John Gordon/Listening to Birds: August 2015

August 2015 Boundary Bay. Dry and Sunny.

I arrived at Boundary Bay at 5.30 a.m. I had the place to myself. The water was a long way out

The sun was yet to rise, the air was warm and a few flocks of sandpipers were beginning to fly along the shoreline on the incoming tide.

Sunrise Boundary Bay

Great Blue Herons preening.

On Reflection

Western Sandpipers

The above series from Boundary Bay were taken with a Nikon 500mm F4 D300s and 1.4x Converter

Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Westham Island. Delta BC.

All the Reifel pictures were taken with the Nikon D300s with a 300mm F4 with 1.4x converter. Due to the heat I didn't feel like lugging around a big lens and tripod.

American Goldfinch feeding on thistles.

Greater Yellowlegs
D300s Nikon 300mm F4 with 1.4 converter.

Juvenile Peregrine Falcon

Aug 18 Boundary Bay Evening light.

All images below handheld Tamron 150mm-600mm and D300s.

Least Sandpiper

Semi-palmated Plover.

Trying to photograph these shorebirds at close range meant getting out where the birds were. I try to take care not to flush them as other birders might be nearby. While birders with scopes are happy to view birds at hundreds of yards the birds above was less than 20 feet from me. It took me ten minutes crouching down in the sticky mud but I was rewarded with these two images moments before sunset.

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

July 26-30 2015 Boundary Bay

It was good to be back at Boundary Bay after my recent trip across Canada. I arrived back just in time to join many other birders for the Bar-tailed Godwit twitch. The Pacific Golden-Plovers were an added bonus. The Caspian Tern came out of nowhere and was gone as quickly. It was good to meet up with so many birding friends and tread familiar ground.

It's amazing how the direction of light can alter the 'feel' of an image.

Wester Sandpipers flying toward the sun.

Western Sandpipers flying away from the main light source.

July 26/15 104 St

Bar-tailed Goodwit and Back-bellied Plovers.

The Escapee Ruff.

Originally posted on vanbcbirds: The following email text from Dov Lank:

"Thank you for this photo. The bird is indeed an escapee from my colony. I have had a recent problem with a rat getting into my aviary, and have been using an outside door that is never normally used. Unbeknownst to me, this bird must have escaped yesterday. You are correct in stating that it is a male, but it is not a non-breeding male. It is an in-between sized 'faeder' male - a female mimic. IN nature, these make up about 1% of populations.

It will be interesting to see whether the bird turns up elsewhere. It should be headed southwest, from Finland to West Africa. There are not a lot of options for it in that direction, from here, unfortunately."

I guess they don't call them sneaker males for nothing,

Nathan Hentze,

Victoria, BC