I's funny that Last week I was determined to see a short eared owl, and spent most of my day back and forth in search.
As I was ready to give up because of fading light this one appeared on a post quite close.
At least some sun was on one side, and it allowed me about 3 photos before flying.
As soon as it flew a Northern Harrier landed on a post about 3 away, and I was able to get a few of it.
OK so now I was definitely on my way
when I spotted these yellow birds on the field.
I had to see what they were.
They didn't let me get close, but flew all around
over top of me, and I took a guess they were meadow larks.
That was a pretty good day as I have never seen
meadow larks before.
A lifer for me.
Another "What's for lunch installment. This however is my first sighting of a Brant, so that was cool. Tswassen was quite active with these and herons feeding quite close to shore.
I met up with Nigel and Eric, and noting that Nigel had a nice mat for laying on the sand close to water, I decided to try out my mat in the cargo space of my jeep. That worked well, and now i think I will be using that for more.
I recommend anyone wanting to get low points of view bring along a mat that is not too hard to carry around.
The next thing I need is a tiny, but sturdy tripod.
After these left and the heron was done, I went to search out the short eared owl....with success.
What was supposed to be a mostly sunny day turned out to be a photographic nightmare. High overcast skies, and a bird list that was like none other.
The clearest spots I saw looked like over the Boundary Bay area, so I headed out to check the dikes and dike roads.
Eagles were everywhere as well as the harriers.
I decided I wanted to see if the Kestrel was around, so I went looking.
About to give up and go to Blackie Spit I looked on a overhead powerline and saw the Kestrel.
Sitting there awhile watching it flew off, and I thought it was gone, so I drove off.
But....it had swooped down and got a mouse and went back to a closer wire to chow down.
The lightin was terrible but i took numerous shots just in case.
Here is lunch today.
After watching this I decided to leave, and drove by some fence posts, and spotted a short eared owl about 50 feet away, and what could have been a monumental photo, turned out underexposed because of such dark conditions.
The list for today seen, not all photographed
- Kestrel Falcon
- Short Eared Owl
- Approx 40 Eagles
- Golden Eagle
- Harriers
- 4 Cooper's Hawks
- Sharp Shinned Hawk
- Red Tailed Hawk
- Northern Shrike
This was just among the raptors.
The usual juncos and sparrows around, plus more than usual red winged blackbirds for the area.
Posted by
Douglas Brown
1:04 AM
A branch out in my back yard... is the host of many
small birds right now.
They have been feeding
on some of the suet,
and staying around
for some photos.
Left the moss on
the cherry tree,
just for photos.
So in continuing the
"What's for lunch"...a Junco eating
Larger in Flickr
... as I said I am going to do a series on birds with food
This cooper's hawk was eating away...
when the male came swooping on top of her,
and appeared to be
mating with her.
Multi tasking you could say me thinks.
I got set up with my tripod as near to the tree as I could without spooking.
watching this hawk gulping a pigeon down
and was I ever surprised to see this happen.
All I could think about was get the exposure right
Take many photos,
so at least a few will turn out
You have to thank zoom lenses for this.
For me doing photos of birds is a lot more exciting...
when they are doing something other than
just sitting on a branch.
Being quiet and observing them for
a long period
of time is part of what I like about
nature the best.
I was fortunate to get close enough
to this Hairy woodpecker
to see it burying it's beak
into the tree
and feasting on whatever was available.
Yes I like the compositions of birds
when they are sitting with a nice background,
but having them going about
business is far more fun.
I think I'll start a series of
"What's for lunch"
for the next while and
post photos of
birds munching away.
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