Those Night-Herons.

Here is one of the Black-crowned Night-Herons at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.  I have posted about them previously:

"Southern British Columbia is at the northern extreme of the Black-crowned Night-Heron's range. It is considered rare in BC, and there are only a few records of it having bred in the province, perhaps only two -- both being on Reifel Island (Campbell et al., 1990). There is a small group that winters at Reifel. The birds can sometimes be found just inside the gate on the north side of the path, or in the brush at the the edges of the first large slough."

In my experience, these birds are easy to locate but difficult to photograph.  They are always partly obscured by branches, and have their heads tucked, asleep, or pretending to be so.  After many years, I have become suspicious.  Are these birds truly alive?  Or do the staff of the sanctuary scurry about with ladders in the early morning and shift them around to provide the illusion of a vibrant, though small, population?  Shagged out after a long squawk?  I wonder.

Anyway, there are two in this picture, plus, most likely alive, a Great Blue.


Ref
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggert-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser and M.C.E. McNall. 1990. The Birds of British Columbia. Vol. 1. UBC Press. 514 pp.

Synchro dabbling.

Synchronized Dabbling is a big deal at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.  For years, Northern Pintails have owned this sport,

but it looks as though 2010/2011 may mark the end of their reign, as Northern Shovelers are hard at work, perfecting their three-man (including a rookie!) routine.

As usual, some random Mallard horns himself into the shot.  Mallards, by the way, have never won.

On the road to Reifel: Northern Hawk Owl.

 Look for the blob in the tree directly in front of the man in the pale jacket setting up his camera.

For several days birders have been flocking to Westham Island to see a Northern Hawk Owl. The bird has been quite cooperative, spending most of its time hanging out in plain view at the first big left-turn corner after the long, straight drive across the island.  It was not hard to find this morning--simply drive until you ran into the tripods in the middle of the road.

Northern Hawk Owls, as the name suggests, are northern birds, and are regarded as very rare winter visitants this far south.  Even a keen birder, remaining at this latitude, may see only one in a lifetime. The cold spell we had a week or so back seemed to have brought a number of interesting northerners, including a number of Gyrfalcons--and other the other end of the Deadly to Cute Scale--a smattering of Snow Buntings.  A good site to keep track of what is about is the BC Vancouver Birds Yahoo Group.

I took a few quick pictures.  It is now apparent why the other photographers were in the middle of the road; they were trying to get a shot without a branch through the middle of the bird.

After carefully winding through the throng, we continued to Reifel and saw a Great Horned Owl, two Peregrines, a Cooper's Hawk and two Northern Harriers.  Supposedly there was a Barred Owl about too, but we missed it.  Still, a pleasingly raptory day.

On the way back, the owl had flown across to the other side of the road, and parked cars trailed off into the distance.  If you post it online, they will come...

Mysterious Ice Vase.

 

Last night was cold and clear, leading to an attractively frosty morning.  The water in the bird bath froze, and somehow a tiny ice vase formed.  I'm not sure if it grew by addition of layers, like a Bermudian Boiler Reef, or if it somehow rose/was squeezed from the water as it froze.  It was about 2 cm end to end.

It wasn't hollow, but the top was concave.  As the day warmed, the middle melted away first.

A mystery.  And the coolest H2O-plus-cold-related phenomenon since the self-dinting snow of 2008.

Something else that goes with the template.

On a grey day, an abundance of rose hips.