This male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was a visitor to our property. I photographed it through the kitchen window, always a compromise, but necessary to avoid scaring the bird. It's not rare but hard to find in its woodland habitat. The easiest way to find it is to learn its musical song akin to a robin that has taken singing lessons.

If you've ever worked at a banding station you'll know how nasty that bill can be since it easily draws blood.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 11 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 6 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 7 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 8 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 9 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 10

This Black-bellied Whistling duck was content to lie about in the sunshine as the property owner cut the grass nearby. It was not at all concerned by the noise.

Laura and could not stay and wait until it posed more dramatically due the hordes of black flies.

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Black-bellied Whistling Duck 1 Black-bellied Whistling Duck 2 Black-bellied Whistling Duck 3 Black-bellied Whistling Duck 4

The Painted Bunting is a rare southern visitor to Nova Scotia usually seen at feeders. It's a durable bird, one having successfully overwintered in Nova Scotia with a great deal of human help.

I photographed this example of an adult male from the window of a home thanks to the owners. I was not close to the bird but I wasn't going to use longer focal lengths since it would have required a tripod(definitely not polite in a private home).

Painted Bunting

Painted Bunting 2 Painted Bunting 3 Painted Bunting 4 Painted Bunting 5 Painted Bunting 6 Painted Bunting 7 Painted Bunting 8 Painted Bunting 9 Painted Bunting 10 Painted Bunting 11 Painted Bunting 12 Painted Bunting 13 Painted Bunting 14

The Pine Warbler has been nesting Nova Scotia continuously for at least ten years in my experience. I know this from annual visits to its nesting colony. It used to be seen more regularly in the fall on migration. It cannot be considered rare any more.

Pine Warbler

Pine Warbler 10 Pine Warbler 11 Pine Warbler 12 Pine Warbler 13 Pine Warbler 14 Pine Warbler 15 Pine Warbler 16 Pine Warbler 17 Pine Warbler 18 Pine Warbler 19

The Pine Warbler is an annual regular nester in Nova Scotia and seems to prefer its own company, hence it appears to nest in small colonies. It is easy to find thanks to its distinctive musical trill.

I tried for the Glossy Ibis at Brookfield Marsh and although I found the bird it was too far away for meaningful photos besides I have excellent photos on file. Just do a search for Glossy Ibis.

Black-capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee 1 Black-capped Chickadee 2

Glossy Ibis Glossy Ibis 1

Pine Warbler Pine Warbler 2 Pine Warbler 3 Pine Warbler 1

Savannah Sparrow Savannah Sparrow 1 Savannah Sparrow 2 Savannah Sparrow 3 Savannah Sparrow 4 Savannah Sparrow 5

The Glossy Ibis remains at Brookfield Marsh. Ducks Unlimited has provided a great deal of wonderful habitat not only for ducks but for all kinds of waterfowl. Kudos to them!

I am not satisfied at all with the performance of my "hiking camera". It's light enough but the photographs do not satisfy me. I will have to suffer the weight of carrying my Canon 5Dsr and all the additional weight with its lenses. There is no easy route to good image quality.

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis 10 Glossy Ibis 11 Glossy Ibis 12 Glossy Ibis 13 Glossy Ibis 14 Glossy Ibis 15

I went to Brookfield Marsh early in the morning and to my delight the great white bird was already in attendance. For reasons understood only by Great Egrets it was constantly moving about but then it suddenly stopped moving completely.

Great Egret Great Egret 8

Great Egret 6 Great Egret 5 Great Egret 1 Great Egret 2 Great Egret 3 Great Egret 4

Sunrise and moonset is not a chime for "Fiddler on the Roof". This is my first moonset photograph in years and interestingly it is much improved in resolution and colour from the moon rises over the Atlantic Ocean as seen from our home. Sambro Island Moonset 1 Sambro Island Moonset 2 Sambro Island Sunrise 1

These marine photos were taken from Chebucto Head(Shoal Point) and Duncan Reef.

Dependable 1 Dependable 2 Dependable 3 Dependable 4 Dependable and Northern Gannet Longliner off Chebucto Head 1 Troms Sirius 1 Troms Sirius 2

A trip to Martinique Beach, our first outing of the year, yielded a superb day albeit with cold offshore winds. A pair of Piping Plovers worked the rising tide whilst dodging the usual irresponsible dog owners and their animals.

Martinique Beach
Laura Martinique Beach 2 Martinique Beach 1

Piping Plover Pair Piping Plover 1 Piping Plover 2 Piping Plover 3 Piping Plover 4 Piping Plover 5 Piping Plover 6 Piping Plover 7 Piping Plover 8 Piping Plover 9

Laura Martinique Beach 1

Winter's icy grip is slowly receding and humans can get out and about again onto the beaches and into the woodlands.

Butcher's Falls is a common destination although I do not recommend a weekend visit. There is still some ice and snow but photographically is still very pleasant.

Butcher's Falls

Butcher's Falls 1 Butcher's Falls 2 Butcher's Falls 3

A visit to Crystal Crescent Beach provided a modelling harbour seal and another Ipswich Sparrow. Not to worry folks that's only sand in and around the seal's eye.

Harbour Seal

I was about twenty(20) feet from the seal when I took these photos.

Harbour Seal 1 Harbour Seal 2

Harbour seals are easily recognized by their dog like face. Harbour Seal 3

Ipswich Sparrow

Also at Crystal Crescent Beach Ipswich Sparrow 8

I'm taking a year off from professional photography. I've sold all my Canon equipment and am using a Panasonic Lumix G9 with the superb Leica 200-800mm telephoto lens and 28-84mm lems. This new equipment has the very important virtue of being light enough for hikes and walks whereas Canon and Nikon full frame dgiital DSLR's are too heavy for regular travel. I will however entertain the superb Nikon Z mirrorless camera and 500mm F5.6 lens next year.

Mirrorless cameras may overtake digital DSLR cameras and lens simply due to smaller size, less shutter noise and reduced weight well still maintaining the same image quality.

I took my Lumix gear out for a test run yesterday and to my delight captured my first Ipswich Sparrow of the year despite struggling with the camera settings of my new gear.

Duncan Reef Mansion

Duncan Reef Mansion 2 Duncan Reef Mansion 3

Eastern Head Duncan Reef Headlands  Eastern Head 1 Eastern Head 2

Ipswich Sparrow

I found out to my dismay that the centre spot focus on the Lumix likes to wander and image quality suffers badly at 800ISO, but I will learn.  Ipswich Sparrow 1 Ipswich Sparrow 2 Ipswich Sparrow 3 Ipswich Sparrow 4 Ipswich Sparrow 5 Ipswich Sparrow 6 Ipswich Sparrow 7

I took a quick tour of the valley west of Halifax to search for raptors and owls. I had no luck with owls my preferred target but Bald Eagles did pose at a distance as did one wary Red-tailed Hawk

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle Bald Eagle Bald Eagle Bald Eagle Bald Eagle Bald Eagle 6

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk