Not the potential large crowd for a Sunday afternoon at Reifel, but still a good number of visitors. Aside from all the new waterfowl arrivals in varying stages of development, it was fairly quiet on the birding front. There was a report of a juvenile Great Horned Owl, but I and others were unable to relocate it. There was some interesting activity though, a Bullock’s Oriole pair.
Bullock’s Oriole
The male as seen above,
Bullock’s Oriole
… and the female not far away gathering nesting material. It’s been a few years since the sanctuary has had a nesting record for Bullock’s Oriole.
Bonus shot and entertainment for the afternoon,
Mink
… was this Mink catching voles along the outside dyke trail.
A lovely afternoon, although still on the cool side with the breeze. The intent this afternoon was to try for warblers at Reifel, but I got side tracked again on hearing there were a couple of Cinnamon Teal around. While I did locate one, it was in a pond well off the trail and too far for photos. At another pond they frequent there were some Green-winged Teal.
Green-winged Teal
Not quite the shot I was hoping for, but fun to get this Green-winged Teal pair foraging together. While watching the teal,
House Sparrow
… this House Sparrow landed nearby for a short while. Then the bonus shot of the day occurred on my way out along the east dyke trail.
Mink
This Mink came running right up to me with a bullfrog in its mouth. The lighting was a little harsh, but there is not much you can do about that in these spur of the moment situations.
I started off this morning at Reifel. On entering the sanctuary I could see there was something roosting in the usual raptor snag.
Peregrine Falcon
This Peregrine Falcon was scanning the nearby ponds in some nice morning light. I mention the light as there was not much else going and I happened across what was likely the same bird in the same tree on my way out just before noon.
Peregrine Falcon
This time it was stretching and fanning its wings. Some great action to catch, but as you can see the light is all wrong. The sun is above and behind the Falcon. The other reason for bringing this up was another couple present at the time. He was carrying a tripod and wearing a back-pack with his camera gear inside. While I was catching the action, he was scrambling for his gear.
Peregrine Falcon
I could hear the mumbling while he was still fumbling with his camera that never made it on to the tripod and the Falcon flew off. The point, or question being, why would you be in a target rich environment with your camera gear packed up? Opportunities like this can be hard to come by and are fleeting moments at best. You have to have your gear ready. Now if only this bird had done that first thing this morning with the nice light.
I then headed home briefly for a bite to eat and then returned to the sanctuary to help out on the trails for the remainder of the afternoon. Not much had changed on the bird front, but while checking the shore birds on the outer ponds a mink scampered out on to the trail, saw me and went back into the bushes. I backed off a little and waited.
Mink
It was not long before it emerged back on to the trail.
Mink
This time it did not seem to mind my being there,
Mink
… and actually started sauntering toward me. That was until some other people came along the trail and it disappeared again. It was nice this one was relatively dry and fluffy, not dripping wet or swimming which is how I usually see them.
