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#91649
stumblingpiper wrote: Mar 09 9:41 pm
NewWestBirder wrote: Mar 06 8:56 pm Ian, you have mentioned Vaseux Lake in a couple of your postings. My son gave me a book on favorite birding locations by the Cannings brothers for my birthday, and Vaseux made it in the book. I am excitedly looking forward to making a trip there in May. Hope the Chukars are as easy to spot then! LOL.
Randy -- looks like you are having a good birding year! Nice shots of those Southern Birds. If you are coming over to the Vaseux area, send me an email stumblingpiper at hotmail. I'll send you a loop that I do in that area ... you can let me know what birds you might be looking for and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction!
That's a kind offer Ian. I will take you up on it as the date gets closer. Thanks.
#91650
NewWestBirder wrote: Mar 09 10:53 pm
stumblingpiper wrote: Mar 09 9:41 pm
NewWestBirder wrote: Mar 06 8:56 pm Ian, you have mentioned Vaseux Lake in a couple of your postings. My son gave me a book on favorite birding locations by the Cannings brothers for my birthday, and Vaseux made it in the book. I am excitedly looking forward to making a trip there in May. Hope the Chukars are as easy to spot then! LOL.
Randy -- looks like you are having a good birding year! Nice shots of those Southern Birds. If you are coming over to the Vaseux area, send me an email stumblingpiper at hotmail. I'll send you a loop that I do in that area ... you can let me know what birds you might be looking for and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction!
That's a kind offer Ian. I will take you up on it as the date gets closer. Thanks.
My pleasure, Randy -- but I'm James. lol. Ian probably has great birding locales too! :D
By jewill
#91656
Finally it looks like Spring is coming (is it just me, or did this past Winter seem like it would never end?).
I headed out to Brydon Lagoon in Langley today.

Pat gave us an immature male a while ago, so this is one that's all grown up.
ImageCommon Goldeneye (Male) by Jewill on Flickr

And, of course, I just have to post the female too.
ImageCommon Goldeneye (Female) by Jewill on Flickr

There were a couple of males around but they were way out in the lagoon and I didn't like any of my pictures. I'll try again later.
ImageCommon Merganser (Female) by Jewill on Flickr

Again, the mature males were too far away. This guy was really close to shore - I guess he hasn't learned to be camera shy yet.
ImageNorthern Shoveler (Male - Immature) by Jewill on Flickr

Gotta have the female too :)
ImageNorthern Shoveler (Female) by Jewill, on Flickr

Happy Birding to all.
By jewill
#91659
I was back out on the patio the last couple of days enjoying the nice weather.

Dare I say that this is both the male and female Mourning Dove? Apparently they form strong pair bonds so I'm thinking that it is a mated pair. I'll call it that way anyway :).
ImageMourning Dove (Male & Female) by Jewill on Flickr

I posted the male Bushtit a while ago, so here's the female.
ImageBushtit (Female) by Jewill on Flickr

I'm looking forward to all of the spring birds that will soon be arriving. I saw the resident Barred Owl today and heard another one hooting at the same time he was. Hopefully it's a new partner for him and there will soon be an owlet or two out back. (Note: his previous partner was killed by secondary rodenticide poisoning a couple of years ago and we've been without owlets since. Thankfully that stuff has been permanently banned in BC for residential use now.)
#91661
That is quite some patio/backyard area you have Judy. :D You seem to have a veritable parade of bird species passing through just offering themselves to your camera. For me, a big backyard day is when a house finch breaks the monotony of starlings, robins, house sparrows, juncos, etc. :lol:
By jewill
#91664
NewWestBirder wrote: Mar 18 9:25 am That is quite some patio/backyard area you have Judy. :D You seem to have a veritable parade of bird species passing through just offering themselves to your camera. For me, a big backyard day is when a house finch breaks the monotony of starlings, robins, house sparrows, juncos, etc. :lol:
Well, I’m kind of cheating when I say “my backyard”. I live in a condo that backs onto a protected green space which has a small creek running through it. My actual backyard is very small but since my suite is the only one back there (on the ground floor) I claim it all as my own :). I do get tons of birds, mainly Juncos, Song Sparrows, Chickadees (Black-capped & some Chestnut-backed) and several Towhees. The others are more incidental only showing up once in a while. I think it’s only fitting that there is a Barred Owl out there since I work at OWL. I claim him as “mine” too.
I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of the more colourful birds in a month or so. Last year there were several Western Tanagers who stayed for over a week and posed quite nicely for me so I hope they come back.
Anyway, I really enjoy spending time out there with a good book and a cup of coffee or something, camera always at the ready.
Thanks for your nice comments and I like your Mourning Dove cartoon; tell me, do you hear the birds talking to you a lot? :lol:.
#91666
lol ... Randy and Judy -- you two are keeping everything going! I agree about Spring, Judy ... those birds are definitely showing up now ... here's a recent addition to our yard: Pine Siskin.
Image

Love the posts and the commentary ... we are currently at 71 birds ... Judy -- winter did last forever this year ... we are about 17 birds behind our pace last year, and I was already posting bluebirds at this time. Hopefully things will pick up this Spring and we can catch up a little!

Here's the link to the current list:
viewtopic.php?p=91665#p91665
Happy bird looking everyone!
James (Randy -- that's Stumblingpiper. haha)
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