Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, British Coluimbia 2-1-13

[Bill Anderson]

Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, British Columbia 2-1-13

After we were done shooting at Boundary Bay, we drove to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, located on Westham Island near Ladner, BC.
http://www.reifelbirdsanctuary.com/

Unlike wildlife sanctuaries in the US, where feeding the animals is discouraged, at Reifel bird seed is sold to visitors and bird feeders are located throughout the sanctuary. This has led to the habituation to humans of some of the birds. I was surpised at how close many of the birds would approach me, unlike their shyer cousins residing south of the border. It affords one the opportunity to take close up shots of many birds without lugging around big, heavy lenses. A 70-200mm or 55-250mm zoom would be adequate for most photos.

A pair of common mergansers in the river outside the sanctuary.


Dueling pintails.


A black eastern gray squirrel. According to one of my nature books, it is more commonly found in Ontario.


Male ring-necked duck.


Female ring-necked duck.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Mystery duck. Scaup?
Edit: I think this is a male greater scaup (rounded head) in non-breeding plumage.


Male wood duck.


Female wood duck.


Female (L) and male (R) hooded mergansers.


Coot. Look at those feet!

 

[Bill Anderson]

And now the highlights of the visit. Two "lifers" for me.

Three northern saw-whet owls were sleeping in trees next to a trail. They were tucked away in thick lower branches and hardly noticeable. We found them only because there were other photographers gathered around the trees. The trees were located not far from bird feeders. We suspect the owls feed at night on small rodents which are attracted to bird seed which has spilled onto the ground below the feeders.

It was almost too close to photograph.


This saw-whet was perched on a branch directly over the trail. You could have reached up and touched it. My friend had brought along his 400L prime lens and had to borrow his wife's point & shoot to get the bird in focus.


My second lifer: black-crowned night herons. One provided me with some action photos as it flew across the lake.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Some more shots of the herons to conclude the visit.

 

[photographmemories]

Oh, man! You have some nice shots in this series. Welcome to the site. I don't think I've ever seen a black-crowned night heron in person before.

Thanks for posting!

 

[JaniceL]

All lovely shots, Bill.

 

[fiznatty]

Great job getting the herons in the open! They were obscured every time I saw them.

Max

 

[Bill Anderson]

Great job getting the herons in the open! They were obscured every time I saw them.

Max

One heron made two passes over the lake. On the second pass (the one I photographed) it did the heron trick of tossing something out onto the water to draw out a fish before taking off.