I met up today with a new friend that I met through the RCYC who is a fantastic portrait photographer. I saw him in action at the club and I wish I was that good with people. His name is Michael and he runs Ashley & Crippen. The joy he exudes when talking about his craft makes you want to pick up the camera and join him in his great ideas. We met up at the Humber Arboretum located in Rexdale, Ontario for a bird finding mission with maybe a few deer thrown in for some variety. Starting down the boardwalk path we walked along the hill above the river and settled ourselves by some posts. Michael put out some bird seed and within seconds we were inundated with Chickadees, Thrushes, Cardinals, Squirrels and a couple of Woodpeckers.
Cardinal
As we were packing up to continue our hike two does came down the path headed straight for us. They stopped a few feet away and watched us as we photographed them. One decided to try out some of the bird seed that was left on one of the posts. They were so comfortable around humans that even the students that came up the path towards them didn’t startle them. Amazing.
Doe eating our bird seed
We were told that a young buck was spotted in the meadow below so we decided to head in that direction in the hopes of spotting him. Some students we bumped into further down the path told us that the buck had run off while they were setting up some equipment. Michael and I decided to head in search of the owls he had told me about. Squishing our way through the flooded meadow we found ourselves on the Humber trail along the riverside. As we walked down the path we fed a few chickadees, none wanted to land on me so I didn’t really feed anything. We watched some ducks zoom by us on the flooded river as we started to walk back down the path. That’s when we noticed the young buck standing behind the tree line.
Buck
I made sure to get as many photos as possible before he decided to bolt. He eventually walked out in front of us on the path and continued on his way to the river. That’s when Michael and I decided to make our way back to the cars. What an incredible day. Even though the weather was overcast what we found was all worthwhile. Thanks Michael for a great day out at the Arboretum!
