patch Black Tern and Avos

first Black Tern of the year -- Avocets nest every year on these small islands isolated from the estuary by at best 200 - 400m of thorn scrub, long grass and other obstacles -- each year they rear 0 or very near 0 young --

local Raven

at last a North Lincs Raven encounter just 6 miles from home but brief initially close then it was going away even as I stalled the car watched it then reached for the 300mm -- hence minuscule images

Hobby

back in Lincs -- I was out scanning for raptors when a sudden movement caught my eye along a nearby fence line; looking down I saw a Hobby fly up and land on a post -- amazingly it sat there even though it could see me and I was able to go to my car and get the camera; it had been cold and wet for days so I suspected it was short of food but as I approached it there was no reaction to my presence apart from the odd head turning action; I took a series of photos of my favourite bird but I was all the time conscious of the fact that it surely was not well so I backed off and watched it from a distance. It flew for about 200m to another post and then dropped onto the ditch side where it appeared to be hunting insects in the dead reed stems but as a dog walker and two dogs and a tractor passed within 3m of it there was no reaction so I tried to catch it but at 2-3 m distance it flew off to the fence posts again; I hope it survived but I have sincere doubts -- should I have taken the photos? its  amoral issue but I left it alone as soon as I realised it was not in the best of health -- with the spring we have had it seems that many migrants have not been able to replace fat used on migration and birds like this first-summer individual may not have developed the hunting skills to kill birds so the lack of insects will have been quickly detrimental to them -- an encounter that should have been one of my best ever but one that turned out to be rather sad

Cliff Swallows

after a day of gales, hail and very low temps a lot of Cliff Swallows and Barn Swallows were sat on the beach at the tip the following morning warming in the sun --

Hermit Thrush

three different birds out of about six seen in total

a few pleasing Ontario shots

so the end of another trip to Ontario and with modern camera gear it is easier to get decent shots of more birds -- a great place, nice people and great facilities --

Cerulean Warbler

the most unexpected encounter - a rare species and not usually easy to photograph this male at Rondeau was a real stunner and was watched down to 6 feet and produced one of the highlights of the trip