Birding in British Columbia – Page 156 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

No Bluebirds Today

Thought I would try to spend some time with the Mountain Bluebirds this afternoon. Although Boundary Bay Regional Park in Tsawwassen is always a popular spot, being a weekday it would be a little quieter.

As anticipated it was not too busy people wise, but no Bluebird activity either. Could not locate them anywhere. Hopefully they have not moved on already, but that is a possibility.

Prior to heading home for the Canucks game I made a quick side trip to Boundary Bay in Ladner. It was fairly quiet there as well.

Just saw this one Short-eared Owl cruising the marsh along with the usual Harriers.

Nesting News

Well the talk of the last few days at Reifel has been the Sandhill Crane pair. It started with them pushing away the juvenile from last year. Then spending a brief day or two preparing the nesting site they used last year. And yesterday morning the first egg arrived.

I stopped by early this afternoon to get this shot. Now to wait and see if a second egg will be laid. If all goes well, it should be around the middle of May the chick(s) hatch.

A Blue Day

I started off this morning at Reifel. Lots of Barn, Tree and Violet-green Swallows hawking for insects. Heard my first Common Yellowthroat of the season for the sanctuary, but no photos. With nesting season well underway for some waterfowl, so are the turf wars.

I love the posturing of the Canada Goose when protecting its territory.

The geese have started nesting,

… with this Canada Goose tending to the eggs.

After Reifel I headed down to Boundary Bay Regional Park in Tsawwassen to check for the Mountain Bluebird again. I got encouraging news while walking out along the dyke from another birder indicating six Bluebirds had been seen.

It took a few minutes, but I located them foraging along beach.

They would perch nicely at times on the tops of the thistles.

They moved about quite a bit and did spend time in the trees as well. I counted eight Mountain Bluebirds while I was there. Finally some blue in my day. Hopefully they stick around for a while so I can spend some more time with them. Then there was this,

… on my way out to finish my afternoon and a good day.