birds

Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) Adults and Chick

A Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) chick eyeing a snail on a wetland plant in British Columbia, Canada.

sandhill crane chick looking at a snail

Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) Chick looking at a snail (Purchase)

One day last spring I went for a walk with my camera and didn’t really have any goals in mind in terms of subjects. Sometimes I have something I’m thinking of working with, but I’m often wandering in a good place just to see what I might find. I was certainly not expecting to come across a Sandhill Crane family walking through a shoreline wetland area foraging for food! I don’t know if this breeding pair caught the wider attention of the birding community or not. When a rare species or relatively uncommon photo/viewing opportunity comes up, I tend to avoid those areas and events. Sure I’d like to see the bird, but the behaviour of people in the area often make me just not want to be around. This can range from simply being a bit too crowded for my liking, to egregiously unethical (and sometimes illegal) behaviour that I’d rather not witness or have to report or otherwise think about. A few people were watching and photographing these cranes but everyone was pretty relaxed and respectful, including the cranes.

The first photograph above shows the Sandhill Crane chick eyeing a snail that has made its way to the top of a tall leaf. The two parents were wandering around the marsh with the chick looking for various food items to feed it. This species of crane are omnivorous so these items would usually include seeds, grains, berries, tubers, small vertebrates, and invertebrates. This chick has probably learned that snails are a good snack, and was taking a closer look.

sandhill crane chick receiving food from parent

Sandhill Crane Chick Receiving Food (Purchase)

Sandhill Crane chicks leave the nest quite quickly after hatching, sometimes within 8 hours and often within the first day. They are able to swim immediately. I did not see this one swim but it mostly wandered around this marsh area with small trees and shrubs and was periodically fed by a parent. The photo above shows the chick receiving a morsel of some kind from the adult. I didn’t see the chick eat anything on its own, but I’m sure the scrutiny of that snail meant that milestone was not far away. Generally the chick just explored with the parents but at one point it did get slightly animated and made some noises begging for food (photo).

sandhill crane chick foraging with adult parent

Adult Sandhill Crane with Chick (Purchase)

Both parents were involved in the feeding/herding of the chick, though they seemed to switch off periodically, with just one being really close by. The other would take a break and find some food on its own, or do some preening. The photo below shows one of the parents in the middle of preening. Sandhill Crane adults are often a mix of grey and white, as you see here on head and upper neck of this preening adult. Some birds can have this rusty/brown coloration on the feathers on the rest of their body. This is not different plumage, but due to the mud being rubbed onto the feathers during preening. Since the soils in this location seem to have enough iron content, the feathers turn a rusty/brown as a result. These cranes are likely the subspecies Antigone canadensis tabida or the Greater Sandhill Crane.

sandhill crane preening feathers

Sandhill Crane Adult Preening Feathers (Purchase)

The other parent bird also stopped to preen and generally had its eyes closed when doing so. It kind of looks like it is sleeping in the photo below, but it was organizing feathers just a bit more slowly than the other bird above. Seeing this normal behaviour that close to me is a good thing though, it is confirmation that the presence of myself and others there weren’t impacting the cranes at all. Sandhill Cranes have a relatively long lifespan, with an average of around 20 years. They also mate for life, so this pair will probably be coming back to the Metro Vancouver area to breed for quite a few years to come.

sandhill crane adult preening

Sandhill Crane Adult Preening Feathers (Purchase)

You can view these and a few other crane photographs in my Bird Photos Gallery.

My Top 10 Photographs from 2022

It is again time to look back and see what my favourite images are from what I’ve published this year. With a long and wet spring, a long hot drought summer, and an almost non-existent fall before the cold came… it has been an “interesting” year to work with!

Working on my 2023 Nature Calendar every year helps get this list started, though there are usually a few differences as I have a more limited scope of themes for the calendar. If you click on a photo below you’ll be taken to my Image Library. I’ve also linked to corresponding blog posts that contain these images (if available) to provide more information about the location or to see other photos from that area. As usual, choosing 10 images is rather difficult (and I cheated this year), even though these should be considered my favourites and not the “best” necessarily. These aren’t in any order really as that would be just too hard!

I hope you enjoy this years selections and am curious to hear if you have any particular favourites!

My Favourite Photos of 2022:

canada goose goslings under wing
1. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) Goslings Taking Shelter Under Mom’s Wing (Mission, British Columbia)
    Blog post: Miscellaneous Photos Collection #5

sailboat english bay west end vancouver
2. Sailboat on English Bay near the West End of Vancouver (Vancouver, British Columbia)
    Blog post: Views from Jericho Pier and Locarno Beach

sailboat with red sail on english bay in vancouver
3. Sailboat Crossing English Bay
    (Vancouver, British Columbia)

fairyslipper orchid calypso bulbosa
4. Fairy Slipper Orchid (Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis) (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)
    Blog post: Wildflowers on Salt Spring Island

sandhill crane chick in shoreline plants
5. Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) Chick
    (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)

dark thunderstorm clouds over south surrey farmland nicomekl river
6. Thunderstorm Clouds Darken the Sky Over South Surrey Farmland (Surrey, British Columbia)
    Blog post: Storm Clouds Over South Surrey

alison the jersey cow grazing at ruckle heritage farm
7. A Jersey Cow Named Alison Grazes in a field at Ruckle Heritage Farm (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)
    Blog post: Ruckle Heritage Farm on Salt Spring Island

snow on the trees at derby reach regional park near the fraser river
8. Snow Outlines the Branches in a Deciduous Forest (Langley, British Columbia)
    Blog post: A Snowy Walk at Derby Reach Regional Park

sailboat anchored in burgoyne bay
9. Sailboat Anchored in Burgoyne Bay
    (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)

round-leaved sundew camosun bog
10. Round-Leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) at Camosun Bog (Vancouver, British Columbia)
    Blog post: Bog Plants in Vancouver’s Camosun Bog

Bonus Image

Okay, here is a “bonus” image as I just liked the evening light around this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) too much to not include it:

great blue heron at beach grove lagoon tsawwassen
11. Great Blue Heron Resting in a Grassy Field (Tsawwassen, British Columbia)
    Blog post: Bird Photography at Tsawwassen’s Beach Grove Lagoon

For many years Jim Goldstein maintained a list of photographer’s top 10 posts but he seems to have given that up. For the past few years Tracy Schultze has created his own list which you can ask to be part of. You can find his list here: https://tmschultze.com/pages/photography/best-of-2022-blog-posts/. I always discover some interesting photographers on these lists.

You can view my favourite photographs from 2021 here: My Top 10 Photos of 2021.

Miscellaneous Photos Collection #6

Another post with a mix of recent photographs of various subjects:

Red Langley Barn

I’ve driven past this restored “hip roofed” barn in Langley, BC for years. I decided to photograph it this spring when there was a nice bloom of Buttercups in the field nearby. Naturally we had a few immediate downpours and windy days but happily the Buttercups were still intact and upright when I drove here one evening. A nice scene in the snow as well, which is also on my list.

barn in langley british columbia

Buttercups blooming in front of a Langley Barn (Purchase)

A Dragonfly at Golden Ears Provincial Park

Dragonflies aren’t my usual subject when I visit Golden Ears Provincial Park! I had not visited the park in a while, and so I did my usual hike up to Lower Falls, and then out to North Beach. I had never really visited on a warm summer day before, and the amount of people at North Beach was significant. I did find a quiet place to relax for a while, but didn’t make any photos of note at either location. This was my first trip during the need for parking reservations, which I’d made for the lower falls parking lot. Imagine my surprise when there was nowhere to park, as they don’t actually check this stuff! This was early in the summer, so hopefully they worked out a better system (like actually checking passes on the way in) as the summer progressed. On the way out of the park I visited the Spirea Nature Trail which is one of those really short trails around something educationally interesting (a bog/marsh area in this case) with informative signs. A number of different Dragonfly species caught my eye near the ponds, and I photographed this one resting on a Cedar branch. I’ll (very) tentatively identify it as a Spiny Baskettail (Epitheca spinigera) but I am not certain of that. Any Dragonfly experts wish to correct my ID?

dragonfly on cedar branch

A Dragonfly on a cedar branch in Golden Ears Provincial Park (Purchase)

American Robin (Turdus migratorius) Fledgling

I photographed this fledgling American Robin in the backyard in between feedings from its parents. Some bird babies look rather cute. Robin babies tend to look like this one, a bit angry, a bit confused, a bit sullen teenager. I might feel the same if someone kept stuffing worms into my mouth all day, actually.

american robin fledgling baby

American Robin Fledgling (Purchase)

Bigleaf Maple Flowers

We don’t often think of Bigleaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum) as having flowers in the spring, but that is what these are, hanging just below some emerging leaves. Early in the spring these look like young leaves from a distance and aren’t bright and colourful like some flowering trees (Magnolias, for example). I made a photograph earlier this year on Salt Spring Island that also showed the Maple flowers which were the only foliage visible on any of the large deciduous trees in the area. While the Maple flowers aren’t colourful, I have seen the bees enjoying them quite often. I photographed the flowers below at Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley, BC.

bigleaf maple flowers

Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) Flowering in Campbell Valley Park (Purchase)

Soapwort Flower

I photographed this Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) flower in bloom in my Mom’s backyard. This flower is a bit atypical as the majority of Soapwort flowers are found in large clusters at the top of the stalk, though this one is by itself, part way down. Soapwort is a perennial herb grown in many herb gardens and is used to make detergent and soaps, as well as an ornamental plant. The saponins in the roots and leaves of Soapwort create bubbles when agitated in water. Soapwort is also known as common soapwort, bouncing-bet, crow soap, wild sweet William, and Soapweed.

soapwort flowers

Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) Flower (Purchase)

For more of my newer images visit my New Images Gallery.

Birds at Richmond’s Iona Beach Regional Park

A male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) singing in the marsh at Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

song spread display red-winged blackbird male at iona beach

“Song Spread” display by male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) (Purchase)

In early June I visited Camosun Bog in Vancouver’s Pacific Spirit Park but found myself with enough of the evening available to visit another location. I chose to visit Iona Beach Regional Park, in order to take a look at getting some better bird photographs than the last time I visited in the Winter (photographing Snow Geese). Iona Beach Regional Park is well known for the 4km long Iona Jetty that includes a walking/hiking trail. There are also two ponds that are popular with bird watchers and photographers. A lot of long lenses at this park!

The primary bird species I was expecting here in large numbers were the Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) and I was not disappointed. I’d not seen “tame” individuals before, but I guess enough people visit Iona and feed them next to the parking lot, that some resort to begging when new people show up. One male Red-winged Blackbird even got so close to me on a boardwalk railing I had to back up in order to photograph it. There was a possibility of seeing a Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) at Iona Beach, but I didn’t manage to spot it. What I did see was a display by the male Red-winged Blackbird shown above. This posture of hunching forward and spreading the tail (while singing) is called a “Song Spread” display. As with a lot of other bird displays, this one is largely for territory defense and to attract females.

red-winged blackbird male in mountain ash tree

Male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) in Mountain Ash Tree (Purchase)

While walking around the various ponds at Iona Beach, I photographed this singing male in a Mountain Ash tree. The marsh/pond area there is not a quiet place, with a lot of different species singing and calling. There was also periods of quiet when a Bald Eagle would fly over. The birds here didn’t seem as concerned with the Osprey that kept showing up, fishing in the ponds. I saw it drop down and pick out a fish at one point, and heard it hit the water a few more time after that. It likely had a nest with hungry mouths nearby.

perched tree swallow calling out at iona beach

A Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) calls at a passing swallow while perched on a Blackberry branch (Purchase)

There are a lot of Swallows at Iona Beach Regional Park darting around catching insects. The park also has quite a number of nesting boxes available the Swallows use, so that likely adds to its popularity. The photograph above shows a Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) perched in some Blackberry bushes, calling to another Tree Swallow that periodically joined it. At the time I was unaware we were standing right next to one of the nest boxes and once we backed up, these two went back to tend to their nest inside. Ooops!

immature tree swallow landing

An immature Tree Swallow has a rough landing (Purchase)

At another nesting box further up the trail I noticed this juvenile attempt a landing on top of the box a number of times. It would land on the top edge, then slide off the back on its initial attempts. The photo above shows the first successful, if a bit shaky, landing on the top of the box. I presume the other adult swallow present is one of the parents supervising flying and landing lessons soon after this one has fledged.

flock of cedar waxwings perched

Group of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) Perched in the Blackberries (Purchase)

I have photographed Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) before, but never this many in one frame. These birds were fairly elusive when I visited, preferring to stick to the top of some nearby Cottonwood trees versus anywhere I could photograph them. Then I noticed one in the blackberry bushes in front of me. Then another, and another. Can you spot all 5 Waxwings in this photo?

For more of my bird photography visit my Bird Photos Gallery in the Image Library.

Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) Adult and Fledgling

A Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) foraging in a Fraser Valley Wetland.

virginia rail rallus limicola adult wading

Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) Adult (Purchase)

Recently I was walking through a Fraser Valley park and saw a bird run across the trail – and it was unlike one I’d seen before. It struck me as the shape of bird that I’d normally see on the shoreline near the ocean, but this was well inland and in a fresh water marsh/wetland area and had interesting orange colours going on with its chicken like gait. New species are fun to discover! While I had no idea what kind of bird this was, I stopped and hoped that I could improve on the few, hurried, photos I made as it headed into the tall grass on the side of the trail. I knew it was still just a few feet into the grass as i could hear the occasional call here and there. A horse and rider ran by (a shared equestrian/pedestrian trail) but the calls didn’t stop, so I guess this particular bird wasn’t too bothered by traffic nearby. Soon it reappeared, not lingering anywhere but wading past with its attention to the water for invertebrates to eat, I presume. I consulted my phone app for bird identification (Merlin) at the time and it seemed likely this was a Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) which I have since confirmed.

virginia rail rallus limicola chick fledgling

Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) Chick (4-14 days old)

My app also indicated this bird was rare. Upon further research it seems they aren’t rare exactly, but rare to see, an important distinction. While its existence is not aided with the draining of wetlands, the population remains in sufficient abundance to not be currently “threatened” (listed by the IUCN as a species of Least Concern). At any rate, I hadn’t spotted a Virginia Rail before so this was quite interesting in itself. Even more interesting was what I saw next. I’d seen a small black shape scamper around in the water/grasses near the adult, but had initially dismissed it as small rodent of some kind. Once it crossed some water and struggled to get up a small incline, I saw it flapping tiny wings during the attempt (photo above). This was a Virginia Rail chick likely quite recently out of the nest. Evidently newly hatched chicks only remain in the nest for 3-4 days before they get out and start moving around. They also molt for the first time at around 2 weeks of age, with the black feathers giving way to new ones. So this chick was likely somewhere around 4-14 days old. Another thing I didn’t expect! When the Virginia Rail parent made another pass I made the first photograph above, and left the area as there were likely more chicks around and I didn’t want to draw any attention to them.

As I walked away from the Virginia Rail family, I noticed this male Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhyncho) swimming nearby. I am not sure if it was my presence alone, or some other event, but this Mallard seemed mad. I have not heard one of these ducks utter such a cacophony of sound before. It seemed really ticked off, and flew away shortly after I photographed it. I felt compelled to name this particular photograph “Beaking Off” as a result.

mallard duck calling

Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhyncho) uhm… Beaking Off (Purchase)

You can see more of my bird photographs in my Birds gallery.

Ladner Harbour Park in Delta

A Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) perched on a branch at Ladner Harbour Park in Delta, British Columbia, Canada.

bewicks wren in ladner harbour park

Bewick’s Wren (T. bewickii) at Ladner Harbour Park in Delta (Purchase)

Earlier this year I stopped for a walk around Ladner Harbour Park (map) in Delta, BC. I’ve been making an attempt to visit some smaller parks around here either as a full destination or as a stop along the way to other locations. Ladner Harbour Park has a few kilometers of trails, and I thought it was worth checking it out. This was a day of my least favourite kind of light – lots of high clouds gave a bright day but with lots of glare which meant I was unlikely to be shooting any larger landscape scenes. With my longer 100-400mm zoom lens birds are always an option, and I wound up using it for all of these photographs. The first photograph here shows a Bewick’s Wren (T. bewickii) which is not a species I think I have photographed before. I see them quite often, but they like the brush and shrubs in the understory of the forest, and are not a bird species that seems to sit still. They do seem to be rather noisy though, and often are making calls that help me know when to look for a small, darting, little brown bird that is too far away. Getting a clear shot of them is not easy due to their habitat, but I sat down on the edge of the trail and this one gave me a few chances to make photographs of it while it scampered around and foraged in the leaves.

The next photograph of patterns in the sand is something I might not normally have noticed, but I’m glad I did. This is a small spring or perhaps water draining out of this hole from higher ground in the tidal area. Either way, it made these interesting patterns in the sand which looks a bit like an alluvial fan. There is water coming vertically out of the ground on the left hand side of the formation which flows down into the stream of water on the right. In some ways it reminds me of this photograph of the Chilliwack River only in that it has the feeling of an aerial photograph. This view was from Mcneelys Trail and one of the new bridges in that section of trail.

sand patterns along the fraser river in delta

Patterns in the sand along the Fraser River (Purchase)

I am almost at the point where I need to stop photographing Herons. I like these birds a lot, and watching them hunt in fields or in the water like very tiny dinosaurs is always interesting. This particular Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) was wading in one of the ditches (for lack of a better word) running out from the park to the edge of the Fraser River. Since it was a bright but not a clear day, the light was harsh, but it did allow me to make a photo of a Heron unlike my others. I like the contour of the muddy shoreline behind it and the reflection as well. Herons, unlike Wrens and other birds, are a bit easier to photograph as they wade slowly or stay still hoping prey wanders near. One of the reasons I have so many photographs of them!

great blue heron along the fraser river in ladner

Great Blue Heron hunting along the Fraser River in Ladner (Purchase)

For birds that are relatively shy, it seems relatively easy to notice Spotted Towhees (Pipilo maculatus) when they are near me on the trail. Perhaps that is one reason they changed the name from “Rufous Sided Towhee” to Spotted Towhee? 😉 They are larger birds and easier to spot than the Wren in the first photograph, and are often scratching in the leaves and twigs on the forest floor in hopes of finding worthwhile morsels. They are shy though, so usually when I’ve attempted to photograph them I just see what direction they seem to be working in, and get ahead of them and just sit. This one didn’t seem to be too wary of me (it is next to the dog park and a busy trail to the southern viewpoint) and seemed to find some seeds in this particular spot.

spotted towhee foraging in the leaves at ladner harbour park

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) foraging at Ladner Harbour Park (Purchase)

For more photographs from this area visit my Delta Gallery.

Birds at Piper Spit in Burnaby Lake Regional Park

A male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) perched in a tree over Eagle Creek near Piper Spit in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

male wood duck perched in a tree at burnaby lake

Male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) perched in a tree at Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Purchase)

I’m not a “Bird Photographer”, I just seem to photograph a lot of birds! I visited Burnaby Lake Regional Park on three occasions this past fall, and wound up photographing birds (along with other subjects) every time. Owning a longer telephoto lens has not only been great for my landscape photography, but has made some bird photography more successful than it was before. On my first visit to Burnaby Lake last year I went to Piper Spit. I’d driven to this location about 25 years ago but never actually visited when I lived in Burnaby and Coquitlam around that time. So when I was finished photographing at Deer Lake Park one evening, I headed to Burnaby Lake to check out this location at last. It is a nice spot to just be in but it is also a spot with good bird photography potential. There are a lot of bird species at Piper Spit! The fanciest is the “off course” or escaped Mandarin Duck, but I think the native Wood Ducks like the one in the top photo are my favourite. They are one of the few ducks that will perch in trees, and I was lucky enough to come across a few doing just that just above Eagle Creek where it flows out to Piper Spit.

long-billed dowitchers at burnaby lake regional park

Long-Billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus-scolopaceus) at Burnaby Lake (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

I also made this panorama of a group of Long-Billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus-scolopaceus) resting around a dead tree trunk and branches in Burnaby Lake. I counted 146 Dowitchers in this photograph, but many others were foraging nearby and running around in the shallow water. This flock of Dowitchers is most likely overwintering at Burnaby Lake before departing to breeding grounds in the spring. The photo below is an individual Long-Billed Dowitcher that was foraging for various foodstuffs (mostly insects and aquatic invertebrates) nearby.

long-billed dowitcher foraging at burnaby lake regional park

A Long-Billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus-scolopaceus) foraging at Burnaby Lake (Purchase)

This Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) was amoung about 5 individuals that stopped to perch for a few minutes in a shrub next to the boardwalk at the spit. There was lots of squaking and they weren’t certainly not quiet, though they made a lot less noise than the 100’s of Mallard Ducks that were also there. The whole place descended into a bit of an unfortunate circus when someone showed up with a box of birdseed and dumped it into the water – just a few feet from a “don’t feed the birds” sign, of course. The ducks went crazy, many different species crowded into the small area, and the blackbirds decided none of this was worthy of their presence and departed.

red-winged blackbird perched in a tree at burnaby lake

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) perched in a tree at Burnaby Lake (Purchase)

This Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) was done with the bird seed bedlam and was walking around on the boardwalk seemingly interested in jumping off the other side. When it stopped in front of me briefly, I made this photograph of just its head. You can see me crouched down in the reflection in its eye. This time of the year Canada Geese are pretty relaxed so there was no hissing or honking at me, it just passed by, posed for a headshot, and carried on. I didn’t crop this photograph – this is the size the camera recorded it at, so the detail at 100% is interesting as I was only 1.24 meters (4 feet) away!

canada goose head up close photo at burnaby lake

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) Up Close! (Purchase)

This Green-winged Teal (Anas carolinensis) also seemed uninterested in the bird seed junk food buffet being offered nearby and just continued wading and foraging in the mud like nothing was happening.

green-winged teal adult at burnaby lake

Green-winged Teal (Anas carolinensis) foraging at Burnaby Lake (Purchase)

There are a lot of Great Blue Herons around Burnaby Lake. I saw this individual hunting (and catching!) small fish and other prey in the lily pads along the shore of the lake. I’ve learned that Herons aren’t that particular as to what animals they eat. If it will fit down the esophagus – down it goes! Which reminds me of the one time I saw a Heron take on a bit more than its esophagus could handle – a photo featured at the end of this post: Hogs Back Falls on Ottawa’s Rideau River. I think this moment was a learning experience!

great blue heron hunting in the lily pads at burnaby lake

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) hunting in the Lily Pads at Burnaby Lake Regional Park (Purchase)

You can find more photographs from Burnaby Lake in my Burnaby Gallery.

Birds at the Boundary Bay Wildlife Management Area

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) foraging as the tide comes in at the Boundary Bay Wildlife Management Area in Crescent Beach, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

greater yellowlegs foraging at blackie spit

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) foraging at Blackie Spit (Purchase)

Earlier this year I visited two areas around Boundary Bay to try to photograph some wildlife. I made several landscape photographs as well, but I brought my 100-400 lens with me this time to try to see if I could photograph shorebirds, Bald Eagles, hawks and harriers, or any other subject I could find. When I visited Blackie Spit in Crescent Beach (Surrey) I found a small flock of Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) foraging in the wetlands of Blackie Spit as the tide came back in. I am not sure exactly what the tasty morsels they were finding were, but they did seem to find quite a bit to eat as they waded back and forth in the shallow water. They certainly don’t sit still and pose for a photograph!

short-eared owl asio flammeus flying at boundary bay

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) flying at Boundary Bay Regional Park (Purchase)

Another species I’ve been trying to photograph for a while along Boundary Bay are the Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) which can often be found hunting in the grass between the dykes and the intertidal zone. They often follow the same looping hunting flight routes, and you can anticipate where they are going to be next. Chasing them up and down the dyke, as I’ve seen birding groups do, is something I’ll charitably label as “counterproductive”. Occasionally you will see them dive down into the grass and then fly away (a miss), but sometimes they disappear and you don’t see them again for a while (meal time).

This Short-eared Owl perched in a tree next to Boundary Bay after a few failed hunting attempts. Soon after it seemed to have a bit of a territorial spat with a passing Northern Harrier. The Harrier moved on and this owl seemed to have a successful hunt on its next lap of the area. While there are not many trees in this kind of habitat along Boundary Bay Regional Park, the scattered tree trunks and driftwood, along with the grass and shrubs in this photo are pretty typical of the habitat here.

short-eared owl Asio flammeus perched at boundary bay

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) Perched in a Tree at Boundary Bay (Purchase)

A few areas along the dyke trail at Boundary Bay Regional Park have thickets of the invasive species Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus). They can be problematic in many ways but small birds such as this White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) can use it for cover, and many eat (and unfortunately distribute) the berries in the summer. This White-crowned Sparrow was with a flock of around 10-20 individuals, but they were quite active at that moment and group photos were a bit chaotic. They aren’t quite as exuberant and curious as Chickadees, but were not apparently bothered by my presence along the trail.

white-crowned sparrow at boundary bay regional park

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) at Boundary Bay (Purchase)

You can view more of my animal and bird photography in theAnimals and Wildlife Gallery.