CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography
Birding in British Columbia, Canada
The 23rd Annual Pig & Corn Roast was held this evening at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. This fund raiser is held in early September each year.
Cannot have a pig roast without a pig. This is one of two that were prepared for this evening’s event.
The turn out was pretty good this year and the weather was ideal.
After dinner the evening starts to wind down with a raffle. Once again a good time was had by all. We actually came away with a couple of prizes!
Managed a brief walk at Reifel this morning. Not too much going on with shore birds as the tide was wrong. There were a couple of Red-necked Phalaropes though with a handful of the regulars.
While watching song bird activity in some trees with another visitor along the east dyke trail I heard what I thought was a Downy Woodpecker.
The other birder pointed it out for me and it was actually a Hairy Woodpecker.
It has been a while since I have seen one and was the highlight of the morning.
This afternoon I headed out to Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. The purpose of this visit was volunteering, helping out with visitors on the trails.
On arriving I was informed of an incident that happened yesterday. Someone was actually trying to take ducks from inside the sanctuary. As shocking as this may sound, it has happened before. Previously it has been people in the parking lot trying to abscond with them. This is the first time I have heard of them being taken inside on the trails. I can only speculate that they would be destined for the dinner table. A Conservation Officer was informed and is following-up.
On the brighter side, it was a lovely afternoon for all that visited today. The crowds were not that large. While fairly quiet on the birding front, there was a nice assortment of shore birds present including the Stilt Sandpipers. There were also over a dozen Sandhill Cranes visiting along with the resident family of three.
I came across another visitor looking for dinner on the way out at the end of the day.
This Peregrine Falcon had been busy on the out ponds earlier hunting shore birds.
It was difficult trying to get a view as I had to shoot through branches.
Fortunately I had somewhat of a clear shot when it was stretching and fanning its feathers. It stayed on this high perch and continued surveilling the ponds.