Amanda
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Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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I recently bought a Canon Rebel T7 for landscape photography but my friend recommended I get a 70-300mm lens with it. I haven't tried it out yet but I know the photos I'm drawn to are ones of the birds, usually with the focal point being on them. So blurred backgrounds are okay for me. I got a cheaper tripod when I bought my camera but I'm sure I can upgrade if I feel the need to. As well, my dad hunts so I can borrow his clothes to go camouflage myself and my camping gear I keep in my vehicle has items like a mat I can use to sit down on. The big thing I noted was that Teleconverter lens. That looked really useful! So my goal would be to look into canon's verions of them as well as getting used to my camera.
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I chose the Common Loon and I'll admit I wasn't too surprised with finding them as I always know there's Loons on the lakes nearby, when I started doing more research into another bird - the Trumpeter Swan - I found myself surprised on how much information was out there. While I use the eBird app and Merlin ID frequently, I never really knew how much my data would be helpful. After all, sometimes I like to log birds just to give me something to do as opposed to fidgeting with other apps on my phone. Finding out the migration tracking and how helpful it is to see when reports have come up for a lot of birds was fantastic! I started making more Trip Plans with the idea of seeing as many birds as possible using this research during peak times they come into my province. Such as May or the fall migration at the end of September. That was great and hopefully I'll find more birds to take pictures of before honing myself further!
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@Maureen Not yet! My mum and I just started putting more bird feeders (a hopper, tube feeders, etc.) around the yard to attract more, so we haven't gotten to putting out fruit yet. It seems Orioles start migrating around now so we will give that a try!
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It was challenging as most of the resources suggested are mainly for Americans, and the Canadian classifications seem a little outdated, but I know I'm in the boreal mixedwoods from schooling experience. Thankfully, most of the non-native species in our yard is beside the house but everything else is matching the area as my parents did very little landscaping when they built our house. The place I will probably start in the yard is by the crab-apple tree at the end of our driveway; There's rocks there from where my mum wanted to create a rock garden but I'm sure I can convince her we can repurpose it into a better use of space with raspberries off the farm and alder. The biggest challenge will to be to figure out how to landscape the island in the middle of our pond. Beavers have moved in and eat everything off there. I'd like to grow some willow cuttings there but the beavers make it impossible to keep anything alive - Might have to look into metal fencing? Or something!
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Not much surprised me, but my family has always been more about wildlife so most of this I had heard before. Or I knew from different sources such as when I took Forestry about the importance of secondary species and understories. And I've always made the choice to keep my cats indoors - mostly because I live next to a highway. They are healthier inside! The only thing that's really a nuisance at the moment is the squirrel who always is at our feeder, but because of the way it's positioned on our deck, a baffle won't work. He does know trouble is coming when we open the patio door, though. The one I need to do is get those vertical lines for the south facing window. Not many birds hit it, but if it will reduce collisions, I'd rather be safe than sorry.
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Definitely need to add shallow water to our place! Also Oak Trees. I have mostly native tree species on the property - Jack pine, White Spruce, Trembling Aspens and Balsam Poplar, etc, - but nothing like oak trees for acorns and insects. Our plum trees also stopped producing fruit a long time ago, so maybe changing them out for another species like Chokecherries would be better. Or Saskatoon berry trees as the one in our pasture is raided a lot by birds when the berries are ripe. But a big one is shallow water! Maybe that's why I don't see many birds in the summer. They travel to the neighbours for a drink!
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I live on the prairies in Western Canada and while our pond allows us a lot of bird viewing during migration seasons (and usually a Canada Goose pair and Bufflehead nest), our yard needs a bit more work. Our feeders are on the deck so not in the best spot, but mostly I see the White-Breasted Nuthatch, a lot of Black-Capped Chickadees, two Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds and the American Goldfinch on them during the day. We used to have Baltimore Orioles but I never see them anymore since our older aspens were taken down. But we see a lot of bird species otherwise as part of our property we don't really tend to (we have a few steep hills and mature pines on the east side we leave be). In the fall our Mountain Ash tree is great for attracting waxwings and the crab apple trees always seem to have Ruffed Grouse eating in them. But other than very common species, I don't see many other types of birds like different warblers or sparrows. I definitely think there needs to be more flowers in our yard and away from the house! I know my mum has always wanted a bird bath too but it will be tricky to find a good spot since our place tends to be very dry in the summer. I'd love to try and landscape to get the Orioles back to our yard. I think that would be the best species I would want to attract!
Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)