Kingfisher at rest
I love capturing almost anything in motion. The images of this Belted Kingfisher flaring its wings landing are the challenging photographs that I enjoy realizing. That said, I found this portrait of the bird resting on this branch that is losing a long running fight with gravity to be beautiful. Kingfishers are active so it felt like I was sharing a brief, calm moment.
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A snowy in the surf
When we were in Mexico a couple of months ago, I found this snowy egret fishing in the shallows off the beach. While she stood motionless, I used a slow shutter to blur the motion of the small surf as it ran over the rocks. There was a tranquility in that moment that I felt this photograph came close to capturing.
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A cormorant perched
Double-crested cormorants fish, nest and fly all over Caye Culker where we stayed in Belize. There were a few wooden posts where they would often stop to preen, dry off and then watch for their next meal. Here I got off the dock, waded a bit closer to the bird and put the camera low to the water for this shot.
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A brown pelican perspective
We were in Belize last month and I had some great opportunities to photograph the wildlife there. I have always loved Brown pelicans – the way they fly, their mannerisms and particularly how they dive to fish. There was one that perched on the roof above me on a dock. Leaning over to look down into the water, this pelican offered me a great view at its long beak. The water drop made it one of my favorite photographs from last year.
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An evening hunt
It was just after 9pm when I spied this owl on a fence across the field. He seemed to be trying to get one more vole before dusk and I didn’t have to wait very long for him to fly low over the tall grass. He didn’t dive into the grass on this flight. Wheeling back towards the forest edge, I lost him in the darkness of the trees.
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An owl hunting deep in the forest
My pup and I found this great gray owl perched in a small clearing. He was watching us when I noticed him on this fallen tree root. A short stare and he returned to scanning the ground.
At one point a raven flew over the treetops, the owl followed it pass by and then returned to watching the forest floor.
After close to 15 minutes, this spot lost whatever interest it had held and he flew deeper into the forest.
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Osprey in the trees
We were in Invermere last weekend. I spent some time watching a family of osprey on the water. This adult perched in this tree and made a couple of passes over a pond but no dives for fish. They looked pretty fantastic in the evening sunshine so I wasn’t too disappointed.
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Winter dusk with a great gray owl
By the time we found this great gray owl in the late afternoon, it had already been a wonderful day of owls. This grey was the first of three that flew and hunted on the edge of the forest through into night. The waning sunshine offered a little warmth against cold and perhaps encouraged the owls to come out of the trees to hunt. Sometimes an owl is found only by slowly studying woods or fields. This one was much easier – perched on a sign post.
A truck drove by and the owl took flight. The bird crossed over a fence and drifted over the field beyond. Angling up on an instant, she quickly down towards the snow.
I missed catching a sharp shot of her crashing into the field. She, however, did not miss. He talons pinned a field mouse of some type under the snow. She transferred that to her beak after a few shuffles and disturbances. And then flew up to finish off the meal on a fence post.
From there the owl flew over the field again. This time alighting on the metal beam of a piece of farm machinery. From sign to beam was only six minutes. Luckily there was a bit more with this owl and then more through sunset with two other owls.
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How lucky I am! Another snowy owl flying on the prairie.
In one of the canals east of Dalemead I found this snowy owl. It was on the right of way road above the watercourse beside the long grass. I walked down the road a little closer and settled into the snow at an angle I could photograph the bird with the sun lighting her front. I had hopes of the owl flying in my general direction when she chose to continue hunting.
A bit of time passed with her sweeping the landscape and reacting whenever a new sound was heard or bit of motion was seen. The temperature was much warmer than the rest of February had been so it was a rather pleasant wait. Eventually she started to get more active, preening and shaking out her feathers. When she jumped off of the snow, she stayed low for a few wingbeats.
Then she banked and passed in front of me. That was wonderful and on the outer edge of what I was hoping for.
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Inglewood reflection
I’m heading down to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary to see which migrating as well as resident birds are around on a wet, cool afternoon. Kezia and I were down there together last weekend and found some wood ducks, a variety of gulls, one heron and a good number of Canada geese. This one was paddling on one of the ponds near the river. Kez and I both like the serene aspects of this scene.
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A harvest hawk
As farmers harvest their crops, hawks enjoy using the hay bales to scout for field mice. This rough-legged hawk stared at me from her perch for a moment before returning her attention to the field.
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A morning with a great blue heron in Bragg Creek
I spent Sunday morning watching a great blue heron hunting for fish in the shallows of a small lake near Bragg Creek. Early on it was just above freezing which led to mist rising off, and swirling across, the water. The heron was on the far side when I first spotted him so I took turns watching the weather and the fishing.
The day slowly warmed up a little as did the heron to me. I stayed put in my lawn chair and around 10:30, he crossed the lake landing about 60 meters away from me.
Herons are excellent hunters and this fellow caught fish steadily while walking in the shallows.
One more flight a little while later put him back on the far side but still quite close.
He continued hunting along the shoreline there for another 45 minutes.
Towards noon, I wanted to get home and when he flew back towards the first location I’d found him, I thought that was a sign that our encounter was completed for the day.
