Blog – Page 118 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Sandhill Crane Chick Hatches

The countdown is over for the arrival of a chick at the Sandhill Crane nest at Reifel. While there were signs of it getting close yesterday with cracks in the egg, the word first thing this morning was it did not hatch until sometime overnight. On getting to the nesting site,

… the adult female was resting quietly.

Then the moment we were waiting for when she stood up and ruffled her feathers.

Our first good looks at the new arrival.

The female left the nest for a brief walk,

… returning to tend to the chick and the nest.

The adult male was also present and circling the nest the whole time.

After the female finished her chores,

… the male took his turn to incubate the remaining egg with the chick peeking out. The chick eventually took cover under his wings. There was a visible hole in the second egg, so it should not be long before it hatches.

Sparrow, Bunting & Swallow

While Reifel provided more opportunities for Grosbeaks the other day, the North 40 is probably the only spot in this area (Delta) you will find another bird I have been waiting for. When I arrived this afternoon and was getting my gear ready I finally heard a Lazuli Bunting singing. The only problem being I could not find it before it went quiet.

While looking for the bunting, a Savannah Sparrow started singing nicely atop a small tree.

It allowed me to get a couple of shots from different angles.

After photographing the sparrow I could hear the Lazuli Bunting singing again. After moving to that area of the park I was able to hear more than one singing and finally caught a glimpse of a male. They were moving around,

… but I finally got a couple photos of one of them, this being a male.

This is the same tree they have frequented in past years. I could not determine how many were around, or if there were any females amongst them.

One other interesting find from a previous visit that I followed up on today,

… was this Tree Swallow nest.

Looks like it is an active nest and worthy of another visit when there are some young mouths to be fed.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Having seen Black-headed Grosbeak at a couple of different locations recently, and wanting to try for better photos, I headed to Reifel as the odds would be better there. There has been a few of them around usually frequenting the east dyke trail.

The adult males are quite distinct with their orange, black and white colouring.

The females are not as flashy and both will share in nesting duties and feeding young.

After getting them foraging on the ground, this male posed nicely for me in a tree.

While at the sanctuary this afternoon I also checked on the Sandhill Cranes. It is almost time to start a nest watch with the eggs due to hatch in the next few days.