A Month in Review - August, 2008

When I started to type this it really was August and time just got away. Now here we are the end of September and Autumn has began I still haven't typed anything. I've watched alot of shorebirds during the month of August and some (even though they have different names) still look the same to me. I have taken photos of the Lesser Yellowleg and the Greater Yellowleg, Short-billed Dowitchers and Semi-Palmated Sandpiper and Plover. But I think the most thrilling for me was when I got my first pic of the Black-necked Stilt and the short clip of the babies (in August). When there was nothing to photograph the Dragonflies and Butterflies were great subjects.



Last Thursday (9/18) I drove out to Pt Mouillee SGA to catch the sunrise, during my little visit and while trying to figure out what was wrong with one of the cameras - I heard a splash, I managed to grab my Canon and photgraph an Eagle fly off with breakfast. Hoping that it would make another trip I kept my eyes peeled and sure enough here it came for a second meal. Amazing how they can see from way up there and like a plane coming in for a landing, circle, landing gear down and touch down. I watched as it flew off with a fish in it's talons to one of the nearby tree tops. Althought the photos of this catch are more of a silhouette the drama was still there.

This past weekend I missed the Hawkfest and would have liked to have seen it however, I chose to go up north. Normally I don't take a camera with me on the canoe but today I brought my CoolPic S210. Just as we had lifted the chain out of the water my better half asked me what was flying towards us, in the ten years that I have been on the Ausable I have never seen an Osprey there and sure enough here came one up the river. It flew rather low and landed in a tree across from us near the edge of the river. I raised my S210 and snapped a few photos even though I knew that they wouldn't come out clear. None the less the pic does show the bird and that would have to do for the moment.

That's my story for the month - til my next posting.