mostly birds...

Racoon

Posted by Douglas Brown , Monday, June 28, 2010 12:40 AM

Sandhill Crane finding a worm for the chick

Posted by Douglas Brown , Sunday, June 6, 2010 10:56 PM

I'm not sure if you could call it bird voyeurism, but when you see something as cute as the new born chicks,it is hard not to sit and watch all the antics,and capture some of them on the camera.
Sometimes it would be nice to have a video camera on hand to record all the action, but being able to get the special moments with a single frame is far more worth it to me.

Sandhill Crane with chick

Unfortunately the second chick did not make it, but so far this one seems quite spry.
The area is closed off for anyone wanting to walk by, and these were taken where allowed.

Sandhill Crane(male) with chick

Posted by Douglas Brown , Thursday, June 3, 2010 11:35 PM

After about 30 or so days this baby sandhill crane was hatched, and started learning fast how to swim and imitate the dad searching for some type of food in the ground.
Happy to announce the other egg hatched the next day, and have now moved off the nest to a more secure location at Reifel.

Mother still on one egg, with newborn beside.

Sandhill Crane with eggs

Posted by Douglas Brown , Saturday, May 29, 2010 10:32 PM

It has been 3 years since a sandhill crane chick was hatched at Reifel, so this would be a real bonus if these eggs make it.
I remember one time a mink got to the eggs, and while taking some photos here, I saw a mink in the background. Keep guarding them mom.

Female Wood Duck Eating a Frog

Posted by Douglas Brown , Monday, May 10, 2010 7:47 PM

A female wood duck dove down into the pond and grabbed a frog, then proceeded to flop it around with a vengeance until finally eating it. I never knew they ate these, and it is a first see for me.
I thought it might be a revenge for the bullfrogs eating her babies earlier.

Has anyone ever heard of this before???

Cute Season

Posted by Douglas Brown , Sunday, May 2, 2010 1:58 PM

The goslings and ducklings are arriving in good numbers. Down at the local lake within the city they thrive quite well, because there is a lot of people that probably help keep the natural predators away.
It is the problem with minks before the hatchings.
Getting right on the ground for these shots gives me an eye to eye level.



It seems the goslings are outnumbering the ducks this year.



As you can see there are quite a few on this shot.
I'm not sure if they are all from one mother.

Humming birds building nests

Posted by Douglas Brown , Monday, April 26, 2010 12:13 AM

It's that time of year again when the little hummers build the nests around here, and one of my favourite spots to watch them collect the material is at Crescent Park in White Rock.

About each 5 minutes one or more will come to the cattails at this pond and grab the fluff from them, and with backlighting it is quite a sight.



Meanwhile I also heard some loud calls from 2 barred owls, but my search resulted in not finding them.
A couple of pileated woodpeckers were busy cracking at trees, so this park is quite active now.