Back at It

The company i work for put everyone on a 4 day work week again recently but i didn't really complain too hard, as long as i could get out shooting instead.
Now that i have my lens back from Nikon i was eager to test it out finally.
My morning started at Boundary Bay and while i saw human shapes prowling the shoreline off 72nd no doubt looking for great whites i decided to just wander the dike, i was super happy to just be out again, i had no target birds, it was all good.
I'll get the crummy part out of the way right away, for some reason the new 1.4x tele i picked up in May after the original one got crunched (in the bump that lead to my lens eventually being repaired) has now gone faulty - it reads dark, and it causes the shutter to stick when it's on.
Imagine my fright when i went to test my levels first thing and everything was dark!
After taking the tele off i realized that the lens worked just fine, and after fellow photog Raymond lent me his 1.4x tele to test on my camera i realized that it was in fact just the tele and not lens (as i initially feared) that needed to be looked at.
I have no problem sending it back on warranty (hopefully) no rush, as i bought another yesterday in the meantime

here then are some shots, all without the usual tele.


Golden-crowned Sparrow


Golden-crowned Kinglet


American Robin


Tropical Kingbird


Rough-legged Hawk

So yeh, i think it's pretty cool that i was able to get a Lifer as well, the fact that it was a warbler made it all the sweeter.


I saw this bird flitting about in the trees twitching it's tail like a wagtail, my first thought was a warbler i don't even have yet - Palm Warbler, i wasn't 100% though and soon forgot about this bird as the Tropical Kingbird later put on a show.
Later at home i confirmed it with the field guide and duly reported it.


Northern Shrike
this guy was one of those "you just had to be there or you wouldn't believe it" moments

I went out in the drizzle today to visit the Clay-colored Sparrow in West Vancouver, this is the second winter this little sparrow has come back to the backyard feeders and while i was hoping for a shot of it on a tree branch i'll take this feeder shot (magazines pay for these types of shots too i've found).