Leucisitic Red-winged Blackbird and Others.

Mar 7 2014 Birding in Delta and Richmond/Overcast

Morning Birding

Hornby and 104th Delta British Columbia. Canada

A Leucistic Red-winged Blackbird (foreground) feeds in a backyard at Hornby and 104th St, Delta. I had just told my birding companion I had never found anything unusual and two minutes later this guy!

The Leucistic Red-wing Blackbird sits in a fruit tree after the flock was spooked. There were about 20 females and a few males in the flock. They were feeding at a well stocked feeder.

                                                 

Afternoon Birding

Riverport and Steveston in Richmond.

Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi)
I was drawn into this composition by the fragility of the buds, the matching colour of the bird and building in the background. Then it began to sing.

I chose this frame from the others in the series because it does show that a little luck is needed sometimes. The fraction of a second it took for this Townsend' Solitaire to pluck and toss this coneaster berry into its mouth would be very difficult to time. I just happened to catch the moment perfectly. 

                                       Richmond Nature Park. Westminster Hwy/No 5 Rd

DownyWoodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
Normally Downy woodpeckers are always on the move. They have been  quite a challenge to photograph.
This one however decided to take a nap.  I have several other shots with his eyes rolling then closed.
The notch in the wood held something of interest when occasionally the bird would dip its beak into the hollow. I can't remember who lost interest first, the bird or me.


Then it was on to the hummingbird feeder.

Male Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
A pair of these beautiful bird were feeding and gathering nest material (spiders web) on a very overcast gloomy afternoon. Rather than miss the shots I photographed at 1250 ISO to get a little higher shutter speed. I'll settle for noise in the picture over no picture at all. Technically it is all over the place (depth of field etc) but it is only the third or fourth time I have photographed these amazing creatures. The background is an ugly outbuilding so I chose an angle that would exclude the ugliest parts of the building. The result is an uncluttered backdrop with what I think is complimentary colour scheme. If you disagree let me know, feedback is important for artistic growth.

Male Anna's displaying throat and crown.

Female Anna's Hummingbird

Again I had an absolutely amazing day, completely absorbed with birds, the woods and fields and shoreline.
In between these photographs I drove down to the foreshore and watched thousands of Dunlin swirling along the ebb tide on Boundary Bay. What a sight to behold and the migration hasn't really started yet!

Good Birding
John Gordon

Free as a Bird/That Can't be Bad!

Feb 6-11 Blackie Spit-Richmond and Tynehead Regional Park.  Sunny and Showers.

My day planner for the week was blank, I was free as a bird. No dentist, no anything, nothing! So with a packed lunch and a full tank of gas it was time to the take advantage of the good weather.
Prior and in-between the Great Gray Owl twitch I headed down to Blackie Spit to photograph the Snow Bunting that had been recently sighted. As I searched I happened upon a flock of Dunlin busily feeding on the exposed mudbanks at the end of the spit. At first the birds were far way, amongst them were few Black-bellied Plovers.
I lay on the gravel and sand hoping the Dunlins would come closer and sure enough they did. The Dunlin seemed fearless while the Plovers scuttled off at the slightest movement. Five minutes later my patience paid off when one of the birds quite oblivious of my presence came so close I couldn't close focus. I just enjoyed the moment which was a pleasant distraction from the howling wind around my ears.

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

The Plover (below) kept its distance so I decided to use selective focus and use the foreground to frame the picture. The bright earth tones I think brightens up a somewhat drab image.

Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)

I eventually found the Snow Bunting with the help of one Canada's best birders Roger Foxall, who had, after a trip to Mexico just celebrated his 5000th species worldwide. Congratulations on an amazing achievement.

Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)

Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)

 As this is a round-up for the week the next bird up is a Varied Thrush which I photographed while looking for the Great Gray Owl at Tynehead Regional Park earlier in the week. Some think the Varied Thrush should have been B.C.'s official bird rather than the Stella's Jay, either way they are both beautiful in their own right.

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Finally the week rounded out with a few shots of a Townsend's Solitaire that had been reported in Richmond. I changed my position to create different backgrounds.

Pic #1 Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi)

  (Above) Pic #1 The green backdrop is foliage  about twenty feet behind the bird. Just by moving the tripod, the mood of a picture can be changed especially with a greyish coloured bird like the Townsend's Solitaire.

The Townsend Solitaire which normally migrates to warmer climes has survived the B.C. winter by staying close a ready source of ornamental berries. A few warm days have also produced insect hatches giving the bird a high protein diet and good chance of survival. The Townsend's Solitaire normally winters in Oregon, California and Mexico.

Pic #3 the blue background is a restaurant window.

and pic #4 the background is a yellow ornamental bush which creates a warmer look than pic #3.

                                                    More on the Townsend's Solitaire

Good Bird

John Gordon