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.

I decided to do a series of “What’s for lunch” photos showing the different birds eating what they do.
It is one of the most fascinating parts of bird photography for me.Likewise many others.

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.

For me doing photos of birds is a lot more exciting…

nature the best.

Monday cleared up in the afternoon, so I put down what I was doing and hightailed it out to the Ladner area. Up in a lone tree I saw what I thought was a red tailed, but further review of the photo I discovered a lifer for me.   First time Gyrfalcon.     

I  walked around and around the tree
Looking for the best pint of view
But this seemed nicest.
Apparently this has been hanging
around this area awhile.
This is close to where I saw
a kestrel, and a peregrine.

The Gyrfalcon is the official bird of
Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Most prey is killed on the ground,
whether they are captured there or,
if the victim is a flying bird,
forced to the ground.

The other shot is ok,
and I am just glad to
finally have reference to
a gyrfalcon.
The brown form of the Gyrfalcon
is distinguished from the Peregrine
by the cream streaking on
the nape and crown and by
the absence of a well-defined
malar stripe and cap.

• A kestrel falcon who gave a nice pose
  will be used in a book being done in Oslo.
  
• A surprise when walking around a corner
  on a trail was this ring necked pheasant
  
• This pileated woodpecker had it’s tongue inside
  the tree fishing out some food.
  
• Finally getting to see the yellow throat,
  and on such a good perch was a thrill.
  
• Bald eagles will always make my day,
  and this one had a staring match for a long time.
  He was fine and stayed after I left.
  
• More rare around here was the long billed curlew.
  I was lucky to get it on the beach and air.
  
• The father on the nest in a protect stance
  while a pesty other osprey was swooping the nest
  
• A brief visit got me some photos of
  a mother hummingbird on nest.
  I left when I saw crowds coming like paparazzi.
  
• An elusive belted kingfisher,
  finally did some flying close by.
  
• And after 2 summers trying
  I eventually got a turkey vulture
  

Seeing this pileated woodpecker was  a first for me, and getting it  in the camera was more a bonus.

Seen here using it’s tongue to grab his meal

Most recent bird photos

May 16 2009 at Mission Racetrack. The Westwood Motorcycle Racing Club Round 2/3

See the slideshow below.

You can see it in a full screen by clicking the icon at bottom right of slideshow.

Reach me using the Contact Page

Taken at George Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

These ducks are very shy and even getting this close was a challenge.

Robins getting some of the last berries of the season.