Mario Borsato - Nature Photo Blog

2010-11-15T09:12:00.005-05:00

I was very happy to see this beautiful timber wolf last week. I was 200 feet away with the wind blowing strongly towards me. He still heard the noise of the shutter. Unbelievable! What remarkable hearing. What an experience. Thank you God!

2010-09-23T09:57:00.008-04:00

New lens last week. Traded in my Sigma 50-500 for a Sigma 150-500. New model, very sharp compared to my previous one.

2010-05-10T09:49:00.000-04:00

Algonguin Park moosey!

2010-04-14T19:05:00.006-04:00

I went weeks without seeing much wildlife than one day things changed...

2010-03-05T08:52:00.001-05:00

Wow! Is this ever cool. First few attempts at taking star trail pictures. It's so amazing.

2010-02-22T08:28:00.005-05:00

I had the opportunity to go to Texas for a few days to a Christian conference (C3), and took a few hours to go searching for birds. I found a rookery with 50 + herons, saw several egrets, got close to a red-tailed hawk and saw many mocking birds. It was a great trip!

2010-01-31T18:41:00.004-05:00

"Foxy Moxy"
Foxes are one of my favorite animals both to see and to photograph. They are so beautiful.

2010-01-19T07:59:00.009-05:00

A flock of fifty or so American Goldfinches came to our feeders a few days ago. Just outside my office window were icicles dripping in the balmy January temperatures! A few finches flew to them to grab a quick drink. How cool is that!

2010-01-19T07:56:00.002-05:00

I watched this young eagle eating something on the frozen Vermillion River. After looking more closely it appears to be another bird!

2009-12-26T12:54:00.003-05:00

A few friends of mine informed me of this Northern Hawk Owl that was seen in the Gore Bay area. My wife and I went for a drive hoping we would spot it as I have never seen one before. After driving around for close to 45 min in the area we were told to look, I blurted out "this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, we're never gonna find it" No sooner did I say that I spotted him in a tree a few hundred meters ahead along the roadway. Cool! Thanks God.

2009-12-26T12:51:00.002-05:00

For obvious reasons this is called a "solar pillar". They are fairly rare. This one was seen in the same location as one several years ago. Ice crystals in the air help create this phenomenon.

2009-12-26T12:49:00.000-05:00

This buck was seen very close to our home. He too was enjoying the fresh snowfall.

2009-11-04T09:29:00.003-05:00

WOW! I saw a wolf the other evening a few minutes from our home. It was getting dark (5:45pm) maybe too dark to take a picture but I tried anyway. I heard the shutter trip but it sounded slow, too slow for a clearly focused picture. To my surprise when I looked at the LCD screen the blurred picture turned out to be quite amazing in fact. I couldn't create that effect if I planned to.
Thanks God!

2009-10-13T20:54:00.004-04:00

Here are a few pictures I took this past week.
These eagles were only two of the thirty or so that I saw. Where you ask... that's a secret.

2009-09-27T08:33:00.008-04:00

Birds are sometimes a challenge to photograph. Here are a few pictures I took this week.
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Female Mallard, Adult Cormorant with young, Red-tailed Hawk

2009-08-05T09:50:00.002-04:00

I watched this osprey fly around for a few minutes than he spotted something. Amazing... what a dive and a few seconds later he came out with a large cat fish. Wow!

2009-08-05T09:48:00.001-04:00

This is one of this year's foxes. He was so cute. There were two of them but the other hiding from the camera.

2009-08-05T09:44:00.002-04:00

I was maybe 50 feet from this fella. He was more concerned with the blueberry patch he was standing in than me.

2009-07-18T22:10:00.001-04:00

Providence Bay.

2009-07-18T22:07:00.002-04:00

A Northern Harrier is fairly hard to get a picture of unless you are in a blind. They, like kingfishers and many other species are easily spooked. Thankfully this one stayed sitting for a second on the bale of hay while I took a quick picture.

2009-07-18T22:04:00.003-04:00

I stopped by an area where I had seen a family of loons a few days earlier and they were there again. This time the dad had caught a small fish and gave it to the little one to eat but not before he passed it by mama for final inspection.

2009-07-18T21:53:00.004-04:00

Have you ever felt like you were being watched? This buck stood so quiet I walked right by him but I felt as though something was watching me. When I looked around I didn't see him at first as he blended in with the trees and was standing in a shaded area.

2009-07-08T22:09:00.003-04:00

This little guy was hitching a ride on mama's back. It is awesome to see a pair of loons with their young. If you are privileged to view this in the wild please give them a lot of room. Loons are very susceptible to human disturbances as are their nests.

2009-07-08T22:01:00.004-04:00

These two terns were fish'in in the rain. It was amazing to watch them dive from high up into the water. Thankfully fish provide a lot of protien as these two birds were burning the energy as they flew non-stop for the half hour I watched them.

2009-07-06T07:18:00.002-04:00

Coming back from Little Current this eagle was soaring along a section of the highway. I watched him for several minutes and he had not flapped his wings once. Amazing!

2009-07-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

While driving down one of the back roads we spotted this bobcat. He was quite far from us. He walked into the bush and came out on the nearby rail bed so I followed quietly behind. The resulting picture is not the best as he was quite far and it was getting dark but I was just happy to have seen him.
(ISO 800 +1 eV)

2009-06-21T22:52:00.002-04:00

There were three young skunks with their mother. This little one wasn't shy and stuck around for a picture. They are even cutter than in the picture.

2009-05-20T23:06:00.001-04:00

Chestnut-sided Warbler

2009-05-19T17:03:00.002-04:00

Killdeer - Elliot Lake

2009-05-19T17:01:00.002-04:00

Foxy Moxy...

2009-05-19T17:00:00.001-04:00

Bababababaahhh Bear!

2009-05-19T16:58:00.001-04:00

Osprey - Manitoulin Island

2009-05-19T16:57:00.000-04:00

Nashville Warbler - Gogama

2009-05-19T16:56:00.000-04:00

Magnolia Warbler

2009-05-19T16:53:00.001-04:00

Cape May Warbler

2009-04-24T09:14:00.002-04:00

I was watching a pair of Northern Harriers fly around over a marshy area and this little guy - a mink, came within ten feet of me several times. Thankfully I was able to take a few pictures of him before he disappeared.

2009-04-21T16:33:00.001-04:00

An American Kestrel (pictured here) is one of the harder birds to photograph as they are very "flighty". Kingfishers are just as easily spooked and are another difficult species to get pictures of.

2009-04-19T16:26:00.000-04:00

A Bonaparte's gull and a Northern Flicker. The flicker was a "yellow- shafted" one and it was seen in Long Point.

2009-04-18T16:23:00.000-04:00

Morning down at the pier - Port Dover. Saw many Bonaparte gulls and many mergansers ; hooded and common, along with ring necked, redheads, golden-eyes and buffles. Pretty cool.

2009-04-17T16:19:00.000-04:00

I have only seen a few Northern Cardinals in my life. I went to visit my brother who lives close to Port Dover and he had several cardinals in his yard. They are redder than you think when you see one in person.

2009-04-16T16:13:00.001-04:00

A friend called and informed me that a Great Egret was spotted the day before in an area not that far from my home. I checked there the next morning and the egret was hunting for some frogs in a local marsh. Very cool. First egret I have seen in the wild.

2009-04-12T16:05:00.000-04:00

Great Blue Herons are one of my favorite birds to photograph. This was one of the first I've seen in 2009. Very few locations other than a few small streams have open water at this time of year. I watched another heron later the same day catch and eat frogs or small fish 3 or 4 times within ten minutes. Very effective hunter.

2009-03-29T13:32:00.002-04:00

This Northern River Otter was seen a few miles from our home. There were actually two of them but thankfully this one wanted his picture taken.

2009-03-23T17:28:00.001-04:00

This Pileated woody the woodpecker was not even ten feet away from my garage. I heard a little rapsody and when I went and looked this is what I found.

2009-03-20T15:20:00.000-04:00

Foxy moxy was seen cruising around on a back road. He was not too shy and we were able to get a few pictures.

2009-03-19T13:20:00.004-04:00

Owls! Twelve or more sighted in the past month! This was in Espanola.

2009-03-10T17:13:00.004-04:00

Wow! What a great winter for owls. Spotted this great gray not far from our home. Thankfully was able to get a few in-flight shots. What an awesome bird.

2009-02-28T12:57:00.010-05:00

This morning, Mr. Great Gray was seen warming in the sun. Outside temperature: -27C.

These are redpolls which spends their summers in the remote northern regions of Canada. Depending on food supply, they may or may not be found at northern Ontario feeders in the winter. This year is an "irruptive year" and we have seen 100-200 at our feeders regularly. The upper picture is of a common redpoll which are much more abundant than their cousin the hoary redpoll. This lighter colored species (pictured directly above) are thought to be originally from Scandinavia.

2009-02-16T15:38:00.002-05:00

I was fortunate to find out where a deer yard was located west of Espanola. 23 in total showed up. WOW!

2009-02-12T17:44:00.004-05:00

While driving into town I took the back roads and spotted this great gray owl on a fence post. The weather was terrible as it was freezing rain. This is very bad for owls as they catch their prey by diving into the snow. The frozen crust makes it difficult for them to hunt and even dangerous as they can get injured.

2009-02-06T13:34:00.000-05:00

This Sharp-shinned Hawk was spotted at a friend's place in Massey. We were out looking for tracks from the bobcat that was there the evening before and this guy flew in for a visit.

2009-02-02T15:47:00.011-05:00

This Great Grey was spotted not far from our home. He was hunting mice and didn't seem bothered by my presence. I took a few quick pictures then let him hunt in peace. As I was leaving he flew to another tree twenty or so feet away to try "listening" from a new location.

2009-01-26T14:43:00.002-05:00

This little fella kept hanging around with the foxes and us. He almost landed on me at one point. I shared my granola bar with him. (Grayjay or "Whiskey Jack")

2009-01-26T14:32:00.002-05:00

I finally got to see a fox this winter. He hung around for ten to fifteen minutes allowing me to get a few pictures. There were two of them but the lighter colored one was shy and I didn't get any pictures of him unfortunately. It was cold, -20C, but the lighting was great and it was well worth it.

2008-12-21T14:57:00.001-05:00

There is a location not more than 30 minutes from our home where you can see at least 5- 7 eagles during the winter. Here is a picture with an adult and an immature perched next to a couple of ravens. Young bald eagles don't get their white heads for at least 3-4 years. A second or third year bird will have some white coloring but their heads don't turn completely white until their fourth year.

2008-12-08T13:38:00.008-05:00

One morning while I was driving along Hwy 17 West I spotted some wolves on the river eating a carcass. I stopped and walked down to the shore to get a closer look. I was fortunate to get a few pictures. -25C, -32 with the wind. Brrrr.

2008-09-24T13:42:00.000-04:00

While driving the back roads close to our home I was fortunate to see two buck white tailed deer grazing in a field. I think they might have been siblings.

How cute are these little guys...

2008-06-22T17:51:00.001-04:00

I was on Manitoulin Island a few weeks back and spotted four young raccoons. What an oppourtunity! They crawled around the tree for a few minutes watching us then climbed down and continued about their business.

Western Kingbird

2008-05-25T17:08:00.000-04:00

A western king bird in Northern Ontario! Pretty rare around this area. While out for a drive I spotted an eastern kingbird close to the road on this tall weed. I took several pictures than quickly changed a few settings on my camera and when I recomposed to shoot I thought I was seeing things. The grey/black kingbird on this lone weed had changed color. A western appeared where a second before perched an eastern kingbird. I quickly took a picture and later identified it as a foreigner.