5 Year Anniversary

 Maplewood Flats, North Vancouver.

A shot from the other day.
Next warblers i post should be of the east-coast variety, Ohio to be exact.
first i gotta go shoot them though!

This also makes our 5th anniversary of birding and photographing birds, all my friends thought this fad would stop as soon as i got bored, they rolled their eyes at first since i was known for going all-out with whatever i decided i was into, obsessive in fact...
until something else caught my attention. (Audy is no different by the way LOL)

Well guess what?

It hasn't happened yet .

I think we (Audy took a few bird shots as well in the early days) have done pretty well - 258 bird species photographed in British Columbia, 392 bird species photographed in North America and 305 bird species photographed World (75% Thailand) since we started noticing the birds around us in 2006.

Vaux's Swift

Maplewood Flats, North Vancouver.
Lifer of the Day!
having seen Black Swift before i was certain that these birds were different.
They were smaller and flew differently.
When i looked closer at the tail my suspicions were confirmed, Black swift would have a forked tail, this did not.
Vaux's Swift it is.

Hermit Thrush (May 08)

Went back to Maplewood early this Sunday morning in hopes of bettering my Hermit Thrush shots.
Set the tripod down and tried for low angle shots.
Having them out in the open on the beach was pretty cool, typically i see them in the forest or deep in the bush so getting decent looks was nice.
They were quite shy and patience was required though.






Thanks for looking

Flycatchers in the Rain (May 07)

Went out Friday afternoon to do some shooting in the light rain at Maplewood and was rewarded with my first flycatchers of the season, i'm almost certain that they (there were at least 2) are Hammond's as the timing is right and the visual markings look pretty good too.







As well, quite a few O-C warblers in the bushes as well as Y-R warbers at ground level on the shoreline.

At least 2 Hermit Thrush were seen on the east side as well although they were extremely shy.



Thanks for looking

Warblers & Swallows (April 30)

Wanted to share some shots from the last few weeks at Iona.

Mostly just practicing my warbler technique today as i plan to check out Ohio last full week of May and catch some of the late migrants (ie eastern warblers - drool ) coming through.
Magee marsh is right across from Point Pelee and is also Kenn Kaufman's stomping ground so hope it will be fun.
Would never in a million years have considered flying to Cleveland before becoming a birder that's for sure









Some swallows as well, love shooting them in Richmond for some reason.







thanks for looking

Sage Thrasher (April 22)

Woke up early this good friday morning and drove out solo, destination Harrison Hot Springs.
It's a long drive from North Vancouver but i've already done it once this year for the rosy finches so it wasn't too bad.
for those who went after the rosy finch, the Sage Thrasher (a bird of the interior and uncommon for this area) is in the same area as before, near the boat launch on the east side of the lagoon.
Stoked to finally get this bird as it's a Lifer and saves me a trip out to the interior this spring.

Recent Birds (April 16)

Been getting out as much as i can lately, which i admit is not as much as i would prefer but what can you do eh, bills need to be paid and such.

Was at my stomping ground (Maplewood) on Friday and happened upon a species that i have never seen there before, Common Yellowthroat.
I see them all over the place this time or year, just never there before, kinda neat



Post this shot of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet since it sure felt like a kinglet fallout day on Friday, the place was crawling with them



Also spent some time recently working the Rufous hummers, one of my favourite spring rituals.



This morning we drove out to a rainy place called Hope and spent some time working the Mountain Bluebirds, conditions were rough though, wind and rain led to some shaky shots

First though a Say's Phoebe wishing us a good morning



Saw about 5 or 6 of these blue birds, keep missing them at Maplewood and Hope is closer than the usual spot i get them, Kelowna.
Looks were of the long-range variety.





Thanks fer looking

Barrow's Goldeneye (April 05)

Couple of shots from Sunday at Whytecliff in West Van.

Was hoping for Harlequin ducks but saw not a one, Black oystercatchers though.
Been shut out a few times recently while going out, a couple of weekends ago i drove out to Grant Narrows and walked the nature trail hoping for Pine grosbeaks but was a few days too late, not much else that morning, same thing with the Stanley Park seawall last time i went out that way, nothing much at all, Saturday morning i hit up Maplewood hoping for the Rusty Blackbird but struck out again.
No worries though, migration is starting to heat up now and there will be plenty to shoot, now if it would only stop raining

Northern Shrike (Mar 26)

Had a pretty awesome morning in Richmond, i like to get there pretty early before things get too busy.
No sooner had i gotten my gear together and left the car when i spied a Northern Shrike in a small tree, so noticeable from a distance, it looks bigger than a sparrow and reminds me of a big cotton ball in a tree.
I tried to get a bit closer to it but then it flew off to it's next perch.
Knowing how shrikes like to work i knew that it would eventually come back to the same perch i had seen it on.
I could have stealthily followed it from bush to bush but knew it was a losing game as they will never let you get close, especially if you are carrying a big lens on a tripod, kind of like kingfishers that way.
I decided to hunker down next to a bush in close proximity to the perch and another one to the left of me the bird could set down on as well.
With tripod legs short and me sitting on the ground hunched down i decided to wait, give it 1/2 hour before giving up and beginning my actual walk, which i hadn't even started yet.
My ploy worked as suddenly the shrike set down on the perch to the left of me, even closer than the one i thought it would land on.
It was so close!
i slowly moved my lens hoping i wouldn't scare the bird but it just sat there.
Full frame shots with the 500mm f4 and 1.4x tele (these are cropped a bit).
Since i was already in position down low the bird didn't care at all that i was there and i took a number of quality shots.
One of those species that i get shots of every year but usually long range crops, never close like this
A good morning, hope Doug had some luck with the shrike, i saw it 2 more times during my walk, once in among the bird bander's net setup near the far eastern edge of the outer ponds and the last time when i was driving out, it was perched on the barbed wire airport fence.

Bufflehead (Mar 23)

Thought i'd post another duck from Burnaby lake, a couple of these little guys around but they were kind of shy.
Always tricky birds as far as exposing the white goes, as everyone who has shot one knows.
Overall, the scene is a little darker than i would prefer but i like the pose.

Wood Duck (Mar 19)

The weather wasn't great Friday but at least it wasn't raining when i went out.
Decided to shoot some waterfowl for a change and picked up a few shots of the Wood ducks that frequent Burnaby lake.
never seen the water so high at Piper spit, most of the ducks were hanging out in the small side channel and isolating subject from the masses was sometimes difficult but i got a few shots.



Thanks for looking.

Second Times The Charm (Mar 07)

Wanted to share a few shots from the weekend.
I feel i haven't been getting out enough and wanted to get some solid shooting done for a change and hopefully pick up a few of the "rare" birds i've chased unsuccessfully recently.

Saturday morning i headed out to Reifel first thing.
In the back of my mind i wondered if the Hawk-owl would be around but i didn't see it on the drive in and didn't worry to much about it since if i really wanted it i would have gone for it months ago.


Black-crowned Night-heron


Bewick's Wren


Wood Duck


Intergrade Flicker

After Reifel i headed out to the Harris's Sparrow spot in Boundary Bay for second time and was finally rewarded.
Mark Wynja was out looking as well and together we got brief looks at this difficult to photograph (at least at this location) bird.
1 shot was all i got.


Harris's Sparrow

Tsawassen jetty was next and i ran into the Snow Bunting.


Snow Bunting

Sunday morning i headed out to Iona and had some back-lit looks at the Short-eared Owl that i see on a regular basis, getting shots is a bit more difficult with this bird.



Picked off Western Meadowlark as well and ran into 4 or 5 of my new Nemesis bird - Common Snipe (still looking for my first shot of these guys).

Later i headed out to Strathcona Park and had a second go at the Western Scrub-jays.
After about an hour of waiting saw two of them but good looks were hard to come by.



While at Strathcona i got a call from one of my photog friends and he told me a Long-eared owl had been found at Boundary Bay and i rushed back, a Lifer is a bird you should always make an effort for and i was rewarded in the end (as were a bunch of other photogs and birders).


Long-eared Owl

For a guy that doesn't really go out of his way to shoot owls i just realized that this was my 11th North American owl species photographed, not bad for just under 5 years of birding

Thanks for looking