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.

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!

Yellow-rumped warbler (the first signs of spring)

Iona Regional Park, Vancouver
Despite the sun, the wind was fierce, cold enough to still be wearing the same layers of clothing that I had worn to photograph Snowy owls in Dec !!! However, the trees and bushes were now alive with new arrivals, most notably the colorful yellow-rumped warbler, a sure sign that spring had arrived. It was a great day out with hardly anyone around.
Species noted observed.

Ring-necked, mallard and canvasback ducks, American coot, red-winged blackbird, rufous hummingbird, northwestern crow, yellow-rumped warbler, ruby-crowned and golden crowned kinglet and marsh wren. No yellow-headed blackbirds so far. A seasoned birder was on the lookout for an Osprey and another birder had seen an Anna's hummingbird and mountain bluebirds.
Here are some of the better blog shots from my walk.
For more birds please visit.
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Golden-crowned kinglet

Marsh wren

Rufous hummingbird (male)

Yellow-rumped warbler

Ruby-crowned kinglet