CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography
Birding in British Columbia, Canada
While it was a fairly quiet afternoon on my walk there were still a couple of thing going on. One particular tree had a couple of Savannah Sparrows coming and going.
Busy foraging amongst the branches with this one catching a small insect of some sort,
… and then it is down the hatch.
Followed by a nice contented pose afterwards.
Still no young visible yet outside the Tree Swallow nest. While watching them,
… a Black-capped Chickadee was also making regular food deliveries to its nest.
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.
This afternoon I headed out to the Boundary Bay area to try for some better shots of the Willow Flycatcher. I had no sooner started on my walk when I noticed a large flycatcher in a tree at the beginning of the trail.
On getting a closer look it was a Western Kingbird.
What a great way to start this outing,
… these are my first shots of a Western Kingbird and a new addition to my photo list.
When checking one of the spots for the Willow Flycatcher,
This Cedar Waxwing showed up for a brief visit on some dead fall.
Then I noticed one of the nesting Cooper’s Hawk in a Willow Tree.
It was preening and stretching while roosting in the tree.
Then a familiar call took me back to where I had seen the Waxwing.
The Willow Flycatcher was located down low in the bramble and allowed me to get fairly close. A little better than the distant shot of the other day.
So far, so good. I headed back to where I had seen the Western Kingbird. On approaching I saw something fly from the same tree into an adjacent field.
Perched on a small tree I found not the Western Kingbird, but an Eastern Kingbird.
It was flycatching from this low perch and I managed a shot of it with its catch. Two different Kingbirds in one day, cannot ask for much more than that.
Prior to leaving a couple of Savannah Sparrows caught my eye.
Unsure if they had a nest with young nearby, but they were busy gathering grubs and frequenting the tree from the first shot.
It was a lovely afternoon for the first day of summer. A productive one as well on the birding and photography front.