Saw this guy scurrying about underneath a tree down at Kits beach. The stripey bit on his head is really fluffy and buffley. Cute.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
64. White-Crowned Sparrow - April 2009
Saw this guy scurrying about underneath a tree down at Kits beach. The stripey bit on his head is really fluffy and buffley. Cute.
63. Golden-Crowned Sparrow - 2008
Seen at Reiffel. One of a bunch of stripey-headed sparrows. Apparently this one is also called "Weary Willie" because its song sounds like it's crying "I'm so weeeeary".
61. Red-Winged Blackbird - January 2008
I remember seeing my first Red-Winged Blackbird on a freezing day out at Reiffel - years and years ago. At the time I was amazed at the colours on the bird's wings... the bright yellow and red look great against their glossy black backs. I remember Pam and Penny being less impressed. They really are very widespread, but I do like them. They have the same kind of carolling song at Australian magpies and when they fly and show their colours they are beautiful.
60. Brewer's Blackbird - April 2009
These guys competed with the Mourning Doves for my attention in Palm Springs.
59. Bullock's Oriole - August 2008
We camped by a beautiful fast-moving river near Princeton. The river ran fast over a pebbly bottom and someone had made a rock-pool for the kids to play in. We had just packed up and were walking along the river's edge when Molly said "Mummy, I saw an orange bird". That usually meant a sparrow or something else quite ordinary. She had in fact spotted a Bullock's Oriole. It was hiding amongst some stringy bushes on the edge.
58. House Finch - May 2008
There are heaps of these around Kits. They're quite striking even though they're so common.
57. American Goldfinch - April 2009
In a little copse of trees off South West Marine Drive I saw more yellow birds than I've ever seen in my life. One of them was unmistakeably an American Goldfinch.
56. House Sparrow
Rabbits. Foxes. Pidgeons. House Sparrows. Gallipoli. The English have a lot to answer for. Enough said.
55. California Quail - April 2005
Saw these scratching underneath the apple trees at Anna's place up at Summerland. I couldn't believe that these were wild birds... thought they were just poor souls that get periodically eaten by sneaky cats from aviaries. I do remember that the bobbles on their head were extremely cute.
54. Northern Saw-Whet Owl
I would never have known that this was what I was looking at, nor found it, if it hadn't been pointed out and identified by a professional photographer keen to show the kids, at Reiffel. It was sitting on a nest, right beside the path, looking a bit confused.
52. Red-Breasted Sapsucker - June 2008
This bird is a legend in our family. Penny had a board game as a child and if you drew the Red-Breaster Sapsucker card you would almost certainly win. We saw our first - and only - Sapsucker at Alice Lake when we were picnicking.
51. Northern Flicker - 2008
There are a bunch of Flickers that live it Kits. I see them (or maybe it's just one very busy bird) a lot.
50. Pileated Woodpecker - February 2009
These guys are really big birds. I saw my first one at the park on Camosun and 16th. We had been for a one hour walk in the Endowment Lands and I hadn't seen a single bird. Then, standing in the park I saw this beauty. He was rapping away at a log. I was struck by the luminance of the red of his crest. It's very distinctive. And he was really banging away... no wonder this one in the picture looks so surprised - or is it glazed - by life
49. American Robin - November 2007
First seen at Jericho, these are common birds that hop around in the Spring and Summer months. We see them everywhere.
48. American Black Duck - May 2009
I have been looking at these ducks thinking that they're female Mallards for the longest time, but look at the YELLOW beak.
47. Rock Dove - May 2009
Yeah I know, we've all seen zillions of these rats-with-wings BUT if I don't include it here I can't count it.
45. Greater White-Fronted Goose - May 2009
I am very proud to have seen this goose today at Reiffel. It was a long way away and when it caught my eye - even before I'd got the binoculars out - I could see that it was different to anything I'd seen before. The female was quite a bit lighter, and they both had the distinctive white patch of their face.
44. Barn Swallow - May 2009
Today at Reiffel it was Swallow City. They must have migrated back from somewhere because there were Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows everywhere... sitting in trees, in and out of nesting boxes, skimming along the top of the water. We saw this fellow sitting on a wire on the way into Reiffel at Ladner. He had a beautiful red chest.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
42. Belted Kingfisher - January 2008
Saw this spunky bird at Granville Island. Has a great top-knot. Also seen at: Jericho Beach, Salthspring Island.
41. Starling - January 2007
Saw these at Granville Island. If you ignore the fact that they are imported from Europe, and probably a pest, they are incredibly pretty birds. Especially in the sun. The girls love them.
40. Mourning Dove - April 2009
These noisy coo-ers cooed around my room in Palm Springs. They all seemed to be perpetually breeding and nest-building. And did I mention cooing. I thought it was really sweet the first day...
39. Costa's Hummingbird - April 2009
It was a great surprise to see soooo many of these beautiful little birds in Palm Springs. I saw the first one in an outdoor wedding chapel. There was a vine growing on the wall covered in flowers, and I saw a Costa's Hummingbird floating above the flowers. When it turned into the sun its neck feathers were a beautiful dark purple.Beautiful.
38. Rufous Hummingbird - April 2008
Saw this beautiful little bird for the first time out at Reiffel. It was perched high in a dead tree doing the whole "J" dive thing. Saw another at Reiffel with Kate and Molly in May 2009. They both saw it through the glasses and were amazed by the "gold" feathers around its neck when the sun catches them.
37. Cowbird - June 2008
Anna hates these birds because they are like cuckoos. Saw my first Cowbird at the bird feeder in her vegie patch. Kate wonders if they have an udder, or produce milk.
36. Chickadee - Novemver 2007
I had been calling people "chickadee" for years before I knew it was the name of a bird. The Coopers' birdfeeder has always attracted zillions of chickadees. They have a lovely, happy song. We get lots of our back verandah at Trutch St.
35. Golden Crowned Kinglet December 2007
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Saw this bird at Capilano Canyon. It was the first small bird I saw in Canada with a stripey head. Cute. Little. Hops around in the cypress.
34. Stellars Jay - April 2005
Saw my first Blue Jay in Pemberton at Anna's birdfeeder. I love these birds. They're big and strong and colourful. They seem to bound around in the trees. Also saw a great one once at Alice Lake. Always startling.
33. Blue Jay - October 2008
Saw this distinctive bird in a tree on the roadside in Miami. Then saw one in a tree in Central Park NY.
32. Whisky Jack or Grey Jay - December 2007
We saw these for the first time up at Cypress, on the benches outside the lodge. They were taking bits of food from people's hands. They seem to appear at every outdoor picnic venue (in flocks)... Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Whistler, Manning Park...
31. Black Billed Magpie - August 2008
Great birds. Big long tails. Beautiful dark blue. Saw them at Lake Louise in the grounds of the Fairmont.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
29. Black Oystercatcher - 26 April 2009
We saw this guy sitting on a rocky outcrop just off the beach at Lighthouse Park. Big and strong, with a great red beak but funny wishy-washy pink legs.
28. Sandhill Crane - 2008
Big, tall scary birds that look like Jabirus. We saw them at Reiffel where we'd been warned to be careful because they are aggressive. The two we saw had hijacked the path and were stopping people going through. Kids terrified.
27. American Coot - January 2008
Seen in Stanley Park. American Coot, just like the Eurasian Coot. Lazy Coot. Lucky coot.
26. Rock Ptarmigan - July 2008
We were visiting New Denver and took a harrowing trip with Candy and all the kids up into the mountains to see the Alpine Meadows. Hiding amongst the long grass, right at the top of the highest mountain we climbed was a Rock Ptarmigan and her clutch. Beautiful. How they survive when the snow comes I don't know, but they were beautiful. The one we saw was speckled like this one.
25. Bald Eagle - 2007
I don't think I realised before I moved here just how BIG and strong Bald Eagles are. We have seen them up fairly close at Reiffel and around BC. There's a massive nest - about 4 feet high - at Varnier Park that I'm keeping my eye on for little ones. I once saw a BE fly over the duck pond at Jericho... you've never seen 200 ducks fly off so quickly.
23. Common Merganser - December 2007
We saw these 2 days before Christmas in 2007, floating just above the waterfall at Capilano Canyon. They have that windswept look that I love in a duck.
22. Hooded Merganser - January 2008
These are THE coolest ducks. They look perpetually shocked. We saw them from a distance in a lake at Hatfield on Vancouver Island and I literally ran to the edge to watch them. Both the males and females have fantastic big buffles that are huge. I love them.
18. Lesser Scaup - February 2009
Also seen at Reiffel and at Lost Lagoon. The Lesser Scaup are smaller. That's about the only difference.
17. Greater Scaup - February 2009
Have seen these at Reiffel and at Lost Lagoon at Stanley Park. This one has a little twinkle in his eye.
16. Canvasback - April 2008
Reiffel Bird Santuary. No recollection at all. Poor forgotten Canvasbacks.
15. Northern Pintail - April 2008
We saw these ducks a long time ago, perhaps in the early 2000's, out at Reiffel. They have always been one of Penny's favourite birds. She loves their markings.
14. Northern Shoveller - November 2008
We saw a flock of these shovelling away on a sewerage treatment lake at Iona. They are big distictive ducks with cool beaks that they use to skim along the top of the water.
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