Campbell Valley Park Pacific Wrens/Rant

Campbell Valley Regional Park. Ravine Trail. Feb 15th 2013
I needed some solitude, I needed to hear the wind in the trees, the trickle of a woodland stream, the frogs and the birds. I needed peace to commune with nature. The picturesque Ravine loop trail (enter off the 8th Ave entrance) in Campbell Valley Regional Park is the perfect place for this endeavour, it is also a perfect place to watch the Pacific wren.
I wasn't long on the trail before I heard the first call coming from the forest glade. I decided to take the time to sit on a moss covered nurse log and enjoy the afternoon sun. Soon after an inquisitive Wren came to check me out, it scurried around my feet and hopping from fern to moss covered stump. For me this is the beauty of birding. Don't get me wrong I enjoy going on bird walks with others, learning what to look for and discovering new locations but to be honest I think most of us enjoy the solitude of the forest, beach or mountaintop.

Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus)

I made a few seconds of sound recordings, quietly took a few photographs and moved on to leave my new found friend alone. On my way back to the car I came across seven other Wrens, a couple of which had mates in tow. Soon it will be spring migration, fledglings will abound and the forest will again be full of song.

The Rant....
This year I have spent many wonderful hours at 72nd Ave on Boundary Bay photographing harriers, owls, sparrows and others species but the behaviour of a few photographers has left wondering if I want to be part of what is quickly becoming a circus!
At the end of 72nd Ave is a fallow field that is perfect breeding ground for Townsend's voles, primary prey for a number of species including Short-eared, Barn, Long-eared owls and Northern harrier. Some of these species hunt at night, others during the daytime, so it is incredulous why a few photographers in their manic desperation to get the 'perfect shot' are walking out into the fields to get closer to the birds. There are even No Trespassing signs which are being blatantly ignored. Many of these people espouse a love of nature but through their irresponsible actions they are disrupting feeding patterns while pushing the owls and hawks away from those of us who are trying to view the birds from the dyke. Worse still, the birds will be forced move on to perhaps less productive feeding areas and possibly face a bleak future. To compound matters, what little farm land is left is quickly being swallowed up by developers and government for roads, shopping centres and monoculture.

*In previous blogs I have images of all the above, all were taken from the dyke pathway including the Snowy owl.


John Gordon

Red-flanked Bluetail Helps Out ESL Students

Since my photograph of the Red-flanked Bluetail appeared on the front page of the Vancouver Sun in January a number of interesting developments have followed.
Soon after I was approached to donate a picture of the now famous and very lost Red-flanked Bluetail to an online publication which helps ESL, new arrivals to Canada and other readers come to grips with the English language. 
Below is a link to a live PDF via The Westcoast Reader Website

The Westcoast Reader link
http://www.thewestcoastreader.com

or
The story about the little Red-flanked Bluetail can be seen at 
http://www.thewestcoastreader.com/a-tiny-bird-red-flanked-bluetail-in-bc/
 below is a copy and paste version.

A young Red-flanked Bluetail 
A tiny bird comes to Vancouver. 
Photo by John Gordon http://thecanadianwarbler.blogspot.ca/ 

A tiny bird is big news 

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun / burnabybirdguy.wordpress.com / Wikipedia 

A tiny bird is big news in B.C. these days. 

A young Red-flanked Bluetail has come to Queen’s Park in New Westminster. 

It is far from home. 

Not a Canadian bird 

Our tiny visitor is not from Canada. 

It has come from Siberia. 

It should be in Japan or India for the winter. 

This is a rare event. 

The Red-flanked Bluetail has never been to Canada before. 

Visitors flock to see it 

Birders are travelling from far and near. 

They want to see our small visitor. 

News of the bird is attracting people from other parts of Canada. 

They are coming from the United States, too. 

The people take pictures. 

For birders, seeing this bird is a dream come true. 

Very healthy and active 

The little bird has everything it needs in B.C. 

Queen’s Park has a lot of fat worms, grubs and seeds to eat. 

The bird loves to playfully flick its tail and dash around from branch to branch and tree to tree. It is quick. It can catch insects in mid air. 

Likes it here 

The tiny bird is not in a big hurry to leave. 

Birders hope that it will stay here for a while. 

This will give more people a chance to see it. 

This is a memory of a lifetime for many people. 

Submitted by: Patti-Lea Ryan 

(Vocabulary and links are on the next page.) 

©2012 The Official Westcoast Reader / www.TheWestcoastReader.com 

Vocabulary: 

− Flock (verb): to travel together 

Birds and sheep flock together. 

− Birders (noun): people who watch birds 

The birders are excited about the Red-flanked Bluetail. 

− Flick (verb): a quick movement 

The bird flicked its tail. 

− Dash (verb): to suddenly move 

The cat dashed up the tree when it saw a big dog. 

John Gordon Links: 

Blog: 

http://thecanadianwarbler.blogspot.ca 

Stock photography: 

http://www.johngordonsphotography.com 

Commercial and Portrait: 

http://www.johngordonphotography.com 

©2012 The Official Westcoast Reader / www.TheWestcoastReader.com 

Queen's Park Birds and Twitchers

Jan 24th 2013 Queen's Park, New Westminster, British Columbia.

I hadn't intended going back to photograph the Red-flanked Bluetail at Queens's Park but I had an assignment to find and photograph Vancouver Island birders. Those pictures will accompany a story to be published in community newspapers.

Hundreds have visited Queens' Park looking for the diminutive Bluetail and today was no exception. While searching for my Vancouver Island birder I met three American 'Twitchers' with impressive ABA list numbers. Steve Moore (785), Bill Drummond (795) and Tom Prince (771)  

The three friends had had just flown 3000 miles from Massachusetts to add the Red-flanked Bluetail to their list.

While I was there I grabbed few images of a Brown creeper, a Chestnut-backed chickadee (from a previous visit) and a few more shots of the Red-flanked Bluetail.

Chestnut-backed chickadee

Brown creeper

Red-flanked bluetail

Listening for Birds at Green Timbers

Jan 15 2013 Green Timbers, Surrey B.C.

After I photographed the Red-flanked Bluetail at snowy Queen Elizabeth Park and on my way home I briefly stopped at Green Timbers. Green Timbers consists of dense mixed woodland park open pasture, a stream and a lake which due to cold weather was frozen. The park is completely surrounded by housing, a tree nursery and a hospital. People use it to walk their dogs, fish, picnics and jog etc.

 As I walked downhill to the pond It wasn't too hard to conjure up a picture of Surrey a hundred years ago. There was the snow on the evergreens and the muted reds of the Alder was mesmerizing and then I heard BIRDS! 

My very first visit was on a hot summer day and very few birds were around.This time it was freezing, there was snow on the ground, a frozen pond and a small flock of Varied thrush.

Note: I should remind myself to look closer at the nature and photograph more than just birds.


The male Varied thrush was photographed in Maple Ridge Park, while the two females were photographed in Green Timbers. 



*AS I WAS LEAVING A RUBY-CROWED KINGLET FLEW INTO A NEARBY TREE*

The Ruby-crowned kinglet ia very inquisitive bird and can be quite tolerant of humans.

It was getting close to deadline so I rushed home and downloaded the Red-flanked Bluetail to the Vancouver Sun and within an hour  the web version was up and next morning other pictures were on the Vancouver Sun front page.
As of today there have been 800 page page views on this blog from all over the world. It just goes to show how much interest is out there when a rare bird comes to town!

This ruby-crowned kinglet landed very close to where I was photographing the Varied Thrush.

QUITE A DAY, EH!

Boundary Bay Berry Bonanza

Jan 12 2012 Boundary Bay 72nd Ave, Delta B.C.
Sunny and Cold
Talking to other birders it is clear that Boundary Bay is regarded as one of Canada's premier birding hotspots in Canada. Simply, there are birds everywhere!
My first shots of the day were taken within site of the parking lot. In an an joining field a Short-eared owl is being harassed by a Northern harrier. A few yards further along a flock of Purple finch feed on winter berries, picking out the seeds from the pulpy outer portion. On a tall electrical tower a Peregrine falcon launches itself in search of prey.
Close-by another solitary Short-eared owl put on a show for everyone including the many children who had been brought to the dyke to see the Snowy owls. Eventually the short-eared owl landed close enough to take head shots. Many didn't notice the long-eared owl which came out to hunt just as the sun kissed the horizon. To find three owls in a such a small area is quite remarkable!
In a few short hours and without too much effort and expense these images were captured, closing out another picture perfect day on the West Coast.
See next blog for Short-eared owls photographed the same day.

Female Purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus)

Male Purple finch

A Purple finch extracts a sed from a berry

Brambling

Jan 10 2013 Vancouver B.C
Cold, sunny and partial cloud.
I really like the word Bramble. Me thinks it would be a good name for a folk-rock band, The Brambles!
So when I heard that a Bramble had been seen at a backyard feeder in Vancouver I decided to go and investigate.  It would be my fist sighting of a rare Eurasian visitor. This image is the result of a mornings shoot before leaving to photograph the White-winged crossbills at Burnaby Lake. I think with a little more effort a more satisfying shot should be possible but for the moment this is a really nice reminder of that cold morning.

Brambling (fringilla montifringilla)

A very rare visitor from Eurasia Brambling have also been recently observed in the Okanagan. Perhaps blown off course by the same storm. This bird was feeding in the company of Song sparrows, Golden-crowned sparrows, House finches, European house finches and Anna's hummingbirds.

The brambling cracks a sunflower seed

The Brambling, which fed mainly on the ground is a wary bird. It could be difficult to spot among all the house sparrows and only occasionally stood still in the open.
A big thanks to the landowner who put up with all us birders!

A Great-horned owl draws a crowd

Reifel B.C.Sept 7 2012
It was past 9 a.m. by the time I arrived at the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Today I was on the look-out  for a Great-horned owl. After about ten minutes walking along the outer trail I spotted him perched in a fir tree. However, no sooner had I arrived he took off. I double backed to a spot where it had been previously seen roosting and sure enough there he was. Originally the bird was facing away which made photography impossible. After about thirty minutes it started preening and slowly turned around to watch a squirrel feeding on the ground although here, he appears to be looking directly at me.

Great horned owl

A male Northern flicker poses for the camera.

 Northern flicker male

Henry David Thoreau quote on birds.

House sparrow with nest material ©John Gordon

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.
    Henry David Thoreau
    US Transcendentalist author (1817 – 1862)

The Listening Bridge

After a long winter Campbell Valley Regional Park is coming back to life. Many of the resident birds are finding life much easier as caddis and other fly hatches have been occurring throughout the day. Even the song sparrows are busy feeding at the water's edge where close-by, Mallards and Ring-necked ducks are pairing up and preparing to bring their broods into the world.
Along the Little River Loop Trail a Pileated woodpecker is drumming on a snag, a Cooper's hawk glides overhead letting out a terrifying screech, below every songbird scatters and hides in the deep undergrowth, even the Douglas squirrels, wary of the danger run for cover. For minutes nothing stirs, not a sound can be heard, eventually the raptor takes off, slowly the birds return to The Listening Bridge

Black-capped chickadee

Chestnut-backed chickadee

Douglas squirrel

Fox sparrow

Oregon junco

Winter wrens/Campbell Valley Park

If you go down to the woods today……

Campbell Valley Park.

A Varied thrush flips over leaves looking for insects, a pair of brown creepers make their way up and down a pair of moss covered stumps, chestnut-backed chickadees scout for a nest site.  (See these images below)

An hour has passed and I 'm still photographing in the parking lot!

The real purpose of the days shoot was to find a Winter wren and finally nail a decent shot for my website.

 I had had success with both the Bewick's and the House wren but the diminutive and quick moving Winter wren had been a hard one to nail. 

I knew that by early spring, deep in the forest, the wrens would singing their hearts out and would be easy to locate, within minutes I had found a pair. The light on the forest floor was low so I added a little fill flash to freeze the peak action. I had to wait until the bird alighted on something with a decent foreground and background before composing and releasing the shutter. 

More about Wrens

A few more shots from the same morning.

Brown creeper

Brown creeper

Chestnut-backed chickadee

Chestnut-backed chickadee looking for nest site

Varied Thrush (Still waiting for the perfect shot)

Two Eagles

An adult Bald eagle tries to steal a fish tail from an immature.

Backyard Birding

I was just one of those days, the sun had come out after a week of rain but with the wife gone to Seattle and it fell upon me to prepare the Sunday dinner for when they got back later that evening. Don't get me wrong, I enjoying preparing food but it kinda cuts short any birding excursions planned for the day.

Unable to wander too far, I decided to pop out into the garden and shoot the Pine Siskins that had suddenly found our feeder. Beginning in December a few had visited but were driven away by our thirty or so resident House sparrows. By mid March the few December Siskins had brought back about fifty of their friends possibly because a switch of feed mix seemed to satisfy both Sparrows and Siskins. While the meal was cooking, there was just enough time to set up a portable blind, rig a few twigs for the birds to land on and voila!

Birds and Guns

Brunswick Point is shared with the birds, hunters and birdwatchers alike. Most leave no footprint.

One has to wonder what kind of mind does this! Perhaps the kind of mind that can blast and wound ducks and geese out of the sky while nearby, members of the public takes a quiet walk, birdwatch or photograph. Recently at Boundary Bay hunters were mingling with photographers while visitors from England were asking why hunting was being allowed in such a sensitive wildlife area.
However, not all is lost, even some of the best ornithologists enjoyed hunting at one time or another. We can only hope the the idiots who shot up this sign will one day see the light!

An hour with a Short-eared owl

The short-eared owl is not only a stunning bird but also a very accommodating subject. First and foremost, the bird can be photographed in the daytime, which with many owls isn't possible. The success of stalking and photographing Short-ears starts with careful observation. It can be very easy to walk past an roosting owl so keep your eyes open for a bird flying along a hedgerow or even sitting on a log or stump. This owl allowed me to "join in the hunt" for about 30 minutes. I was very careful not to make an quick movements which seemed to put the bird at ease. Yes, the light could have been  "sweeter" but they'll be other opportunities.

Male Short-eared owl hunting-

Adult short-eared showing ear tuffs

After I felt I had enough shots and the bird had had enough of me I slowly backed off and watched from a distance. A few minutes later the owl continued to hunt in the very spot I had been standing only moments before.