Mid-March birding can be a bit of a challenge in Southern Ontario since the spring bird migration is only in its earliest phase with robins and grackles starting to arrive. We are left with a limited number of species… many of which some folks do not find particularly exciting to photograph. Birds like Canada geese, gulls, fairly common ducks, swans, and small species like sparrows and chickadees.

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Personal subject preferences aside, mid-March birding is an important time of the year in Southern Ontario to get in some necessary practice before the spring migration is fully upon us.

I can’t speak for other folks, but I need a fair amount of practice time in the early spring to get myself ready for the arrival of seasonal birds like ospreys, herons, egrets, hummingbirds, and a host of wonderful song birds.

All of the images featured in this article were captured on two  consecutive days last week at LaSalle Park in Burlington Ontario. Day one was a scouting exercise during which I visited a few birding spots in the area to determine the best location to do some photography coaching with a client on the following day.

Day two images were captured during the actual photography coaching session. These helped to illustrate various techniques for my photography coaching client.

Often when I start practicing for the spring bird migration season I feel a bit awkward and unfocussed. Especially if I’ve not been out as much as I would have liked during the dead of winter.

It doesn’t take more than an hour or so of practice before I can feel myself starting to get more focussed and ‘back in the groove’.

One of the skills that we often work on with clients is awareness of our photographic environment. This includes taking note of wind direction, subject distances, flight paths, direction of the light, and being conscious of small movements. Like the mink above scurrying back to its den. And yes… Bird Detection Subject AI does work well on other animals.

An important part of environmental awareness is studying the behaviour of birds as this can help us anticipate their actions. For example, I noticed the American coot in the above image was showing signs of aggression with neighbouring birds. I was able to anticipate it charging other birds and captured the action.

Canada geese are often quite aggressive with each other. As spring mating approaches the birds can become increasing so. A common sign of aggression is when a bird lowers its head and extends its neck as it approaches another bird.

Attacks and chases happen frequently… which can create interesting action image opportunities.

The water spray created by these altercations can add some drama to a photograph.

Capturing a mid-air bite makes for an interesting slice-of-life photograph.

Mid-March birding always includes capturing a wide range of birds- in-flight, including them coming in to land. Spending time practicing shutter release timing is well spent.

Regardless of the focal length of the lens we may be using for our bird photography, it is important to remember to take note of the common flight paths of subject birds. We can then change our physical shooting position as needed to capture our images at preferred angles. Using a zoom lens does not eliminate the need for us to use our feet! This can help maximize the visual impact of a bird’s wings in our images.

Finding the best possible shooting position can be important when doing photography coaching with a client as we want to give them as many opportunities to use their skills and gear as possible.

During our session last week my client and I both used short, collapsible stools for the majority of our photography. We positioned ourselves near the end of a small peninsula jutting out into the bay, so we could capture a variety of birds as they flew past our location. Shooting from a sitting position lowers our profile and can result in birds flying in a bit closer in to us.

Acting as a spotter is an important role when doing photography coaching. Communicating the general distance, height of the flight path, and the direction of an approaching bird-in-flight helps to create photographic opportunities for our client.

Getting ‘on a bird’ as early as possible increases the probability of capturing some good, useable images. Here are a few additional sample images from my mid-March birding last week.

My client and I were both shooting with M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS zoom lenses. I think this made our ongoing discussions about technique more relevant and meaningful.

After our photography coaching session ended, I moved to a wooded pathway at LaSalle Park, specifically looking for a small bird I could photograph using Pro Capture H. Mother Nature provided a cooperative female cardinal. Part of this Pro Capture H image run was referenced during a subsequent telephone conversion with my client.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera equipment  noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post. This is the 1,446 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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