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.

Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus)!  This was pretty much the distance I saw them from when I was in Amherst Island last January.


So much closer this time!  Maybe less than 50 m from the trail.


The poopy owl.

No fog like last time, but it was still pretty cold and the owls weren't doing much of anything.


This one was the closest one and it was doing a lot of preening.

Lots of waterfowls way out in the distance.

Two more owls.

Three in one shot.

Two flying away.


Sleepy owl. getting its rest.


Another one behind it.

My parents and I had a great watching the owls but there were many other species keeping us fully entertained for the entire two hours.

Bald Eagle exerting its territory after chasing away some harriers.

More Snowy Owls.  Initially we counted nine owls on the field, but then suddenly more appeared behind us on the roofs and from the greenhouses, so there were at least nine different owls today.  What an experience.


Saw this female Northern Flicker.  I wonder if it's the same one that we saw on Tuesday.


Many Short-eared Owls as well.  This one was making a particular call similar to the "Calls at winter roost" link found here.


Many SEOWs flying around, and I luckily got a decent photo of one in flight.

Two hunters on the edge of Boundary Bay.

Just as we were about to leave, a walker told us about many Bald Eagles at the Delta Heritage Air Park at the end of 104 street.  Since we had no plans made and were already nearby, we decided to go there for a visit.

We only saw four Bald Eagles - three adults and one juvenile, but it was pretty nice to see them upclose.

Sunset on the dyke at the end of 104 Street.

When we left and reached the main road, my mother and I saw a Ring-necked Pheasant on someone's driveway.  We quickly stopped the car and looked for it, but it had disappeared.  Nonetheless, what a great bird to add to my list of birds seen in 2013, especially I have not seen it in almost three years.

Now that we have seen the Snowy Owls, the rain can begin...  Just joking.