My story ;
Welcome to my website! My name is David, and I am retired and living in the Hamilton/Niagara area.
My main hobby is flyfishing, which I have been enjoying now for over forty years. Mostly for resident fish on local rivers and streams. I particularly enjoy the relationship between aquatic insects and trout. However, a large part of that enjoyment comes from just being out in beautiful environs.
My next pastime is hiking. I try to get out every day for at least a walk or hike on local trails. Particularly in Hamilton Conservation Areas and anywhere on the Hamilton Bay and Lake Ontario waterfronts.
I started hiking the Bruce Trail in succession from Niagara a couple of years ago. I have now completed six sections, and currently I am making my way up the western side of the Beaver Valley section. Completing this trail is on my bucket list.
My last area of interest is the study of our local flora and fauna. I am extremely interested in amphibians and reptiles. I also love studying and photographing moths and butterflies, but really all plants and animals continue to fascinate me.
Birding & Bird Photography ;
I started birding during January of 2024 with the encouragement and guidance of my sister and her husband, who have been active birders for over 15 years now.
It was winter, so we started on Hamilton Bay where there are many winter ducks and other waterfowl, and it just grew from there for me.
From early on, I used a system of utilizing Merlin, which is a citizen-science app developed and maintained by Cornell University in the United States, to keep track of my life list. Although I had seen many of these birds during my lifetime, I have never kept track or kept any documentation of doing so.
Since most of the time, I bird by myself, I decided to also take up photography, so I could take photos of each new species I observed. The photos would also serve as proof and further allow me to verify the species once I was at home. In this respect I also use Merlin and my field guides when in doubt.
Therefor, I only count a lifer if I have a good enough photo to provide proof, and my own observation at the time of seeing the bird. If other birders are there, I would also seek their opinion and try to verify it also by call or birdsong.
My Life List :
I started my Life List in January of 2024, being careful to authenticate each observation, but as birding is new to me, I likely made some mistakes, which is always a part of learning. Certain birds, like sparrows and shorebirds can sometime be very difficult to determine correctly.
During 2024 I managed to document seeing 155 different bird species. Not bad for my first year. I managed this entirely locally, with several trips to Long Point and Rondeau Provincial Parks. This year my goal is to reach two hundred species. I do this as a part of going out on birding trips, but it is not my only driver, and I do not make this the whole focus.
This year I wiped my list clean and started documenting each species starting January 1, 2025, in addition to my Life List. As of March 17, 2025, my species count is at 75.
Photography and Equipment I use:
At the time of starting bird photography, I had a Canon EOS T7 fitted with a 75-300mm kit lens. Although that was a great starting point, and I used that setup for the first 7 months of birding, it lacked good autofocus capabilities and of course reach. I managed to take some good photos and found that it worked well for moths and butterflies.
Being that I am retired and on a fixed income, I spent a lot of time researching lenses and cameras that would be more suitable to birding. I first purchased the Sigma lens and used that for a couple of months to get used to it. It worked well with the autofocus and its reach was a huge change. I noticed an improvement in photo clarity and detail. This lens is heavy and has some minor drawbacks, but for the money I do not think I could have done better.
Since I was already using Canon, I researched their line of cameras first. My main goal was to purchase an affordable camera which had subject and eye tracking, which is suitable for bird photography. This led me to mirrorless cameras, and the least expensive one with those features was the R10.
So far, I have been pleased with its performance, when paired with my Sigma lens, and now need to use it and practice with it in the field, as I still have a lot to learn.
I primarily shoot in manual with auto ISO, and find it is a great way to start to learn. In this way I only adjust the aperture and shutter speed to control the light and motion.
