Iroquoia Conservation Trails, Hamilton, Ontario

February 9, 2011
Yesterday, I braved the wintry elements & hiked over to the nearby Iroquoia Heights Conservation Area trails. My purpose, other than to get in my daily hour of exercise, was to try out my new Canon XSi & EF-S18-135mm IS zoom lens.

Downy

I was amazed how well the camera & lens performed in the extremely cold conditions! I was able to grab a number of decent shots and got to try out a few settings.  Basically, I set the camera on "aperture priority" to make sure I kept the FOV as narrow as possible.  Because it was a nice bright sunny day, I was able to shoot at ISO 200 and still had good shutter speed ie. 1/250th to 1/500th of a sec.

What I learned was, even though the 135mm gives an equivalent to a 210mm image, one really needs a much more powerful lens, ie. a 300-500mm telephoto.  I had to really crop the images to make a decent picture, thank goodness for having a 12 mp sensor!

Here are a few of the better shots.

Cheers!
Lyle

Cardinal - Male

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Casual Birding!

February 9, 2011
In the past few years I have been visiting & staying with my brother who lives in Tsawwassen, BC.  It's an area rich in birding habitat. I have gone on a number of outings with a group called The Delta Nature Casual Birding club.  The meet every Monday morning at a local coffee shop & then plan an outing that usually last 3-4 hours.  The attendance varies from maybe 8 to 25 people. I've met some really interesting people in this group. Some specialized in photography, others bird idendification, always very friendly and willing to share their passion for birding.
I decided when I arrived back home in Hamilton, Ontario, that I would try to set up a club here as well. The Hamilton/Burlington area is rich with birding hotspots and there appears to be a lot birding interest especially in the growing retirement sector.
So far I have one other person interested in the concept, a John Wilson who lives in Burlington.  We will get together shortly for our first birding trip as a "club".  I'm hoping that in time we can attract some knowledgeable birders, people with spotting scopes & photographers. 

Cheers!
Lyle