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.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve also found me volunteering at Reifel. The sun was out and there was a good crowd. Today turned out to be raptor day at the tower.

From the top of the tower this Bald Eagle was roosting nicely in an evergreen. While watching it,

… this Red-tailed Hawk landed in an adjacent tree. Not often you end up shooting down on a hawk like this. While continuing to watch the eagle,

… this Northern Harrier did a fly by. To provide a nice end to this episode,

… the Bald Eagle eventually took off passing close by the tower as it headed out to the marsh. On my way back as the sun was starting to go down,

…the moon was rising.

Happy New Year!

Short-eared + Snowy Owl

It was a nice sunny afternoon when I started my walk at Boundary Bay. As with my last visit here, I was going to look for wintering sparrows. Not long after starting,

… this male Northern Harrier did a close fly by. On the sparrow front as I progressed east along the dyke I was only finding the usual suspects.

Like this White-crowned Sparrow,

… and Song Sparrow. With clouds moving in and the sun starting to set, it was time to start heading back. While adjacent to the golf course,

… I came across this Short-eared Owl that had stopped to rest on a fence post. As it continued getting darker,

… I was pleasantly surprised to see this Snowy Owl roosting out in the marsh. One has been seen here off and on for a couple of weeks now. The first one I saw this winter was also about two weeks ago at Reifel way out in the west marsh.