August 27, 2008
As we walked past the Rotary Interpretive Centre at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve we waved to Tony inside busy with a visitor and headed out to take some bird photos.
A pretty juvenile American Goldfinch sat on one of the little Birch trees near the stairway and flew over to the fence with all its relatives.
We walked along accompanied by the sounds of Black-capped Chickadees in the shrubs next to the paths.
Several Flycatchers drew our attention along the way.
The Common Mergansers were swimming on the South Lagoon; later we found them sitting on the log on the North Lagoon.
The Belted Kingfisher was very happy fishing from the fallen tree at the edge of the North Lagoon.
There were more Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos than we could count in a little shrub at the edge of the slough.
A juvenile Wilson’s Warbler danced around in another shrub nearby, while Black-throated Grey Warblers flitted around just above him.
A Pine Siskin stopped in a little Cedar tree to have a snack on Cedar cone seeds.
A Cottontail Rabbit grazed at the edge of the path.
The biggest distraction for us today was a female Otter and her two pups. One of the pups was grooming itself on a log when we first spotted it.
As we watched the little fellow on the log, the water churned below him and up out of the water climbed the female with another pup. They were sleek with water clinging to them.
The female and the second pup joined the first pup on the log. The female had a moment together with the first pup and the second pup then joined them. Not long after they got up on the log, they were all dry and happily spending time on the log together for awhile.
The mother decided that it was time to leave and descended into the water with the pups following right behind her.
She dived under the water and came up with a fish in her mouth. She got up on a nice little stump at the edge of the water and proceeded to eat the fish. The pups joined her for awhile before they entered the water again to play nearby. After eating the fish she left and one of the pups stayed behind for a second or two before following after her.
They swam closer to us and spent some time under a Willow tree near the edge of the Cattails fishing and enjoying another few fish before heading under the road through the drain into the Cattail marsh.
We headed up to the Rotary Interpretive Centre for a visit with Yvonne, Ivy and Dawn before heading home, quite satisfied with our walk at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve.
We are not authorities on birds, wildlife, plants, cameras or photography, if you are doing research on any subjects, please refer to a more educational site for advice and double-check whatever you research.
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