Reifel- October 23 2011

Today I went to Reifel. The first birds I took photos of were the flocks of Snow Geese that flew above.




After taking some photos of the flocks of geese, I stopped and took some photos of 2 Black-crowned Night-herons. One was sleeping, but other other one was awake and was preening.




After I got some shots of the night-herons, I noticed a Peregrine Falcon on a perch that I have seen a Peregrine Falcon on twice before. I walked up the path to the falcon, and took some photos.




After the falcon, I walked took some shots of the Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails, Greater Scaups, Green-winged Teals, American Coots, ect. I then noticed a pair of Hooded Mergansers. They are a pretty common bird, but I think the male is really pretty.




Once the mergansers had wandered farther away, I noticed a Spotted Towhee in a bush eating some berries. Another common bird, but again I think they are very pretty.




After the towhee I continued walking and taking photos of the waterbirds around me until I herd some pecking. It was a Downy Woodpecker searching for food.




Once the woodpecker was no longer in a good position for photos, I walked down to the shore. Here I saw a group of around 70 Dowitchers. I lay down on the ground to get eye-level shots. I watched this group for a long time. During this time, I saw a Virginia Rail flying over the dowitchers and into the reeds on the other side. I did not get a photo, so I waited hoping the rail wood come out of the reeds. After waiting a while. It flew across over the Dowitchers and back into the reeds where it had come from. I did not get a photo this time either, but here are some shots of the Dowitchers.











I watched the dowitchers for a long time before leaving them. When I left, I looked into the trees, and spotted a Brown Creeper, creeping up the trunk of a tree.



After some more walking, I returned to the spot with the Dowitchers. They were still there, but a group of Sandhill Cranes had arrived to. I took some photos of the cranes, and noticed that one of them had many bands. You can see a photo of that crane in the following series.






Here are 3 other shots from the sanctuary today.

Vanier Park- October 22 2011

Today I went to Vanier Park. I find that Vanier Park has many neat birds given the location (in a urban enviroment) and size.

As soon as I arrived, I scanned the ocean for birds. I didn't see anything interesting, so I went to the pond instead. The last time I visited Vanier, there were 3 Northern Shovelers, 1 Blue-winged Teal, a few Coots, 1 Northern Pintail, Mallards, Geese and a few others. All the waterbirds were in small numbers, but today I saw at least 50 wigeons, at least 6 pintails, and many other waterbirds I didn't see last time. I also noticed that last time the waterbirds allowed me to get withen 3 feet of them, and this time they wouldn't let me get to close. Only bird that let me get close was the Mallard (of course). I took these two of a Mallard. Even though its only a Mallard, I like the photos.





After the Mallard, the next bird I photographed was a female Greater Scaup. She was in a group with a Hooded Merganser, coots, wigeons and more. While I took this photo, I noticed a female Northern Pintail swmming in the reeds. She grabbed one of the reeds and started pulling and shaking it. I have never seen this before, but I think she was trying to eat the read. I didn't get a photo of this, but here is a photo of the female Greater Scaup.




After the scaup had gotten too far away for good photos, I started taking photos of the other birds on the pond like the teals, wigeons and coots. Here is a photo of a Green-winged Teal with a female Gadwall.




After I took some photos of the Green-winged Teal and the Gadwall, I went back to taking photo of the other waterbirds. I then noticed that 3 Northern Pintails were busy eating on the grass fields near the pond. It was the first time I had seen pintails on a grass field, so I took some photos.




The pintails on the field were being chased by crows, so they didn't stay long. When they flew away, I went back to the pond. I noticed a pair of pintails sitting on the shore on the other side, so I walked over to them and took a bunch of photos.




After the pintails had slowly made their way back to the middle of the pond, I checked to see if some birds had come to the seawall. I noticed a really distant loon (probably a Common Loon) but it was to far away for any good shots. I took a few, and then I heard a bird calling. It was a female Belted Kingfisher, flying. It landed in a tree for around a minute, and then flew and landed a pole that I was standing close to. This is one of the photos I took:




After a minute or so, the kingfisher flew away. I then noticed a pair of Horned Grebes swiming by. This is one of the photos I took:




Later on as I was leaving, I took this photo of an American Wigeon landing. I like the effect because of the lower shutter speed.

 

Stanley Park Bird Count October 16 2011

I participated in the monthly bird count in Stanley Park today. We spotted 2 Horned Grebes in the lagoon, and if I am correct, they are mainly found on saltwater. Lost Lagoon is freshwater, so the Horned Grebes in Stanley Park usually stick to the seawall.

The grebes were really far away so I did not get great photos, but here are a few:







Here are a few others from the count:

Belted Kingfisher


American Widgeons


Ring-billed Gull


Great-blue Herons




Red-breasted Sapsucker


Ruby-crowned Kinglet


Varied Thrush


Hooded Mergansers

Brandt's Cormorants and Grebes from False Creek

I was in my friends boat and we came across some neat birds in the False Creek walkway and off of Stanley Park.

First was these 2 Pelagic Cormorants, a juvenile and an adult:



Next after the cormorants was this single Red-necked Grebe:



After the grebe a flock of Surf Scoters flew by:



After the scoters was when I came across the Brandt's Cormorants. They were resting around 1 kilometer off of Stanley Park.



On the way back, I saw this Horned Grebe:



The last interesting bird I came across was what I think is a Red-necked Grebe, but I also think it could be a Western Grebe.