Grant's Narrows/Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Grant Narrows/Pott Lake, Coquitlam, B.C. April 8th 2013
The dikes in the southern marshy areas of Pitt Lake have numerous marked trails and are excellent for bird watching. Bird watching towers can be found along the dikes.
Grant-narrows Regional-park


On Monday two of us visited the area to check for early arrivals. Our first sighting was a pair of Townsend's solitaire, unfortunately our only shot was just for the record, it won't be gracing these here pages but nevertheless a very promising start to the day. 
Out in the marsh Sandhill cranes could be heard calling, a Rough-legged hawk hung in the air looking for prey and the numerous Marsh wrens were as ever being overly protective of their nests. An American bittern surprised us as it fed metres from the road but hid away frustrating our attempts to get a clear shot. 
The day ended with this series of photographs that show a Ruby-crowned kinglet feeding off aphids.
If you look very closely on the cropped version you can actually see the insect itself. The bird fed for at least five minutes before flying off.

The Ruby-crowned kinglet approaches the aphid.

To capture these images a shutter speed of 1/800 at F7.1 at 400 ISO was employed. I could have shot with a higher shutter speed but I went for a little extra depth of field, the motion of the wings I think adds a little dynamism to the action,

Success ! Our little friend grabs the hapless insect.

Cropped close-up of the kill!


Despite not seeing too many birds (Townsend's solitaire aside) this series of the Kinglet made my day. Now home for the Manchester derby.

Colony Farm Sora/Ring-necked Duck

April 3rd 2013 Colony Farm, Coquitlam, B.C
The word was out that a Sora and a Virginia Rail were modelling for pictures at Colony Farm pond. A number of birders had made their way to the popular birding spot hoping to see the birds for themselves, myself included.
As I sauntered down from the car park a pair Rufous hummingbirds darted in front of me, a small flock of Bushtits flitted from branch to branch and a lone Yellow-rumped warbler was hawking insects.
I spent an hour scouring the edges of the pond looking for either Sora or Rail but without much success, it wasn't until a group of birders arrived that the Sora was heard calling from the marsh, it's a case of the more eyes and ears the better. One big advantage of going out with experienced birders is that many hear birds before seeing them, as was the case this time. Many photographers who want to take up bird photography ask me how do I find my subjects, my standard answer is join a scheduled bird walk or your local naturalist group. I am a member of the Langley Field Naturalists. Many of my best pictures were taken on organized walks and if we were unsuccessful i'll often go back to the same spot on my own. That way I can chose the location depending on direction of light, tides, food availability and time of the year.

Sora (Porzana carolina)

This Sora spent twenty minutes feeding on pond weeds and invertebrates. 

(Below) I had photographed Ring-necked ducks before but it wasn't until I came across a pair at the Colony Farm pond that the ring around the neck was evident, I am guessing that this is more pronounced during breeding season as previous winter shots did not show the neck ring as well.

Adult male Ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris) preens and shows off the distinctive neck ring.

Adult breeding Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) was feeding on three-spined sticklebacks.