CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography
Birding in British Columbia, Canada
Late this morning I got a heads up about an unusual visitor at Reifel, so I made my way out there just after lunch.
A Long-tailed Duck was in the house pond behind the gift shop.
While normally seen on open water or at the mouth of the river, these diving ducks do occasionally find their way to inside ponds.
It was still pretty grey when I headed out this afternoon, but at least it was not raining. My destination today was Brunswick Point. After arriving, and before heading out to the point, a quick check of Canoe Pass was in order as a couple of things caught my eye. Canoe Pass is that portion of the South Arm of the Fraser River that goes into Ladner Harbour. The first thing that I noticed,
… was this Long-tailed Duck. There were some Western Grebe out there as well, but they were even further off than the Long-tailed.
Next up were some Red-breasted Merganser.
It has been a few years since I last photographed one of these.
Bonus bird of the afternoon was this Barrow’s Goldeneye.
The Barrow’s Goldeneye is a new addition to my life photo list. So, some interesting waterfowl from the birding perspective, unfortunate the weather was not better from the photography side of things.
Of course the the usual Double-crested Cormorant were on the pilings of the old Brunswick Cannery (photo).
Once on the dyke trail around Brunswick Point things were fairly quiet. The usual Northern Harriers and one Short-eared Owl were active over the marsh. About half way along there was a change from what has been the norm.
There were four Snowy Owls roosting in closer to the dyke.
My last few visits to Brunswick Point they have always been some distance out.
While not as close as the ones at Boundary Bay have been of late,
… it was nice to see the ones here in closer providing better views. The numbers are not as great here either, I counted seven today. There is usually twenty plus in the bay area.
After getting the car serviced this morning, I headed out to Reifel this afternoon. Birds of note from speaking to fellow birders on my arrival were a Shrike, Redhead and Long-tailed Ducks. As the Shrike was in the outside marshes, I decided to try the ponds for the ducks.
I found the female Long-tailed Duck in one of the main inside ponds.
This diving duck is usually seen in the ocean,
… but will occasionally show up on the inside ponds at the sanctuary.
Not having any luck locating the Redhead, I shifted to the trails. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I did start following a group of Kinglets mixed in with some Chickadees. They were busy foraging for insects in the conifers. The challenge trying to photograph Kinglets is their tiny size and the fact they are constantly on the move amongst the branches. Every once in a while though,
… you luck out and get one that pauses ever so briefly out in the open.