Elusive Black-Capped Chickadees at Leslie St Spit

A chilly Sunday trip to Leslie St Spit with some boxes to check for a number of episodes: red-tailed hawk, diving ducks, and black-capped chickadees.

I assumed the latter would be my fallback. The ducks can stay pretty far out in the open water, the hawks come and go, but you could always count on chickadees. That turned out to be true, but hearing them is one thing. Getting them on film is another.

I had five or six instances of standing amidst a chorus of chickadees, maybe even seeing them flitting from branch to branch in the distance, but almost zero luck in getting them in frame. They’re small, they’re mobile, and they’re always on the move. One obliged me, once, by picking its way across some branches close by for just long enough to catch a few shots. At this rate it’s going to take all winter to build up enough footage for an episode. Fortunately… that’s kind of the plan.

No red-tailed hawk this time but, as always, the Spit delivers, if in unexpected ways.

I settled in next to the floating bridge to track a conglomeration of winter waterfowl including a group of long-tailed ducks making their distinctive three-tone call and diving / surfacing almost as one. It was exactly what I needed for that particular episode. After an initial wariness on their part, we got used to each other and they hung out close enough to the shore for some lovely footage - minus the bitter wind’s jarring effect on my 400mm lens.

I could have stayed there all evening but it was that wind that finally drove me away, my hands going numb even in gloves. Crossing the bridge, someone reported sightings of a Great Horned Owl in the woods on the opposite side. I kept an eye out but didn’t stray too far from the central path and didn’t see him, if in fact he was there. 

A Conservation Ontario car pulled up a few minutes later as I tried in vain to catch some chickadees on camera. They asked me what I was looking for, I told them, they moved on. I wonder if it was related to the owl - Leslie St Spit has become a bit of a victim of its own notoriety for bird sightings. Owls especially can be subject to a constant stream of harassment by birders and photographers when news of them gets out. I’d just been clued in to a possible irruption of snowy owls this year so the conservation people may be on high alert, and more power to them.

Luckily for me, I could quite honestly say I was there for nothing more dramatic than the chickadees, if they’d ever oblige me.

Rounding the west side of Cell 3, I started hearing an increasing caterwauling of trumpeter swans. It went far beyond their usual, casual vocalizations. Beyond that, I could swear I occasionally heard a human voice briefly, sharply, in between honks. I stumbled down the icy embankment to the shore line with a clear line of sight to the source of the noise. There I saw an elderly man in a plastic chair feeding a very animated group of swans, all of whom were shouting at him for their turn.

I was far enough away that I’m not sure if he noticed me, or if he just didn’t care. I wasn’t sure if this whole scene was above board or not. I was below the threshold of actually shouting over at him, or backtracking to ask him in person. But I kind of wish the conservation car had gone by again so I could ask them about it. I’m thinking of dropping in at the nature centre next time I’m heading into the park to confirm with them whether this is something that should be called out or not. It can seem innocent but the wrong food, or an increasing dependence on people, can cause big problems.

That was the last event of the trip, apart from one last bird encounter at the southwest corner of cell 3 - one I couldn’t identify in the moment but who turned out to be, unless anyone has a better suggestion, a Northern Mockingbird.

Then it was a straight shot back out as the sun set and darkness crept in. As always, good trip. Excellent footage of long-tailed ducks, a couple usable shots of a chickadees, and more swan footage to bank for the long-gestating episode on them.

Oh, and camera update: long story short, those phantom screen touches turned out to be one of those stupid hardware issues that means repairing it comes frustratingly close to the cost of a new camera. So… I looked at all of BlackMagic’s new and exciting offerings since the BMPCC4K… determined that none of them had anything I wanted that were worth the price bump, and bit the bullet on another BMPCC4K. I’m sure gear-heads could tell me why I should regret that choice, but that thing has been an indefatigable workhorse up until this screen issue, especially for the price, so… if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and if it breaks, why not just replace it.