During this period of self isolation I was looking at some of my older images. In this photo of a Great Horned Owl ( Bubo virginianus ) you can clearly see its ear tufts or ‘horns’. Roughly a third of owl species worldwide have ear tufts and these appendages are mainly used for display and visual communication. It’s also thought to play a role in camouflage, breaking up the bird’s outline against its background. The tufts are made up of feathers.
When the overnight temperature dips below zero, this small waterfall is transformed into beautiful ice formations. Click on any photo and then scroll through the gallery of images by using the ‘left’ and ‘right’ keys on your keyboard.
The opportunistic Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) looks on as a huge flock of Lesser Snow Geese ( Chen caerulescens ) take off. I was amazed how calm the Bald Eagle remained despite the sudden noise and explosion of feathers.
When I spotted this Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) in the distance, I realized the mountain range in the background, would allow me to create a beautiful animalscape, by combining the Bald Eagle, stump, marsh, ocean and mountains. Unfortunately, I was too far away for a good photo. I considered slowly approaching the Bald Eagle but that involved scrambling over slippery logs and through soggy marsh. I knew as soon as I got closer to the Bald Eagle it would more than likely fly away. Despite the slim chance of getting close enough for a good image, I decided to give it a try and started moving from one slippery log to the next. It took quite awhile to move a short distance and during this time the clouds moved in and obscured some of the distant mountain peaks. Eventually another Bald Eagle flew over top of the Bald Eagle which was perched on the stump. It wasn’t very happy with this intrusion into its space and made a weak sounding call. I quickly took the photo and made my way back through the marsh, my hiking boots and socks were soaked.
This morning I spent some time photographing a few Short-eared Owls ( Asio flammeus ). I watched one skillfully catch a rodent and then a female Northern Harrier ( Circus hudsonius ) immediately swooped in and stole its prey. This male Short-eared Owl perched briefly, allowing me to take a photo, before taking flight. There is something so beautiful, mysterious, magical and elegant about owls. I’ll never tire of taking images of them.
On the weekend it was nice to be outside during stormy weather and I enjoyed watching birds of prey hovering in the wind. A female Northern Harrier ( Circus hudsonius ) was gliding low in search of prey.
The female Northern Harrier was flying close to the ground. As you can see in the photo, she was looking down for rodents and would dive quickly to capture prey. This bird of prey has a buoyant, gliding flight and flaps intermittently.
When taking this picture of a female Northern Harrier perched on a log, the autofocus was having difficulty focusing due to the windy conditions, branches, twigs and long grass. What I did in this situation was use the Live View feature on my camera and focused manually on the eye of the Northern Harrier, which created a photo with a unique perspective.
This is a Mandarin Duck ( Aix galericulata ) and it’s not a native species in British Columbia. It’s closely related to the North American Wood Duck, the only other member of the genus Aix. Exotic species frequently escape zoos and private collections. Virtually any of the world’s waterfowl species can be occasionally seen free-flying in North America.
The lower mainland received an unusual dump of snow which brought most of the city to a standstill. Buses, trucks and cars had difficulty negotiating slippery streets, and many people decided to stay at home.
Taking images of this bird was a new experience for me. The Varied Thrush ( Ixoreus naevius ) is similar in habits to the American Robin, but more secretive. It has a sweet, echoing and simple song. They live in this area year round.
