Second outing of 2013 - Boundary Bay revisited - Attempt 2

The past few days my mother and I have been paying close attention to the weather forecast and hoping for good weather so that we could go out to Boundary Bay again to look for Snowy Owls (since last time was unsuccessful).

Despite the 90% POP, the rain still did not show up in the morning, so my parents and I decided to take the chance and go out to Boundary Bay again right after lunch.  The rain did not come at all this afternoon and we even saw a bit of sunshine, so that was pretty much a success in itself.  The lighting wasn't that great today, so I had to set most of my minimal ISO to 800 for the birding shots, hence the "noisy" photos.

Lots of Northern Harriers flying around today.

Awaiting blue day

As much as it is great for the world to see Vancouver's true winter gray, miserable colors (and why nobody know about this beforehand, I have no idea), I wish sunshine would just appear for a while (I tried to go out on Thursday, but as soon as I got to the dyke, it started pouring and so I went back home).

Today was just one of the days I been wishing for - although many people probably wished the same thing judging by the number of people today at the dyke.

Beautiful blue sky with a good view.

Plenty of birds, such as Golden-crowned Sparrows, were out foraging.

While at the Share-Farm, I saw a Short-eared Owl flying towards the Snow Geese and disappearing behind the tall grasses. I decided to go and see where it had landed and hoped I will be able to photograph it. And there it was! Standing on top of a pole and looking at the grasses below.

So magnificent. It flew away shortly afterwards, but what an experience to see it closer!

By the Terra Nova Slough, I saw a pair of Killdeers again at the spot where a pair nested last year. I wonder if they are the same couple.

Such elegant birds. I wouldn't know they were there had they not make any noises.

Beautiful sky-watching at Terra Nova.
Zooming out of the TCON lens gave this interesting dark corners around the image. Is this what lomography is?

Sunset - time to go home.

Oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day / Chinese New Year / first Canadian gold medal in Canada (can't believe no one won a gold back in '88).

369 days ago (2009-02-10) ...
368 days ago (2009-02-11) ...
367 days ago (2009-02-12) ...
366 days ago (2009-02-13) ...
365 days ago (2009-02-14) ...
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Bike ride by the dike - Owl-harrier battle and GBH on tree

Today was cloudy but dry, and so it was nice enough to go out for a bike ride by the dyke.

Sky-watching

Mallard Male

First time clearly observed an owl on Sturgeon Bank. I believe this is a Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) because of its body size and the black "wrist" marks underneath its wings when in flight. Seeing this creature definitely makes today worthwhile!

Then a Northern Harrier came along!

And an aerial battle began!

I am not totally certain if this is the same Northern Harrier as the one in battle, because this individual looks dark overall and should be a juvenile.

Then out of no where, the battle started again! Perhaps the adult harrier was protecting its juvenile from the owl?

After a while, the battle stopped and the individuals flew away, and I continued with my bike ride.

Then sunshine appeared! Ah! Vitamin D!

Beautiful views of the field.

Looking on the ground, I saw the droppings of a creature. And one of its contents was the foot of a clawed bird? Perhaps a coyote had digested an accipiter?

As I moved along, a Great Blue Heron flew from the trail and onto a tree.

And it gave me a couple of nice poses to photograph.

What a beautiful creature!

Shortly past 4-pm, the sun was slowly to set behind the clouds, and so it was time for me to head home. While biking towards home, an interesting bird caught my attention as it flew from the golf course and headed to the patch of trees across from the golf course.

As I biked closer, it was an Accipiter - either a Sharp-shinned or a Cooper's Hawk (which I am never very good at distinguishing). If I have to guess, then it's a Cooper's Hawk because of the more rounded tail.

Overall, an excellent day for wildlife viewing!

365 days ago (2008-11-29) ... Funny how last year I was observing some animal droppings too.
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