This afternoon’s walk was to Brunswick Point which is one of my favourite spots to try and get Northern Shrike at this time of year. On starting the stroll out the dyke my attention was drawn to the river.
Horned Grebe
There was a Horned Grebe active near the old cannery pilings,
Double-crested Cormorant
… along with a Double-crested Cormorant fishing close to the river bank.
Double-crested Cormorant
The mouth of the river can be a good spot to get a variety of sea birds.
Northern Harrier
While I did not see any Shrikes, the usual Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls were active over the marsh.
It was another beautiful sunny and cool day when I made my way out to Reifel to help out on the trails this afternoon. Lots of other people were out enjoying it as well, as the parking lot was packed when I arrived. Highlights from the last couple of days were Bohemian Waxwing and a Harris’s Sparrow. On starting out I made a brief stop at Fuller’s Slough to look a the Black-crowned Night-Heron. There are two juvenile birds along with the adults this winter.
Black-crowned Night-Heron
The first juveniles here in a few years and one of the adults did provide a good look and fairly unobstructed photo. From here I made my out along the east dyke trail. The Great Horned Owl pair were roosting together high in a tree, but not in a good spot for photos. This did not stop many from trying while most just enjoyed seeing them. I was not going to attempt looking for the Harris’s Sparrow at this time as there were just too many people along the trail keeping the sparrows in the bushes. While strolling around the other trails I could not turn up any waxwings. Later in the afternoon I made my way back to the east dyke trail. As the number of people had diminished somewhat, the sparrows were making there way back out on to the trails in between groups.
Harris’s Sparrow
It did not take too long before I spotted the Harris’s Sparrow. This is a bird that would normally migrate from the arctic through the middle of Canada and is a rare visitor for this area. While still being flushed back into the bushes occasionally by small groups,
Harris’s Sparrow
… the Harris’s Sparrow would pop back out not long after they passed by. It provided great looks for myself and others.
Harris’s Sparrow
At one point it was quite content feeding on seeds left by visitors on this tree stump. It has been about six years since I last saw and photographed a Harris’s Sparrow, so this was definitely the highlight of my day.
It was clearing up and cool when I headed out to Reifel to help out on the trails this afternoon. Just prior to getting there, parked cars were lining both sides of the street watching the Snow Geese in the fields. There was still a good crowd when I arrived at the parking lot. Potential highlight for the day was a Northern Saw-whet Owl along the centre dyke trail. On checking that out first, it had moved on not long before I got there. Other highlights were some Horned Grebe,
Horned Grebe
… which were resting when I first located them.
Horned Grebe
They did get busy eventually and started diving for fish,
Horned Grebe
… along with striking a few nice poses. The other highlight,
Ruddy Duck
… was a Ruddy Duck. It was in the same area as the Grebe,
Ruddy Duck
… and was hanging out with them when first spotted the other day.
