January 23, 2008
We started our walk along the Salwein Creek Loop, stopping for a moment to get a few photos of the Great Blue Herons; the resident sentinels above the East Bird Blind.
A little Grebe was visible from the blind; it was checking out something in the distance that we couldn’t see.
As we walked along the pathway, Song Sparrows, Juncos and Towhees gathered gravel from the path and danced along the sides in the leaves left over from Autumn.
Flickers called each other, while Chickadees hung from Alder seed cones, getting one tiny seed at a time, then landing on a nearby branch to crack and eat them.
Bruce saw a Squirrel gathering dry leaves for a nest, very busy with its chores.
A short way along the path Bruce heard a rattling sound and we did a quick search to finally come up with a beautiful full-coated Beaver busy eating blackberry stems and having a nice big drink in a shallow pool of water.
Leaving the Beaver to its business we wandered over to the South Lagoon where a male Common Merganser was fleeing from a group of Common Mergansers. The problem was one fish in the fleeing Mergansers mouth and every Merganser wanted a share. The water churned and the chase was frantic. They were almost running on the water during the chase. Finally, the lucky but tired Common Merganser swallowed its fish and the others went back to fishing.
We then took a look to see if the Green Heron was there; while we were looking a flock of noisy Canada Geese flew overhead and the Green Heron appeared shaking itself as if it was awakened by the noise of the Geese. It looked over at us, then spent some time preening before taking a walk to find something to eat.
We were just about to leave when a Northern shoveler landed right next to where the Green Heron was wandering around.
We stopped at the bench on the South side of the North Lagoon where we saw the Cormorant sunning itself. A small flock of Bufflehead swam and preened, their heads showing off different colours reflecting the sun as they moved.
We stopped in at the Rotary Interpretive Centre to tell Dick M., Janet, Val and Alice about our sighting of the Beaver and what birds we had seen, then headed home happy from another fun day in the sun.
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January 22, 2008
We decided to take a walk around Sardis Park this morning, the sun was out but it was not warm. The temperature seemed to drop lower and lower while we were walking, until finally, my hands were so cold that I could not comfortably focus the camera.
A pretty male Scaup was swimming and diving right at the edge of the pond, while Gulls stood around on the frozen parts of the pond in contemplation.
At the far end of the pond we noticed a small flock of Northern shovelers. They were napping at the edge, quite happy to be out of the water and in the sun. Several times when someone with a dog passed, they would descend the small slope into the water and take a quick cruise around but as soon as the dog had passed they would all climb back out of the water onto land again. I sympathized with them, the water must have been extremely cold.
The resident Coots were there in full force, some busy grazing on grass at the edge of the park, while others were swimming, every so often vocalizing their funny little grunts and barks.
Near the Northern shovelers, a Great Blue Heron stood looking elegant in its beautiful feather coat; it was about half-way up a Weeping Willow tree.
While we were admiring the beautiful Heron, a female Belted Kingfisher popped into a tree right next to it. The Kingfisher looked down interested in something in the water right below it. It dived, quickly, decisively, raised up out of the water before the splash had settled, then hovered over the same spot before flying back to the tree for another watch. Finally it decided that the fish that it was watching for had moved on so it flew to another tree on the opposite side of the pond.
A very sweet little Bufflehead swam by as we wandered further along the path.
American Wigeon paddled together close to a pair of Common Merganser. As always there were the Mallards.
Of course the Toulouse Goose and her offspring were there taking it easy at the edge of the pond.
We decided that I needed to get my hands warm so we came home for awhile and warmed up. We then drove to the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve, stopping for a moment on the way to take a handsome Eagle’s picture.
We ran into Scott and had a few moments watching the Green Heron with him. Scott was doing a bird survey of the South Lagoon today.
We stopped and took a few photos of the Double-crested Cormorants, a Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser at the North Lagoon.
A few Geese photos and bulrush and after a quick chat with Val; we were on our way home to warm up with a hot chocolate.
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January 21, 2008
Ah, the weather was glorious; the sun was shining and quite warm if you sat on a sheltered bench next to the lagoon. We stopped first to take a few photos of the Green Heron at its favourite spot; then we left it preening.
We headed to a sheltered bench where we just sat absorbing the sun and enjoying the company of a large flock of Geese. They were a little nervous when we first walked around the corner but then after giving us the once over, they settled down and some of them actually had naps while we sat quietly watching.
After just a short time a Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitted in to the area to search out insects and without moving, we managed to get photos of it quite close by.
We decided that we should get some exercise and took a walk down to the East Bird Blind. As we crossed the bridge a little Grebe hurried to get into a group of Geese and did its best to keep up with them as they swam along. On the opposite side of the bridge a pretty Common Merganser was seen swimming. We often see the Mergansers at this area.
Of course the Double-crested Cormorants were on their favourite log also absorbing some of the warmth of the sun.
When we got to the bridge over the Salwein Creek we spotted a small group of Hooded Mergansers, looking so lovely and happy together, one of the females was having a snack and one of the males looked up at one of the bird boxes placed near the creek as if checking it out for a future nest.
We got to the East Bird Blind where there were four Great Blue Heron resting in the trees. Three were just surveying the area and one of them was very involved in preening. They weren’t concerned with us wandering along the pathway at all.
A pretty Bewick’s Wren was scolding some creature in the underbrush and finally popped up onto an old snag to search for insects, while a Chickadee spent time opening a snack.
A flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets flitted through the underbrush, quickly checking each leaf and nook and cranny with care. The males golden crowns were tinted with red in anticipation of the season ahead.
We wandered back to take one last look at the Green Heron who was very busy hunting very close to us. We watched it as it stood extremely still, then walked along to another spot and again stopped to watch for food again. It then hopped onto a log for a bit before going on another hunting expedition not too far away.
We left it happily hunting and before stopping at the Rotary Interpretive Centre to say hello to Jean and Marilyn, we took a few photos of the snow covered mountains in the sunshine.
After our nice visit with Jean and Marilyn, we headed home for a hot chocolate and to look at our latest photos.
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