Blog – Page 22 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

New Years Eve

New Years Eve also found me volunteering at Reifel. The sun was out and there was a good crowd. Today turned out to be raptor day at the tower.

From the top of the tower this Bald Eagle was roosting nicely in an evergreen. While watching it,

… this Red-tailed Hawk landed in an adjacent tree. Not often you end up shooting down on a hawk like this. While continuing to watch the eagle,

… this Northern Harrier did a fly by. To provide a nice end to this episode,

… the Bald Eagle eventually took off passing close by the tower as it headed out to the marsh. On my way back as the sun was starting to go down,

…the moon was rising.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve this year fell on a Sunday and my usual afternoon to volunteer at Reifel. There was not much of a crowd and it was fairly quiet on the birding front as well. Fortunately some of the regulars were cooperating.

Such as this House Finch,

… and Purple Finch. Later in the day while trying to track down a woodpecker I could hear drumming on a tree,

… this Brown Creeper made a brief appearance next to me. And to finish the day of was the source of the drumming,

… a Downy Woodpecker.

Merry Christmas!

Summer Tanager

This afternoon I decided to head in to Vancouver for the Summer Tanager first reported on the British Columbia Rare Bird Alert blog on December 09. It did not take long to locate the bird along the Arbutus Greenway.

While it was initially challenging getting a clear shot,

… the opportunities improved with time and as it moved among the trees hawking for insects. It was also visiting suet feeders.

This immature male Summer Tanager is the sixth record for British Columbia and the first for the Vancouver area. Given the time of year this bird should be in Mexico, Central or South America.

A productive outing and a new addition to my life photo list.