Been spending quite a bit of time on mountains the last little while,
between Queen Elizabeth park, Burnaby Mountain, Cypress and Grouse i've
been making the rounds, as i should, all too often it's easy to get into
the trap of going further and further out to look for specific birds
when often they can be found in your backyard, with a little
perserverance and luck, of course knowing the area and what birds to
expect at the time helps, and that is only acheived after a few years of
birding.
Ive
been to Burnaby Mountain a few times the last few weeks looking for
grouse and Townsend's warblers, and while i got lucky with the grouse i
only got a brief look at a Townsend's warbler the last time.
I'll take this shot of a White-crowned Sparrow at least, always good to leave with at least one shot
I've
gotten Sooty grouse on Cypress Mountain in past years and happened to
spot a hen last weekend near the ski hill, unfortunately a motorcyclist
roared by and scared the bird into the bush right when i was setting up, did
take one shot however to document the bird.
As
i have reported on the local Yahoo birding group, Eurasian Collared-doves have invaded lower Lonsdale in
North Vancouver, this morning i saw 6 birds, up from the 2 or 3 i see
daily. I hesitate to bring my big lens into the alley to properly
document these birds (for obvious reasons) but did bring out the 80-400
lens on a cruddy day, good enough
Yesterday
morning, even though i technically should have (and could have) gone
into work since we had a company lunch at 12pm i am still technically on
a 4 day work week and until i hear differently will use those fridays
to work the bird photography aspect of my life.
I decided to take the
advice i gave another photog last weekend about the picnic area at Cypress
perhaps being a good location for Townsend's warbler and arrived just
after 6am, a bit chilly where the morning sun had yet to reach i must
admit.
Bird of the location was Chipping Sparrow, other birds in the
area were Warbling Vireo, Pine Siskin, a Steller's Jay but no warblers i
could detect.
Next, i decided to head down to the lookout as i was still looking for Townsend's warbler this year, i've gotten
shots in the past but nothing really decent, after looking and hoping i
started to detect bird-activity and finally got my Townie, although the
looks were a bit farther than i would prefer.
While
i was walking around i couldn't help noticing a van that looked like it
had been parked overnight, eventually a couple of groggy guys piled
out of the van, having i guess spent the night, no doubt they were
wondering why some guy was walking around their car all the time with a
big camera.
hey, it's a public parking spot not a camp site, deal with it
There
were two little red-leaved trees (i need to work on my tree ID one of
these days) planted on the side of the parking lot (next to the van) and
i noticed it getting hit up by birds regularily.
Took some close shots of a Warbling Vireo in those trees as well as a couple of Black-throated Grey warblers.
Before
i decided to pack it up i noticed a MacGillivray's warbler in a distant
tree and took some shots, this species used to be a 'nemesis' bird but
i've gotten it in 3 different locations now on the north shore in the
past few years.
Since
i still had some time before the company lunch thingy i stopped off at
Grouse mountain and walked a bit of the powerline trail, next to
Maplewood Flats it's a location i hit up more often than others during
the year, hey, it's close and some interesting birds can be found with
some looking.
Wilson's warbler.
while
i often aggresively crop images to isolate the subject (it's just my
preferance) i do appreciate a nice shot that showcases environment
sometimes too.
first Brown-headed Cowbird of the year for me.
Got my first Western tanagers of the year at Grouse as well
Later i went to the company lunch, and having
not eaten anything the whole morning found myself nursing a headache
later on after drinking a Stella.
The whole time i was thinking about getting back home to process the shots from the morning ahh, priorities
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