Birding in British Columbia – Page 68 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Belted Kingfisher

At least the rain let up when I arrived to help out at Reifel this afternoon. The poor weather of late no doubt was a factor in the low number of visitors today. It was just as quiet on the birding front as well. There was one Northern Saw-whet Owl tucked away along the east dyke trail. At the northeast corner,

… I managed this shot of one of the regulars, a Spotted Towhee. At the end of the day I could hear a Kingfisher from the area of the gift shop pond. While they show up regularly here, they can be challenging to get a decent photo of. As luck would have it,

… the Belted Kingfisher was actively fishing the pond when I arrived and I actually managed to get fairly close. Despite the fact it was getting dark, I managed a few shots.

Prairie Falcon

Before the next deluge of rain and wind was set to arrive, I wanted to get back out to Brunswick Point. The target bird today, a Prairie Falcon that had been sighted a few days ago. A fairly rare visitor for this area with the last one I saw being in Boundary Bay back in December, 2007. On speaking to other birders on my arrival the bird had been spotted in a few different locations. I made my way along the dyke around the point to a stand of trees adjacent to a farm. The Prairie Falcon was coming and going from the cottonwoods here.

While it was great to see the bird, it was quite some distance off and the grey skies did not help. Hopefully it is still around when the sun makes an appearance again.

Great Horned Owl

Another sunny, but cool day. On arriving to help out at Reifel the lot was full and it looked like the Sunday crowds were back to normal. While still fairly quiet on the birding front, there were a couple of attractions for the visitors this afternoon.

First up along the east dyke trail were the Great Horned Owls. The local pair were both roosting together in the same tree. Unfortunately there was no way to get them both in the shot. Further along was a Northern Saw-whet Owl. I did not take any photos as it was obstructed by branches, but everyone loves to see the owls and they were the highlight of the day.

Still on the cold side, the ponds still had some thin ice and were fairly empty except for the few thawed portions.