Western Meadowlark

Another sunny day and I made my way out to Brunswick Point this afternoon. As there was little wind, the river would be calm and smooth. While this was the case for the river when I arrived, I was disappointed to see no activity out there at all. Not long into my walk though there was a pleasant surprise.

Some Western Meadowlarks flew into the trees along the trail. The lighting was far from ideal, but I did manage this shot. There was over a dozen Meadowlarks moving between the farm fields, marsh and trees along the dyke.

Further along the trail I located a Northern Shrike, and later in the afternoon a half dozen Short-eared Owls got active over the marsh along with the usual Northern Harriers. Unfortunately I was not able to get any decent shots of them.

Owl & Meadowlark

Another brisk sunny day and lots of people out walking and enjoying it. Today’s stroll took me to Brunswick Point where there were several other birders/photographers in addition to everyone else. From the birding perspective it seemed like mostly the regulars at the start. Half way along the trail I noticed a Short-eared Owl land in the farm field adjacent to the trail.

Once I made my way up to it I could see it was just taking a break from hunting over the marsh and resting in the sun.

It was not long before others were stopping beside me to see what I was looking at. It was far enough away that the Short-eared Owl was not overly concerned and continued to rest a while longer before its next sortie in search of food.

As I continued my walk I was joined briefly by some birding friends. We discussed recent sightings as we made our way south along the trail. Prior to splitting up he commented on how some Meadowlarks would be nice. As luck would have it, for me anyways,

… on my way back I came across two Western Meadowlarks. They were busy foraging in the marsh, but I was unable to get a better angle on them before they flew off to the other side of the dyke and out of sight in the fields. A nice find to finish the afternoon.

Three for three, sort of.

I was able to take a break from work, computer and web stuff this afternoon and get out for a bit of a walk. I headed out to Iona Regional Park with three target birds in mind. Wilson’s Snipe, Northern Shrike and Western Meadowlark.

It did not take long to find a Snipe while walking around the outer ponds. Or should I say before it spotted me and flew off. I managed to flush a Snipe three times (possibly the same bird) while walking around the marsh area. Strike one.

There was still a Northern Shrike in the area. I sat back and watched for awhile to see if it favoured any particular area. I picked a likely spot and waited for it to come to me. While moving around hunting they will return to the same perches. This does not always work, but it is usually better than chasing the bird from tree to tree. In this particular case it did not return to where I was set up. Strike two.

Not far from where I was waiting for the Shrike I located a Meadowlark foraging on the ground. Easy to miss when they are not calling/singing and you don’t get a glimpse of the yellow breast with contrasting black v-shape.

I crawled along on my knees with this bird as it continued to forage in the grass in the hopes of getting a shot of the more colourful front profile. Alas it was not to be as it kept its back to me the whole time prior to flying off.

Three for three in locating my target birds, but zero for three for the photos I was hoping for. When leaving I could see the Shrike in the tree where I had set up earlier. Such is the life of bird photography.