Monday 7 November 2016

Brydon Lagoon and other Locations




Nov 1-7 2016 City of Langley 

Lower Mainland British Columbia 12c Sun rain and clouds.

Brydon Lagoon and surrounding forest make up a very small proportion of wilderness in an ever encroaching proliferation of light and heavy industry. A diverse number of bird species inhabit the area. Species come and go depending on the season, a few Canada geese and mallards call it home year round. Recently it has become a refuge for the homeless, drug addicts and the mentally hill.

A creek runs through the sanctuary where chum and coho salmon are now returning. It has been one of the rainiest Octobers on record following the hottest and driest summer in decades.


Brydon Lagoon City of Langley BC

Nov 5/16
Great horned owl.
The owl (above) was distracted when dog walker let his pet run wild in the forest. Good for a photographer but not so good for the owl.

Nov 7/16

Sometimes taking a different route home can bring dividends. Had I decided to go my usual circular route then I would have missed the shrike. I couldn't get really close due to the number of dog walkers who kept flushing the bird. These images are heavily cropped to improve composition.
Northern Shrike.


This is the first northern shrike I have seen a Brydon Lagoon. It was swooping down, feeding on insects on the gravel path between the wooden bridge and hydro station.


More from Brydon
Sometimes I just take a point and shoot and bins. These green heron frames taken with the Nikon Coolpix P900 bridge camera.
Green Heron

The Coolpix 24-2000mm super zoom can be difficult to control, especially when shooting through foliage. 
Despite having limitations the super zooms like the P900 are perfect for a wide variety of shots from wide-angle to video. See the side bar of my main blog page to see a P900 review.


Great blue heron feeding along a flooded footpath at Brydon floodplain.
For more information about Brydon Lagoon see Nature Vancouver's recently published 



Boundary Bay Various Locations
Short-eared Owl.

Another distant cropped shot but there will be other opportunities to photograph these beautiful owls.


Barn Owl sleeping.

I have in the past come across nocturnal owls that have had their eyes open, even flying in the daytime but remember that owls like humans need undisturbed sleep. 


Golden-crowned kinglet.

Ruby-crowned kinglet.
Purple finch.


"It's never too late to start birding"
John Gordon
Langley/Cloverdale
BC Canada


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