Blog – Page 70 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Swamp Sparrow

As you may have noticed in recent posts, my current nemesis bird is the Swamp Sparrow. While I have managed fleeting glimpses of the bird while foraging amongst the reeds, I have yet to get a photo of this fairly secretive song bird. They are still being seen locally at Brunswick Point and Reifel. Having had no luck at Brunswick yesterday, I tried Reifel again this afternoon. After watching and listening for some time to no avail along the west dyke I was about to give up when I heard the chip I had been waiting for. Better still,

… the Swamp Sparrow popped up briefly on the bulrushes. It was some distance away and this is a healthy crop, but I will take it. I can now add Swamp Sparrow to my life photo list and it’s time for a new nemesis.

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.