Two days in a row while driving to work same location around 12:45 pm "Rough legged Hawk"  hovering at/above side of road.
East 407 ramp to East 401 at Milton, Mississauga border.
Lets see if its there today.
It has Single dark/black band on white undertail.

Napper

 Ah, I didn't realize that you were referring to Humber Bay. I presumed you were talking about the Humber trail ... along the Humber River …. somewhere exotic. I know Humber Bay, East quite well. I often walked there after visiting High Park starting from the High Park subway station and then hiking down the park and then over to Humber Bay. So, with that straightened out, when you mean the pond I must now conclude that you were captivated by the land-locked body of water at the eastern half of Park East. The one usually surrounded by tall grass and rushes, making it very hard to see the water except at the culvert where there is a gap in the vegetation. I have often seen HM in that pond but I could never get to them. They are also sometimes in the lagoon that has a causeway-type deck running east-to-west across its length. You can shoot to either side but can't get right down to water level. You can also shoot from the rocks adjacent to the small bridge. From the rocks you can get somewhat closer to the water. I’ve sat on those rocks many times during the winter getting as close to the water and ice as I could. I mentioned that spot in a blog I wrote about Romancing the Isthmus. There is also a very narrow isthmus between the east bay and the south bay (surrounded by land on three sides and by a narrow peninsula on the north side). This protected bay connects to the one of the eastern bays by a narrow isthmus, one on either side of the northern berm (so it’s not really a true peninsula) and water fowl must swim through these narrow gaps to get into the protected bay. Either that, or fly in. If you station yourself close to water at these choke points you can sometimes get close to birds. With only 200mm it is one of my only options.


Non-breeding Horned Grebe

 

 Well over a week now with no birds in the backyard beyond a small group of House sparrows and today it’s a feeding frenzy. Nothing rare or unusual showed up but there was certainly representation from all the regulars: Chickadee (many at once), Goldfinches, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Juncos, House finches (male and female), Downy and Hairy (finally) as well as an ultra-brief appearance of a RB woodpecker.
I don’t know what happened to the WB nuthatches, which have been absent for a very long time indeed. I hope the RBWP comes back at some point so that I can photograph it. Absolutely no sign of any of this year’s eruption species. I’m not holding my breath. A Fox sparrow or a Pine Siskin would be welcome but that scenario is not likely to happen because I’ve been a baaaaad boy.

 In a pond … under the building? That sounds surreal. You live in a much more fairytale land than I do. In your world. Do the HM males play a trumpet when they throw their head back like that? A half dozen HM is a party to me. A grebe too …  what species?
You can’t really expect a group of HM to get together without at least a single grebence. Is that a word?
Using a fence, rock, bench, or a tree trunk for support is always advised, I once tried using a tripod that could be deconstructed into a monopod but that proved too awkward. I only have 200mm but I wanted to reduce wiggle since I don’t have “IS” built into my old lens.
It is so dead around here that it seems beyond belief. None of the usual visitors any more. I covered up my ground-above-my-feet platform and found a squirrel had torn through the vinyl cover to get to the little remaining seed. I’m going to need to use sheet metal, or perhaps another thick piece of plexiglass and a couple of bricks from now on.

 I’m glad to see that you have finally gone out to photograph some winter water fowl and I guess that the somewhat warmer weather is the reason.  A 600mm lens is quite an asset to capture distant subjects and I’ve often wished that I had that kind of reach and didn’t have to work so hard to gain proximity.
Your shots of the Hooded mergansers are quite close. Did you crop much to achieve these frames? I never imagined that there were that many merganser on the Humber river. I guess the limited width of the river and the 12X power really helps pull them in. How do they react when you approach the river banks? Did you need to seek concealment? Very well done indeed.