Birding in British Columbia – Page 80 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Bushtit, Savannah & Swallow

A little windy, but still nice when I headed out for a walk late this afternoon. While doing my first loop through the North 40 I heard a Bullock’s Oriole. While trying to locate it,

… I got sidetracked by a flock of Bushtits busy foraging for insects. Then while checking some of the tree lines along the north side,

… I managed to get this Savannah Sparrow as it took off. Still not having any luck locating or photographing the Bullock’s Oriole,

… this Tree Swallow did cooperate landing atop an old snag briefly.

Not the potential large crowd for a Sunday afternoon at Reifel, but still a good number of visitors. Aside from all the new waterfowl arrivals in varying stages of development, it was fairly quiet on the birding front. There was a report of a juvenile Great Horned Owl, but I and others were unable to relocate it. There was some interesting activity though, a Bullock’s Oriole pair.

The male as seen above,

… and the female not far away gathering nesting material. It’s been a few years since the sanctuary has had a nesting record for Bullock’s Oriole.

Bonus shot and entertainment for the afternoon,

… was this Mink catching voles along the outside dyke trail.

Osprey

With a few other things on the go of late I have been remiss checking in on the Osprey this year. Normally I would have determined if this particular pair had returned and been watching them for about a month by now. Once things were finished at home this morning I made my way out there.

On arriving I found the male Osprey on one set of pylons noisily alerting to the presence of another adult Osprey. On looking further down I could see the female on this years nest which is on a different set of pylons from last year. So the pair is sitting on eggs, I just don’t know for how long.

From past experience with this pair, it is usually around the last week of June that the chicks have hatched. Now I will just have to make sure to check in on them regularly until then.