Setting a Target...

I've just returned from my trip to Terrenceville and yet again it was amazing. I came away with great images and a wildlife experience that for sure is in my top 10 but before I tell you about that lets talk about the Title of this post...Setting a Target. What do I mean by this? Well when I first started bird photography I would head out with plans of photographing a number of species in one session. That didn't always work..well lets face it most of the times it didn't work. I would either run out of time or was unsuccessful in locating the bird I was looking for. What I've started to do in the past year or so is set a target species for the day. Place my main focus on that species and if I came away with others then that would be a bonus.

Recently I've realized that Newfoundland has a few species of Flycatchers in decent numbers (remember I'm still new to birding/bird photography so I'm still learning things). I decided to search the main road heading into Terrenceville to see if I could find any. The main road is surrounded by marsh land, small streams and ponds which seemed like a perfect location for them.

5:45 am I was out the door and heading down through the community along the shoreline. As the sun began to break over the horizon and shed warm light down through the valley a Bald Eagle was in search of a morning meal.   

This quickly removed the sleep from my eyes and I headed on to my destination. I pulled over into a small dirt road which looked promising. As usually the first bird I spotted was a Yellow Warbler. They can be found pretty much in any alder patch and are in large numbers through out the island. I decided to grab a few shots as I listened for any Flycatchers.

The two Flycatchers I was searching for was the Alder and Yellow-Bellied. They both have a single note song. I've photographed an Alder Flycatcher once before in Montreal but I've never seen one on the island. Spotting a Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher would be a life bird for me so I started there.

After patiently waiting for a while and listening through a number of song birds I heard a distant peep. Could it be? With a single play back sure enough one came flying in for a look. 

Then for an even closer look

Satisfied with the above image my attention quickly shifted to a near by Hermit Thrush that was laying claim to its territory. (As mentioned above you aim for a specific target and sometimes you come away with some bonus species)

I decided to move on to another location and as I was reaching an area I had photographed a number of song birds before I could hear the distinct call of an Alder Flycatcher. I quickly turned around and positioned myself on the shoulder of the road where I heard the call. Sure enough there it was again. After some patients and a little effort I was able to come way with some nice images

Here he was just taking flight and I liked that the head is in focus but the rest a slight blur.

The morning session had gone by quickly and it was time to head back for some much needed food.

Much more to come...