lonestranger

I respectfully disagree with @Charlie Spencer, @IKLland. I get woodpeckers to my seed feeders all the time. In fact, I've found the Downy and Hairy woodpeckers prefer my BOSS feeders over the suet feeders. While both Downy and Hairy will hit the suet feeders briefly, they'll linger on the BOSS feeders and eat and eat and eat and eat........ Now I'll admit that we don't put out the top of the line suet, which might change the birds preference, but they prefer BOSS over cheap suet in my area, most of the time. I like the wire mesh feeders because of their capacity for lots of birds all at once, and because the birds need to linger long enough to pull the seeds through the mesh, there also seems to be less spillage. Here's a few, of MANY, photos of the woodpeckers going to my seed feeders, including a Red-bellied Woodpecker.

I'll go with "or what".

Welcome to WhatBird, @Robruggiero. I wonder if the image in your avatar is the bird you're looking to ID?

I thought you were planning on renting one before making a final decision? Or did you change your mind about that too?

If I read the first post right, the Facebook group corrected the ID.

This Grand River is in Southern Ontario, it's 300 km long and runs from Dundalk to Lake Erie. This view is from north of Waterloo, Ontario.

Thanks, I use the Nikon P900 when I'm not using the Canon 300mm f/2.8 attached to the 5Diii. I haven't crossed the 60 years threshold just yet but the aches and pains make me feel like I'm older. The hobbling I had to do yesterday was because I had thrown my back out the day before. There's no way I would have been able to drag the 10 pound DSLR and lens around, even if it was just across the road.

We don't see Bald Eagles all that often so when I spotted this one across the road this morning, I just had to hobble out and get a few shots. Wish my back had of allowed me to take the DSLR with me, but I was glad to have the extra reach of the super zoom.

I have tried a few remote control apps and just couldn't work with them for bird photography. They come in handy for a remote shutter release when using long exposures on stationary subjects, but, as we all know, we don't use long exposures when shooting birds that aren't stationary. The apps are fun to play with now and then, but they're more of a toy than a tool, in my opinion.

I have dozens of photos of Great Blue Herons, and one photo I've processed a dozen different ways.

I bow to the master photographer.

Did you by chance take more than one photo? Extra photos can often change an ID from a maybe/probably to an absolutely/definitely.

I agree that it looks like a young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak. It's quite possible he is just migrating through, possibly after fighting severe weather that may have blown him off course.

I don't know how long it would have taken me to find a suitable photo. I started looking but there doesn't seem to be much of a selection between the obvious blurd photos and the impossible to find bird photos in my catalog. ?

Cedar Waxwing?

I'm lucky if I see a Bald Eagle once or twice a year, and I get photos even less often. This photo was taken from one of the Botanical Garden parking lots approx 10 years ago. After lugging my camera gear along the trails to get long distance blurry photos of the first Bald Eagles to establish a nest along the north shore of Lake Ontario in decades, and then lugging it all back to the car, we were graced with this flyby just before I we got back in the car. The visual in my head is far superior to the image I captured with the camera.

An old shot from 2013, still a personal favourite.

Sometimes you have to create light where there is none/little. Have you considered using flash?

Wildlife has long complained about idiots trying to manage wildlife. Wait, wildlife can't complain, they just get killed off and then someone realizes they might have actually had a role to play in keeping the balance of nature. A prime example is the eradication of wolves in Yellowstone Park and how it changed the ecosystem, and how their reintroduction helped change it back. Let's kill the birds off so they don't deplete the fish supply, after all, it's our right to deplete the fish supply, not the birds!!! *sarcasm emphasized*

This Downy Woodpecker didn't understand what I meant when I asked him to pose for a head on shot.

I counted four photos.

That's a good question, one I hadn't considered. I know that owls breed earlier than most other birds, but I hadn't considered the variable timing amongst the different species.

This is the solicitation call from iBird/WhatBird that I compared my recording to...any thoughts? https://assets.whatbird.com/api/sound/birds_na_147/sound/7647

Chestnut-sided warbler

Well, my suspicions were off. Since I have heard the Who Cooks For You hooting of the Barred Owl a few times, I thought this might have been the female solicitation call looking for a mate. Thanks for the better ears.