I went Birding Thursday

       Feb 6 2014 New Brighton Park Vancouver B.C -5 Sunny and very, very cold for B.C.

Vancouver is experiencing some wonderful sunny weather albeit unusually cold. As long as one wears plenty of clothing (I can hear those in the rest of Canada laughing) it is a pleasure to be outdoors.
The assignment for Thursday was to photograph a Gyrfalcon that has returned to New Brighton Park  in Vancouver. The speedy falcon has been feasting on pigeons which are attracted to a nearby granary crammed full of delicious Canadian wheat. Yummy for the pigeons and doubly yummy for the gyrfalcon which is dining on tasty grain fed pigeon several times a day.

A Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) heads toward a unsuspecting flock of pigeons.





Unfortunately the best place to stand with a clear view of the Viterra Granary is in the shade which meant a very cold wait. I spent two hours waiting patiently for the Gyrfalcon to launch itself off the conveyer belt which itself is about two hundred feet off the ground. 

A Gyrfalcon scatters a flock of pigeons. Several attacks were made without success. On one occasion a pigeon was snagged but got away. I missed the shot.

After dropping the prey the Gyrfalcon looks below but it had plunged into the water.

What can I say, the wait was well worth it despite the cold. I not only secured my first ever photographs of a gyrfalcon I was blessed to witnesses one of Nature's most powerful and beautiful performers go about its daily ritual.

The Gyrfalcon heads back to its perch ready for another foray.

Good Birding

John Gordon

                                                                           ******

Glen Valley Mountain Bluebirds

Nov 14 2013.  Glen Valley Langley /Abbotsford border/Lefeuvre Rd on Marsh-McCormick Rd.
Thanks to birder John Vooys who first spotted the birds, I and others were able to photograph two Mountain Bluebirds at the above location Thursday. How long they will hang around no one knows.
According to what I have read, Mountain bluebirds are quite common in the Spring (I have never seen them in the Fraser Valley) but are uncommon at this time of year. Anyway it was great to get these shots in and get some fresh air at the same time.

Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) Female?

The out of focus cranberry fields behind set off the colours of this beautiful bird.

The other bird is either a juvenile or female. Any takers?

Black-necked Stilt/Canon Test Update and Cranberry Birds

Oct 16 2013 Derby Reach/Allard Cresent, Fort Langley B.C.   Foggy morning/sunny afternoon.
What a week, I have been so occupied shooting an add campaign for Parks Canada, speaking engagements and a photo/video shoot for a Fort Langley cranberry farm that I hadn't had time to get out and bird. On a positive side, the extra work has set me up for my next road trip.
The days were long with early mornings and evening photo sessions. The afternoons were taken up with editing. I did however manage to PVR England's two successful World Cup qualifying games. During my photo shoot at the cranberry farm I could hear what I thought were sandpipers but with other matters at hand I just let it pass, besides I didn't have my bins with me.
During the brief breaks in the action I also spotted a pair of Belted Kingfishers rattling across the bog and a Red-tailed hawk glided down from a fir tree to catch prey. Just as the light was getting soft and golden a flock of seven American Pipits landed behind me on a pile of sand. Luckily I was at my car and the 500mm was quickly taken from its case and Voila! They then flew down to the waters edge for a drink, their yellow/brown bodies contrasting against the red and yellow cranberries. Some shots just can't be made and best left at that.

American Pipit (Anthus rubescens)
 in the evening 'sweetlight'

As I was leaving for the day and moments after the sunset a small flock sandpipers landed just in front of me, the question to answer was which type of sandpiper? I had already packed everything in the trunk ready for my trip home but I know a little extra effort can sometimes pay didvidends. The trick was to extracate myself from the car and set up my camera without spooking the birds which were twenty feet away. I started with a D300 and 70-200 2.8 zoom and as it was quite dark I threw on a SB800 flash on to give myself at least the chance of obtaining an indentification shot. The bird was still too far away so I switched to my 500mm which I handheld with VR function enabled.
*Same set-up for the Pipit shot minus the flash.
The flock turned out to be Pectorals (they could have been somehing more exotic) who were feeding on worms and insects among flooded cranberries fields.
I'm not a fan of monoculture but the amount birdlife was quite encouraging. Hundreds of ducks, geese and other LBJ's. The resident Sandhill Cranes have left by this time of year and the Black bear and cub haven't been seen for a week due probably to all the activity in the cranberry bog.

Pectoral sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

Not too bad for a non birding day, Eh!

The Canon SX50 HS 

I have mentioned in my previous blog I am a big fan of the Canon SX50 HS 24mm-1200mm zoom camera. I use it when on nature walks where I want to move very quickly and don't want to be burdened with lens/tripod etc. One frustration I found was the shutter lag. However, after studying the online PDF guide I have found the answer.

Set the camera to SCN and chose the HQ option and you can shoot 10 full resolution frames a second without the lag. Great for bird action and (some) Canuck's games.

Flock to the Rock: 
Stilt picture featured in White Rock paper. The Black-necked-Stilt that is and continues to attract birders to White Rock New has been the talk of the promenade. I thought that if sent a picture to the Peace Arch News more people might enjoy going down and seeing the bird. Here's the tearsheet and a link.

For more see: Peace Arch News
Black-necked Stilt link

Final Thoughts Saskatchewan Part 3

June 4-5 2013  Regina Beach, Saskatchewan
My whirlwind visit of Saskatchewan via Point Pelee and Churchill came to an end with two more days of birding.
I had 31 'Lifers' in Ontario, 9 in Churchill and a Brown Thrasher in Saskatchewan. That's 41 plus a few flycatchers yet to be identified.
This is my second annual birding road trip and so far it has been two for two. Last year I drove through southern B.C, the Okanagan, Milk River in Alberta and Regina and had a great time.

I decided to photograph at Craven at the very southern tip of Last Mountain Lake. Reed beds and slow moving river, sloughs, open lake and quiet backwaters attract a multitude of species. 

Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata))
Hundreds of Cliff Swallows (above) nest under a bridge at the entrance to the Exhibition Grounds in Craven.

Kildeer (Charadruis vociferus)

Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni)
The Swainson's hawk winters as far south as Argentina, only the Peregrine Falcon travels further.
This bird was hunting along route 99 between Craven and Regina.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalis) is a very common bird on the prairies.

List of Saskatchewan Birds:

Yellow Warbler, Song, Vesper and Savannah Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Forster's Tern, Black Tern, Swainson's Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Eastern and Western Kingbird, Gray Catbird, American Pelican, American Robin, Willet, Northern Shoveler, American Widgeon, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Bufflehead, Black-billed Magpie, Western Meadowlark, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Canada Goose, Common Grackle, Wilson's Phalarope, Kildeer, Brown Thrasher, American Goldfinch, Horned Lark, Brewer's Blackbird, Western Grebe, Starling, European House Sparrow, Cliff, Bank, Barn, Tree and Cliff Swallow, Purple Martin, Gadwal, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Cedar Waxwing, Bobolink, Turkey Vulture, Horned and Eared Grebe, Wilson's Snipe and Flycatchers???

Are these Western Grebe on the left and Clark's Grebe (right) or both Westerns, any takers out there?

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)

Saskatchewan Road Trip Part 1

June 1 2013 Regina Beach, Craven, Valeport and Rowan's Ravine. Saskatchewan

The area around Regina is ideally situated for a great birding holiday. I returned from Churchill via Winnipeg and caught the overnight Greyhound bus to Regina, apart from renting an expensive one-way rental car it was the only way to get to my next birding area.
Regina and area (see map inset for location) is on the main Central flight path and provides great birding from March through to November. Ducks and geese arrive even when the ponds and sloughs are still frozen. One of the the highlights are the Whooping and Sandhill Crane flocks that pass through Rowan's Ravine area in April and May. The wide open fields offers food and protection as they make their way to Wood Buffalo Park to nest. During my early June visit the rearing process was already well under way.

American Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) at Regina Beach. Regina Beach is where Regina should have been built and is at the southern tip of Last Mountain Lake. Clark's, Western, Pied, Horned, Red-necked and Eared Grebe can be found there.

Plan to spend a week here. Thirty minutes North-West of Regina there are hundreds of miles of birding. Rowans Ravine and campsite is at the Last Mountain Bird Observatory.

Brown Thrasher ( Toxostoma refum)
Finally a Brown thrasher that would trust me enough to get a few pictures. I was at Rowan's Ravine when I spotted a Brown Thrasher in the undergrowth, a bird I had never photographed. Later I found another pair in the hedgerows of the campground where they perched before dropping down to feed on insects and worms.

–

Bison used to roam this area prior to First Contact. From Yellowstone in the south to Edmonton and east to Winnipeg millions of Bison and  Pronghorn Antelope made an annual northward migration in search of fresh food sources. Sometimes called the 'Serengeti of North America'  the herds were followed by Grizzly, Black Bear and Mountain Lion.
 Then there were the birds, although numbers have decreased dramatically enough remnants population remain for us to study and enjoy. Fortunately nature has been resilient, some prairie species have decreased by 80% (Sprague's Pipit) while others populations like the Western Meadowlark and Horned Lark have adapted to the changing landscape. 

Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) feeds on an abundance of insects at Rowan's Ravine. The campsite and surrounding paths and roads are a wonderful place to see many grassland birds. For those with a boat there is access to Last Mountain Lake with its Pelicans, Cormorants, Gulls and shorebirds.

Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)
Driving between Rowan's Ravine and Regina Beach I always taken the road less travelled with the chance of seeing one of my favourite birds, the Bobolink.  Bobolink nest in fields and wet meadows and can often be seen sitting on barbed wire and fenceposts. The Bobolink has one of the longest migrations of all songbirds spending the winter east of the Andes in South America. Once common, their numbers have plummeted due to loss of habitat and hunting on migration. They once existed in the tens of millions.

Churchill Part 2 Three Sparrows

May 28 2013 Churchill, Manitoba Day 2.
The Tundra was beginning to reveal its secrets. Lesser Yellowlegs, American Golden Plover, Horned Grebe, Bonaparte's, Herring, Glaucous and Thayer's Gull, Northern Harrier, Canada Goose, , Common Raven, Northern Flicker, American Robin, Common Eider, Blue-winged Teal, Merlin, Northern Pintail, Harris, Savannah, White-crowned and Fox Sparrows, Slate Coloured Junco, Sandhill Crane. Red-necked Phalarope, American Widgeon, Tree Swallow, Tundra and Trumpeter Swans and the year round resident the European House Sparrow...not a bad count for one day, EH!

Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) These Sparrows from the Hudson Bay area are much
redder and are one of four subspecies of Fox Sparrow.

Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula) in full breeding plumage.

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Note the extensive white on this bird (gambelii subspecies)

American Goldfinches

May1st, 2013 Surrey B.C. Sunny but cool.
Before I starting birding I had always enjoyed watching the colourful American goldfinch. I found them hard to approach so when circumstances aligned to photograph them at a feeder I couldn't pass it up.
The opportunity came at the Grass residence where I was attending a Langley Field Naturalists monthly meeting. The Grass Goldfinches must be the best fed and fattest birds anywhere in the Lower Mainland so their frequent visits to the feeder made photographing easy.
The key was to chose a composition with a clean background and then watch for a catchlight in the bird's eye. The brilliant Yellow of the bird, the blue sky and the red cherry tree leaves are all complimentary colours which all makes for an image that is easy on the eye.  For me it was a well spent twenty minutes.

Female American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

Male American Goldfinch

Manning Bird Blitz/Speaking Engagement

I am very pleased to have been invited to speak and present "Birding in the Lower Mainland and Beyond" at the 2013 Manning Bird Blitz. I have already presented the show at a number of Fraser Valley Regional libraries so depending on my audience (more photographers than birders or visa versa) I may tweak it a little. I also hope to include some of my images from my first ever birding trip to the Okanagan Valley.
Although I have hiked Manning Park quite extensively I have only birded the area a few times and so far with very little success. That said I am eager to take advantage of the expert group leaders and enjoy the whole weekend to the fullest. I hope to see you there.

Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) Rocky Mountains

Two of three sub species of Gray jay (Pemberton)

Note: Being reasonably new to birding please correct me if I have got the above identifications completely wrong. I know the second bird was photographed near Pemberton and the other in the Canadian Rockies. Both shot on Kodachrome 64 ISO, the standard film speed back in the Eighties. Today, birders can with certain cameras shoot 1600-3200 ISO which has made bird photography, bird recording and identification much easier, less expensive and above all... more fun!.

Click the link for further information

Manning Bird Blitz/Speaking Engagement

Boundary Bay (All Kinds of Birds)

                                  Friday Dec 14th 2012 Boundary Bay-Sunny and Cold.

Birding on Boundary Bay is never dull, even in the depths of winter rare and unusual avian visitors make it one of the best birding hotspots in North America. 

In the previous blog I featured some so so images of the Sage thrasher (a lifer) which I had taken under less than ideal conditions. I just had to return with the tripod and all the gear and try for some better compositions. Three long days had passed before some suitable light conditions returned and other commitments were behind me, I was just raring to go!
As usual the weather forecast was vague to useless, despite the promise of sun it spotted with rain all my way to 64th. I thought the day would be lost to the rain but when I arrived the wind suddenly died down, the skies cleared and the sea mist quickly evaporated. Perfect!

I began my search for the Thrasher but I couldn't see it anywhere, so I headed for a white dot on the horizon, a snowy owl was perched in a tree a few hundred feet from the pathway.

Snowy photographed from the Dyke.

A few shots (12) were taken without spooking or approaching the young owl too closely when I noticed a Northern flicker (below) land on a bush about 50 feet away. It took me a few minutes to gain the trust of the woodpecker, the resulting photograph is one of my all-time favourites, the colour of the tail feathers are amazing.

Northern flicker (Red-cross/Yellow shafted intergrade)

Orange-crowned warbler.

Behind me on the ocean side I heard a flock of Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped warblers. They were feeding on yarrow seeds. There were also a flock of White-crowned sparrows, purple finches and in the distance a Northern Shrike perched on a bush.

White-crowned sparrow

Purple Finch 

A Northern shrike looks for rodents or small birds.


AND NOW TO THE ORIGINAL ASSIGNMENT
GET SOME DECENT PICTURES OF THE RARE PACIFIC COAST VISITOR
THE  SAGE THRASHER

Sage thrasher.

Sage thrasher searches for food.

Sage thrasher.
I prefer the clean background long lenses provide but it is as important to show habitat.

Thanks everyone for looking in at the blog. Your comments are really important to gauge how this avian journey is progressing.

Happy Holidays