George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary – Page 4 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Bushtit Nest

The nice spring weather of late has been drawing large crowds on the weekends at Reifel. With spring also comes nesting season, and one of my favourites to watch if I get the chance is the Bushtit. This afternoon I, along with other visitors, were treated to a Bushtit pair starting to build their nest.

This is the male, dark eye, exiting the nest.

Here is the female, lighter eye, arriving with nesting material. The opening of the nest is to the right of her with most of what they have built so far being behind the pine cone and needles.

And just for fun, a short video of the Bushtit pair in action.

American Bittern

Well it was a beautiful day and lots of visitors at Reifel this afternoon. The highlight of the day was a couple of American Bittern seen along the south dyke. While I did not find them on my first pass along the trail, they did make appearances later on. The first one was not in great spot for photos,

… but the second Bittern was in a much better location for viewing and photographing.

To the delight of many visitors it foraged for food in this area the rest of the afternoon.

Northern Harrier

On arriving at Reifel to help out in the afternoon I learned that there was a little entertainment this morning. Over the centre dyke area the Northern Goshawk was actively engaged with some Northern Harriers.

I made my way out to the centre dyke trail and was unable to locate the Northern Goshawk. The Northern Harriers, however, were actively coming and going to the trail leading the bird blind.

Turns out they were feeding on a drake mallard. The duck was probably killed by the Goshawk and all the fuss noticed earlier was the Harriers harrassing and chasing it away for a free lunch.