Boundary Bay – Page 3 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Red-necked Phalarope

I headed out to Boundary Bay this afternoon for the first time in a long time. My timing was wrong for tides as it was well out and high tide was several hours away. It was just a short walk between 104 St. and the pilings and I was not expecting to find much, but figured there may be a few shorebirds around the tidal pools. As it turned out,

… there was only this lone Red-necked Phalarope.

It was busy foraging for food in a shallow pool close to the dyke.

The Red-necked Phalarope was more than cooperative allowing me to tag along quite close as it worked its way back and forth along the pool.

It even took time out for rest a couple of times. It stayed there until it was flushed by a Northern Harrier flying over the dyke. Having some quality time with this beauty made the afternoon worth it, even if it was the only bird.

Barn + Short-eared Owls

Headed out to Boundary Bay on a cool and overcast afternoon. On arriving there were several other photographers watching some Short-eared Owls close to 72 St. Still wanting to find some wintering sparrows I continued east beyond them, but did not get too far before this Short-eared Owl landed on a fence post beside me.

While scanning the fields it started vocalizing.

Then prepared to take flight again.

Kind of hard to ignore them when they are providing opportunities like this.

The flight shots were taken as they were hunting over the golf course. After this diversion I continued east and spotted some activity in a crabapple.

This Purple Finch was busy feasting on the berries. Further along while watching some sparrows,

… I was pleasantly surprised when this Barn Owl flew in landing briefly.

It then moved a short distance away to another stump while continuing to scan the marsh,

… and then flew off over the tall grass on the north side of the dyke. The Barn Owl was a definite bonus for today’s walk.

Short-eared + Snowy Owl

It was a nice sunny afternoon when I started my walk at Boundary Bay. As with my last visit here, I was going to look for wintering sparrows. Not long after starting,

… this male Northern Harrier did a close fly by. On the sparrow front as I progressed east along the dyke I was only finding the usual suspects.

Like this White-crowned Sparrow,

… and Song Sparrow. With clouds moving in and the sun starting to set, it was time to start heading back. While adjacent to the golf course,

… I came across this Short-eared Owl that had stopped to rest on a fence post. As it continued getting darker,

… I was pleasantly surprised to see this Snowy Owl roosting out in the marsh. One has been seen here off and on for a couple of weeks now. The first one I saw this winter was also about two weeks ago at Reifel way out in the west marsh.