George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary – Page 56

Sora

After not being able to do it last weekend, I made my way out to volunteer on the trails at Reifel this afternoon. There were a few more people than in recent weeks and some interesting birds to boot. Just inside the entrance a Sora had been showing well around the warming hut area. As luck would have it, it was not present when I went to check.

The Barn Swallow nest on the side of the warming hut was entertaining several folks.

These chicks will not be in the nest much longer. From here I carried on to the outer ponds. Some of the usual shore birds present were Yellowlegs, Dowitchers, Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper. Highlights were,

… a couple of Red-necked Phalarope,

… around fifteen Stilt Sandpipers,

… and about a half dozen Wilson’s Phalarope. An honourable mention goes to the Virginia Rail that made a quick flight from one patch of bullrush to another between the shore birds. Not wanting to give up on the Sora, I made my way back to the warming hut area. Some birds splashing away taking a bath caught my attention and on closer examination the Sora was one of them.

It then made its way back and forth along the waters edge.

Or should I say muddy edge. Not the best back drop for photos, but fun to see and spend some time with this infrequent visitor to the sanctuary.

Killdeer & Cedar Waxwing

Started off this afternoon at Reifel. While still fairly quiet there was a Red-necked Phalarope in with the Yellowlegs and Dowitchers today. It just never came close enough for a decent photo. There was also a handful of Least Sandpipers present as well. At the other end of the outer ponds,

… the Killdeer and its juvenile (foreground) were a little closer to the dyke.

The juvenile Killdeer has grown quite a bit since I saw it last. From here I headed off to the North 40 where I had not been in some time. Things were not looking any busier there until something caught my eye amongst the branches of a tree.

It was a juvenile Cedar Waxwing.

And not far off higher up in an adjacent tree was one of the adults. Being the wonderful late afternoon that it was I felt this was worth spending a little time with.

The juvenile Cedar Waxwing was mobile, but not flying yet. I positioned myself far enough away as not to be a concern for the adults, but still close enough for photos. Then it was a matter of keeping still, waiting and hoping to catch some feeding behaviour.

Then one of the adults came in to feed the juvenile.

This time around it was regurgitating whole berries. Unfortunately the juvenile had moved and was not as visible as I would have liked.

Next feeding appeared to be some nice gooey insects.

After which the juvenile did come out a little more into the open,

… and then started to move around again.

Once it had settled in this tree I decided it was time to move on. This was the first time I have managed to capture this behaviour with the Waxwings and enjoyed every minute of it.

Swallow, Yellowlegs & Owl

On arriving to volunteer at Reifel this afternoon there was a Belted Kingfisher along Robertson Slough. It did not stick around when I got out to walk the driveway. This is the first one I have seen in a while. Carrying on I reached the the parking lot the same time as a couple of bus loads of people. Still, it was not overly busy on the people front. Birding wise it remains fairly quiet. There was an adult Great Horned Owl being harassed by Crows near the picnic area which did not stay long. While walking the outer dyke checking the handful of shorebirds in the ponds I noticed a Phalarope in with some Yellowlegs. It was all the way across the pond and to far off for me to properly identify. I decided to head to the blind off the centre dyke trail to see if I could get a closer look. By the time I reached the blind, the Phalarope was gone. As a consolation, there was a Barn Swallow family roosting on some branches just outside one of the blind openings.

This is one of the juvenile Barns Swallows. Only problem being the opening is too small for my lens to shoot through and resulted in a soft photo which I tried to correct. From here I headed back to the tower area.

The Lesser Yellowlegs I noted earlier was in a slightly better spot for a photo this time. Then came word of another Great Horned Owl along one of the inside trails.

This one being a juvenile with the lack of large broad ear tufts of an adult and still somewhat fuzzy head. This young bird also seemed to be favouring its right eye.

I look forward to seeing the young owls each year. The adults have been nesting in the area for many years now. To finish the afternoon off, one of the Swainson’s Thrush came in and scolded the young owl for a short time. Of course it did not want to pose nicely like the owl and remained tucked away in the branches. A quiet but not uneventful afternoon.