Loondrop
Although extremely rare on the Island, loons can be seen migrating through — hearing their haunting call in Long Pond is a beautiful thing. Tagged as related, this loon was photographed near Parry Sound.
Fledgling Fuzz
A cormorant chick, now covered in fuzz, waits alone in its nest for its parents to return with lunch. This cormorant was actually photographed on a small offshore island in Georgian Bay, south of Byng Inlet, and is tagged as related since we host thousands of them every season.
Minimum Focus Distance
A mute swan tests the minimum focus distance of the Canon EF 300mm f/4.0 L IS lens, proving that telephoto lenses can be too long for bird photography.
Watchful Eye
A nesting mute swan keeps absolute focus on the photographer interloper, eyes locked and never straying from the lens.
Blazing Buns
A goose sits on her nest in an unlikely location: right beside the railroad tracks on Centre Island, trainloads of tourists passing within two feet every few minutes.
Babe in the Grass II
Another deliciously cute canada goose gosling sits on the grasses of Centre Island.
Follow the Leader
Originally misidentified as common terns, I think these flocking birds are a plover of some kind. They spin and wheel through the sky in a delightful fashion, here above the tern’s nesting platform in the trout pond. Can anyone help with a proper identification?
Sungleam
Up close and personal with another expectant mother, here sitting on a prime (but busy) nesting site in the Hanlan’s Point straight.
Shoulder Check
A mute swan gazes over her shoulder at the lens as she sits on her nest on Unknown Island. Light would hit this nesting site for only about 45 minutes in the late afternoon, making photography require a specific appointment.
Black-crowned Regality
A black-crowned night heron perches like royalty on a branch near Centre Island early in 2008.
Sitting Pretty
A Canada goose mother sits expectantly on her nest by the IYC, patiently waiting for the vegation to fill in around her.
Fortress of Solitude
A mute swan sits on her nest in the Spring of 2008, paitiently waiting for the vegetation to fill in around her.
Yellow Menace
A cormorant, once a stranger to the Island’s lagoons, perches on a log next to Yael’s houseboat.
Redbreast Return
Always a delight to see after a long winter, this was one of the first robins to return in the Spring of 2008.
Marked
One of the first black-crowned night herons to return to the Toronto Islands in 2008 was the first – and so far still the only – night heron that I’ve seen banded, someone’s program somewhere is tracking this guy. If anyone has any information as to the program, please contact me.
Red Return
One of the first black-crowned night herons to return in 2008 near Doughnut Island, looking very well fed after its long migration.
Neck Plumage
A newly-returned great blue heron displays its wonderful breeding plumage near Centre Island, early in the spring of 2008.
