. A combination of a well-stocked feeder, some nearby evergreens and being able to fluff its feathers, has helped. During the spring, it won't look nearly as bulky.

Pine Warbler

Other species such as American Crows, when they aren't producing a certain amount of heat via muscle activity when in flight, will shiver almost constantly. It isn't the type of shivering that we can see, but it is more of an internal shivering that requires muscle action to create heat.

As in most things, there are limits to the benefit of constantly shivering. I remember the infamous blizzard of January, 1978. It had been above freezing, windy and raining. And then over night, the temperature dropped precipitously and stayed there for several days. The rain changed to snow, the wind howled and the temperature dropped to at least minus 18C. We were living near Rondeau at the time, and from what we heard from those in Chatham, many hundreds of crows perished.

But please, residents of Chatham, do not start praying for those conditions again. While many crows perished, they were the obvious ones victims of this extreme weather. Many smaller birds died as well!

Another strategy used by some birds, including Black-capped Chickadees, is to go into a state of partial torpor. Hummingbirds are well known for this strategy.

Black-capped Chickadee

The birds shiver to a certain extent, while their body temperature drops a bit. They do this alternate shiver and body temperature drop so that their body temperature can be several degrees below what it would be when they are fully awake and functional. But it works to enable them to conserve body heat.

What about those birds that spend a lot of time on the snow, or in water that is just barely above freezing? Wet feathers are an immediate danger, as mentioned above in the discussion on crows, but some species of waterfowl dive into the freezing water frequently to obtain food. The natural oil in the feathers keeps the feathers from getting wet as long as it is replenished by the bird's oil glands.

Food supply can be a problem, when the ice gets too restrictive and prevents the birds from accessing what they need. Then alternate food sources much help them through the tough times. However in some cases, such as this Redhead below, feeding on zebra mussels isn't part of its normal diet. It may help them through for a short time, but some of them won't make it.

Redhead

Deadhead

But what about their appendages? One would think that feet are particularly vulnerable. Sometimes you will see ducks sitting on the snow, with their feet pulled up into their feathers.

Mallards, American Black Duck

 Some birds such as these Canada Geese will rest on only one leg, with the other pulled up into its feathers.

Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gull

Mallard feet

But often, the feet are exposed to the almost constant ravages of the cold for long periods of time, whether they are walking on ice or swimming in the water. Another strategy that comes into play to make the difference. It is what is called 'counter current heat exchange'. The following illustration, taken from the book mentioned at the beginning, may help understand this.

In essence, the veins on the exterior most part of the legs and feet constrict, forcing the blood flow to veins that are closer to the middle. As the cold, de-oxygenated blood from the veins pass in close proximity to the warm arterial blood coming from the body, the heat is exchanged before the venous blood gets back into the body cavity. Therefore the arterial blood is cooled off while it carries oxygen to the feet so heat is not lost, and is slightly re-heated as it returns. What an amazing strategy!

So next time you see a goose standing in the snow on one leg, or a songbird such as this Eastern Towhee doing the same on a branch near a feeder, you will know why it can survive.

Eastern Towhee

Lonely trees, again

For some reason, this blog site continues to behave erratically. I originally made a post entitled "Are Trees Lonely" a few days ago, and it showed up on other blogger's sites almost immediately, as it is supposed to. Then for some inexplicable reason, within a day or so it disappeared, and the post I made 6 days ago was the latest one showing up......sigh.

So for anyone wanting to check out this post, if it doesn't show up immediately below, scroll down to the bottom of this post and click on 'Older Posts'.

I hope to get this problem rectified asap.....

Thanks for your patience!

Allen

Are trees lonely?

If trees could experience loneliness, the one species I would think is the loneliest is the American Elm (Ulmus americana).

They are most often seen by themselves along a road allowance, or a fence line. Here is one of the largest in the area, shown on a cold winter day. Measuring it at ~4.5 feet above ground, the standard height for what is known as diameter at breast height (dbh), it measures 1.25 metres diameter.

American Elm in winter

 It is located on a quiet gravel road (Harwich Line) just southeast of Blenheim.

American Elm in May

American Elm in November

 It is an attractive, and easily identified species. From a distance, a mature open-grown elm tree has a distinctive umbrella shape to the crown.

American Elms used to be very common on the eastern North American landscape...up until the first half of last century. All tree species will host an array of insect types that feed on leaves or burrow under the bark. A native bark beetle was a regular 'pest' of elm trees, but not a serious one. However early in the 1900s, a non-native fungus arrived from Asia, quite accidentally I suppose, but still a result of the settlement of non-native humans, and the results have been devastating. The native bark beetle burrows holes into the growing tissue of the host elm, and if the beetle came from an elm that was already infected, would transfer the fungus to the new host tree. As a result, mature elms across their normal range died by the thousands.

Elms are prolific seed producers and to their benefit, begin producing seed at a fairly young age. So there are lots of young elms that get a start on life, and if they are relatively isolated, may grow to maturity. But many just get started and die back, so they look quite scrubby along the road side.

Even some mature trees may have a scrubby base, such as this one along another quiet rural road between Blenheim and Ridgetown.

A much rarer tree in Ontario is the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata). It was a forest dwelling species, and the handful of individuals that remain are mostly still in forests. They were a dominant forest species up until about 1900. It too was the victim of an Asian bark fungus that arrived on the intentionally introduced Asian Chestnut. Having no resistance to this fungus like its Asian counterpart, the American Chestnut dwindled from comprising almost 30% of the forest trees to being almost completely obliterated.

American Chestnut

 This American Chestnut leaf was photographed in a crown forest near Simcoe.

American Chestnut flowers

 These American Chestnut flowers were ones I photographed on a tree just west of Thamesville, in the early 1980s. The tree no longer exists.

American Chestnut fruit

The photo of the fruit cluster was taken in a forest southeast of Ridgetown in 2013.

While the American Chestnut is usually surrounded by other tree species, it could be considered a lonely species since there is seldom more than one or two of its kind in any location.

American Elm, does still occur in the forests, but some of the most impressive individuals are well away from a forest. Being relatively isolated may work to their benefit: they are a greater distance from other individuals which may be affected by the fungus, so their chances of the fungus being transferred causing a premature death is reduced. Hopefully this individual along Hwy 21 a bit south of Thamesville will have a long and productive life!