Blue Jay - North Burnaby Nov 24th

4th times the charm this Sunday morning when i decided to head out early for the elusive Blue Jay, (1st reported by a home-owner a week ago).
I first looked for the bird last Sunday morning in the park not knowing the feeder location yet. I next spent some time there Friday afternoon unsuccessfully and Saturday late morning after a fruitless strip to Tsawassen for Snow buntings (which refused to make an appearance the 1+ hours i walked around).

Met another photog i know online in person at the Blue jay stakeout and soon after i arrived the bird announced itself briefly, but was forevermore silent the whole time it was at the feeder.
during our time there we saw the jay maybe 4 or 5 times in a 30 minute span but then it was gone. Shooting from the alley with lowish light conditions there was really only one spot to view the feeder. The hope was that the bird would land on the tall tree next to feeder for a bit and it obliged, for a second.











Good to tick this BC Lifer off the list, tried for the Macdonald beach jay once already with nada, this bird was a bit closer to home and worth the short trip over bridge in the end.

Cooper's Hawk

Friday after work i decided to head to North Burnaby to look for the reported Blue Jay, i had looked for it on Sunday morning not knowing the actual feeder location and came up empty.
This time i knew where to look and did just that, for two hours with not a peep of anything blue or jay-like. Strike out.
To make something of the afternoon i headed over to Maplewood Flats and came across a birder who told me that a Sharp-shinned Hawk was just around the corner preening itself. I took a wander and came upon the hawk. It took some maneuvering to get a clean look as there were branches in the way.
As to the species, i did note that it looked on the small size for Cooper's, head looked a bit small for body, as well as legs looking to be skinny like Sharp-shinned. Tail feathers are worn and not square but perhaps rounded enough to make this a Cooper's after all..

Bufflehead

Spent some time at Ambleside again on Saturday and tried to locate the Harris's sparrow for a couple of photogs there unsuccesfully, one guy had been there all morning, at least there were other birds to shoot and i wasn't there for the sparrow myself anyways.

My photog friend Peter Holmes had mentioned in an email that a Eurasian Wigeon was currently at the pond and i had seen buffleheads there last weekend already so another short trip over was called for since i enjoy shooting ducks immensely for some reason.

The first thing i heard when arriving was the call of a drake Hooded Merganser, displaying for a female, sweet.







spotted the Eurasian Wigeon soon after, not the first time i've had one of these birds at Ambleside.



The real personal highlight for me was getting a couple of decent shots of Bufflehead as the session was winding down. I shoot these guys every year with varying degrees of success, i find the camera has a hard time dealing with the white and dark contrast of the bird and blowout is always a concern, not an easy bird to shoot IMO.

I used to think that i needed flash to bring out the subtle irridescence in the face but i guess not. 

ISO 400, f/5.6 700mm (500mm f4 + 1.4x tele), no flash. 
RAW file post-processed though to bring out those details that are subtle in the white.



one more buffy

Anna's Hummingbird

I bought a hummingbird feeder a few years ago but to this day have never had a hummer come by our place. 
There are plenty around in North Vancouver though and when i realized that the community garden my wife tends has a couple of Anna's whipping around most times of day decided this was a great spot for the neglected feeder and we set it up in her plot, the birds were already coming around to her bean stalk anyways and it didn't take long before we had two coming regularly. 
Since i prefer not to show feeders in my shots i set up a couple of perches around the feeder in hopes that one will become a habitual perch, took a while but finally i have one setting down briefly before feeding on a regular basis. Too bad it's not the more gorgeted one i saw last week (when i could only get them on the feeder) but this location could prove a good spot, it's really close to home and i can set-up quickly, change perches as whim would have it and just wait. 
hoping for a full-gorget male one of these days    



yes, i pulled out the ol' flash unit for these as it was really grey out, haven't used it much this year for some reason. 

Harris's Sparrow - Ambleside Nov 8th

I had been meaning to head over to Ambleside and the duck pond for the last couple of days to check out the reported Harris's Sparrow and finally got over there today after work.
I know the area quite well and knew without GPS coordinates where to look and after about 10 minutes of walking up and down the side trail that runs next to the channel close to golf course (and as reported, by the "replanting in progress" sign) spotted the bird.
It stays in the bushes with juncos and golden-crowed sparrows for the most part but when i saw it just before noon it was on the trail, in the hedgerow and mostly on the grassy side of the scrub-brush next to fields.
Didn't seem all that concerned by my presense, as i was the only one viewing it at the time.
Got some shots and a few birders came by asking about the bird, they were able to get some looks but a pair of birders who came later were left looking when i left, i'm sure they eventually got looks but like i said when i left "it must be lunchtime for the birds" as things had gotten quiet.












Having seen this species twice before can't call it a Lifer but can say these are the best shots i've gotten of them, so far, as illustrated below.


Boundary Bay 2011




digiscoped Lifer South Surrey 2008

Killdeer - West Vancouver Oct 26

Went out to Maplewood Flats yesterday and spent far too much time waiting for a Horned Grebe to come in close enough for something decent, didn't happen but this Common Loon popped up out of nowhere and i was able to get some pretty close shots.




another bird seen during my walk was a Snipe of all birds, which i inadvertently flushed by the bridge, i could only watch as it flew right by me and off into the distance, so close! 

We went to Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park this morning, my mission was White-throated Sparrow by the stone bridge, i've gotten it there in years past but not this time, Spotted Towhees were seen as well as Golden-crowned sparrows, Dark-eyed juncos, Song sparrows, Fox sparrows and Black-capped chickadees.







Later we checked out a spot in West Vancouver by the lighthouse and got a lone Killdeer on the beach, Harlequin's were out in the water so i decided to try and get some down low shots of the bird, which had landed in front of my setup, the sun even broke out of the clouds then and i had some nice light to work with.