Terra Nova Rural Park
Terra Nova turned out to be a veritable plethora of songbirds in addition to the cool scenery. For some, I was able to get quite close. For others, I managed to boost the resolution in post-production, allowing me to achieve extremely cropped closeups without (I hope) sacrificing too much image quality. Golden-crowned Sparrows were my subject of choice for this experiment because hey, they’re just so gorgeous!
But first, a windblown heron. There were half a dozen others resting together-ish some distance away, but this one was either a pioneer or super antisocial.
Get away from the outer trail into woods and bushes, and out come the birbs! It helps that people leave seeds for them, even though they really shouldn’t. It also seemed like a large number of them were banded.
This the one extreme closeup I mentioned above, that I felt good posting. This golden-crown seems to be transitioning from its immature colours (darker, more speckly gold crown with thinner borders) to its adult ones (lighter solid yellow crown with thick black eyebrow-ish borders). Neat! They always keep the same deep brown eyes, though
All right, this one isn’t going after the seeds.
Oh look, a single Song Sparrow trying to get at the goods.
I experimented with massive upscaling on this photo too, but wasn’t really happy with the end result. The blurriness and artifacts were too visible, and I couldn’t decide on what exactly I should crop out and what I should leave in. The boi’s deep black head and chest, of course, and his cray-cray red eyes, and I love that upsweep of orange plumage on his side. Well, maybe I’ll revisit it someday.
And this other Song Sparrow, singing a little ditty
This chickadee was craving some seeds, and figuring out the best approach to avoid all those other birds.
Hey, a Fox Sparrow! I believe this is the first time I’ve seen them this season. I wonder why…
Richmond Nature House
I had an urge to visit this place, hoping that (a) the feeders would be refilled, and (b) we’d see Rufous Hummingbirds. It looks like (a) did happen, at least for a couple seed feeders, but for whatever reason there were very few birbs around — just a few juncos and chickadees.
However! The sugar feeders were quite full and busy. Best of all, there were at least two male Rufouses. They seemed to spend a lot of their time chasing each other, little copper-pink sparks zipping around the park. Even now, with plenty of food and probably having just finished a long journey, “sharing” is not in their vocabulary.
Although now that I think about it, it’s probably just not the food. They’re deciding which will get this territory, and which will slink away and settle down somewhere else. This is a choice spot, sure to draw many females! Totally worth fighting over.
Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see them at all. I mean, I hoped of course, but the earliest I’d seen Rufouses here was early April. Then again, it’s not like I camped out every day, so I don’t actually know the real numbers.
I’m pretty sure this is the first time I witnessed a junco singing. Just knew their little clicky calls. It’s nice: a soft trill, like a towhee’s, but a bit more warbly, I think? And then — because isn’t that how it always works? — I’ve started hearing it everywhere in the West End.
Two little warriors, facing each other with extremely short exposure times! I love how both their gorgets show just the tiniest hint of iridescence, they’re so demure and elegant!
Piper Spit
All the usual suspects here! And I posted most of them as portraits because I can, and because they are all super handsome.
