Prairie Falcon over… the prairies
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/6400 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 800
When I was waiting for my new owl friends to provide a beautiful through-the-window moment, my tripod and I were set up out the open on the snow-covered field that surrounds the barn. I was not expecting any other wildlife to swing by given my foreign presence but this Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) must have taken pity on me.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/6400 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 800
More likely, it was scanning the ground for dinner and the sun’s low altitude in the evening kept it from looking in my direction until it was pretty close. I was happy to see this hunter though as the light was beautiful and the bird even more so.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/6400 of a second at f/4 on ISO 200
It was a very pleasant surprise when I ran across another one of these beautiful birds (maybe the same one) when I returned to that same area a couple of days later. Well we didn’t really run into each other – I was driving and the bird was flying around a grain silo. It circled around me twice which gave me a moment to get out of my car and track it a bit easier.
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Pelican Landing
The colors in the sky at dawn have been fantastic during our visit to Los Cabos this week. The wildlife has been even more enjoyable. Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) have been a favourite bird of mine to photograph since I first saw them here in Cabo san Lucas a couple of years ago. On the prairies, we have White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) that will hang out on larger ponds for the summer but for some reason they don’t cast the same spell on me that their multi-coloured cousins do. I had a great encounter with a pair of pelicans a couple of mornings ago. This image was of the first one maneuvering in to land on a half-submerged rock pile just before sunrise. The other pelican joined a little while later. Probably once I get home, I’ll have more to share from these two.
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Winter’s raptor
The Rough-legged hawks (Buteo lagopus) have arrived along the prairies with winter back. Along with Snowy owls, they will dominate the skies until well into spring.
I was excited to see Snowies a couple of times in the morning last weekend but they were less enthused to see me and flew away before I could stop. This hawk was much more tolerant, I was able to photograph it for half an hour as it perched and flew along the fence line.
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Backyard Woodpecker
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/1600 of a second at f/8 on ISO 800
We have several woodpeckers who use our backyard as their home base. There are a couple of Downy Woodpeckers and up to five Hairy Woodpeckers that hammer the tree trunks throughout the day. A couple of days ago, this male, denoted by the red stripe, Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) was working away at this jagged tree top and was unconcerned about being photographed.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/1000 of a second at f/8 on ISO 800
Their tongues are really long but, unlike a dog’s tongue on a hot day, are not long in sight. It was a nice bit of luck to get a couple of images with the tongue visible. Above, his tongue was pretty close to full extension. Well suited to catching insects hiding under the bark and in the crevices.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/8000 of a second at f/4 on ISO 1250
He worked his way up the tree (though it looks more like a branch) and having exhausted the supply of critters that suited his palate, he flew on to one of the larger aspens across the yard. I liked this crouching pose I caught just before he launched.
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 IS lens: 1/2500 of a second at f/5 on ISO 800
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An owl in the trees
Canon 5DIII camera with a Canon 500mm lens: 1/800th of a second at f/4 on ISO 6400
Earlier, before I waited with the Great Blue Heron for a decent part of the morning, a Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa) hunted along one of my favourite Bragg Creek backroads. I had parked my car, slung my tripod over the shoulder and headed down the road trying to listen for sights and sounds in the trees bordering the gravel. The owl swooped in front of me, flying near eye level a few metres away.
Note: please click on any image if you would like to see a larger version
Canon 5DIII camera with a Canon 500mm lens: 1/640th of a second at f/4 on ISO 5000
I hadn’t noticed it before the flyby but my attention was held for the next twenty minutes before it dissolved into the forest gain. During that time, the bird alternately perched, then flew, then perched again.
Canon 5DIII camera with a Canon 24-105mm lens (at 105mm): 1/200th of a second at f/4 on ISO 5000
It kept eyes on the ground from the boughs and fence posts. When it flew it was on a line to something scurrying in the grass that was invisible to me. Twice the owl hovered over a spot briefly which was really interesting to watch.
Canon 5DIII camera with a Canon 500mm lens: 1/1250th of a second at f/4 on ISO 5000
The owl’s wing motion to stay in relatively the same spot was new to me which was great.
Canon 5DIII camera with a Canon 500mm lens: 1/1250th of a second at f/4 on ISO 5000
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Anything but common
A great variety of wildlife shares the Khutzeymateen Inlet with the Grizzly Bears. With coastal wolves and orcas being more elusive during my trip, any disappointment vanished in the face of the diversity of birds on hand or around just about any corner. Several types of gulls would congregate at the mouth of creeks where bears were catching fish upstream. The loose bits floating down drew them in for an easy meal. Eagles, both Bald and Golden, surveyed the waters from perches in the towering cedars lining the bays.
One bird which consistently captured my attention was the Common Merganser (Mergus merganser). They gathered in small flushes on open water and in the wide estuary at the end of the inlet.
When they take flight, they step along the water once they get airborne and remain low with their wingtips occasionally dipping into the water as they fly along.
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This activity was great fun to watch and photograph while waiting for some of the more celebrated wildlife to visit. I didn’t mind the waiting at all.
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A Heron’s Flyby
On the last evening in the Khutzeymateen, we pulled up the anchor and cruised halfway westward down the inlet. It felt like I was going in the wrong direction as we sailed away from this home of the bears. We sheltered in a cove about halfway down the ten-mile inlet for the night and enjoyed a quick zodiac ride around this new area. There were a few seals who popped their heads out of the water to watch us as we puttered along the shoreline.
Ahead of dinner, I pulled up chair on the bow and enjoyed watching the day slide away. I had noticed some birds on the shore but they were a long distance from our location so I did not keep too sharp an eye on them. Until, one of the larger birds took to the air and made a direct line for the sailboat. Swiftly closing the distance between us, I realized this cove resident to be Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias).
Herons are a favourite bird of mine. I love how they fly, huge wings tracing out powerful beats while their necks hold their heads back in a seemingly laid back manner. I see them frequently whether I’m on a lake in the mountains, near a marsh on the prairies or, luckily, on a boat in one of the most wonderful places I have ever been.
Drawing near, it was clear he was curious who was staying over that night and he had decided to complete a flyby to check us out. He flew within a couple of metres of my head, banked over the stern and flew back to the beach. Apparently we had not raised any ire as all of the birds continued with their activities along the water before nightfall.
Although I have spent a lot of time watching Great Blue Herons, I have never had one circle directly around me. I liked being their almost at his approval. Romantically, I thought of it as an acceptance of us being in this wild place for a few days. It was a gift to be able to end the last night with this highlight.
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A surprising nest
In front of the patio to the front door of my house there is a stump where the previous owners had cut down what must have been a large tree. Aside from the occasional decoration, this trunk remains largely unused by us. However, we all like it so there it stays. Now, I understand why… today a pair of Boreal Chickadees started to dig out their hollow to make their nest. They carried out small clumps of wood pulp clawed out on every trip. I hope they choose to stay here.
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Great Gray Owl in Water Valley
Water Valley is a lushly forested area broken up with farm fields, hills and streams. Any one of these can attract owls so it is little surprise that many are seen in the locales between Cremona and Cochrane. I drove along Horse Creek Road and the Grand Valley Road a few days ago to enjoy the countryside as well as see what wildlife I might find. Near Cremona I found a Gray watching the grass in the front yard of a ranch from one of the fence posts.
By that time it was early evening so I set up my gear on the shoulder of the road and waited to see if the owl might start hunting. It looked at me languidly a few times and I thought that might be the all there was to this sighting when it flew into the trees. I was wrong. It stayed in the woods for a few minutes and then came back to the fence again.
A minute later, it flew to a new post about 30′ from where I was sitting.
From that point the owl started hunting and remained less than 100′ away for the next hour. It proved to be adept at attacks into the long grass and grabbed five mice over that period. The strikes onto the field creatures were impossible to photograph as the talons and head of the owl would disappear completely into a screen of pale yellow.
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That was only a very minor disappointment, being able to watch this master hunter at work was very enjoyable.
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I had great opportunities to photograph the owl flying before night took hold. In the image below it was quite dark so I needed a longer exposure to gather enough light.
Just as I decided to pack up and head home, a car came down the road and I snapped this last image with the help of the headlights.
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On the edge of Kananaskis with an owl
(click on any image to open a window to a higher resolution version)
I persuaded my children to join me for a drive through Bragg Creek into Kananaskis last night to look for the Great Gray Owls that have returned to some of their summer haunts. We traveled several of the backroads with not much wildlife found but the sun was out and we enjoyed chatting away. I had turned back towards home when Kian spotted a beautiful Great Gray up in an aspen tree.
Its plumage matched the bark quite well and I had completely missed it. Luckily my son’s sharp eyes did not.
Having accomplished the find, Kian then returned to his story while Kezia and I got out and watched the owl swoop across the open forest between trees for almost an hour. There was great light and the owl was hunting and resting normally so we enjoyed the encounter and I was rewarded with some great opportunities to photograph the bird.
By 8 pm, it was time for bed – for the kids not the owl – so we left her perched on a branch near the road and went home.
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American Avocets on Frank Lake
The past weekend I was able to devote much of my time photographing along the grassy marshes that line the edges of Frank Lake near High River. This lake is a major stopover in Alberta for migrating birds and I was there to check which birds might be there in early spring. One of the open ponds was popular with a few different ducks which drew my attention. I worked my way over near the water edge but then soon forgot about the ducks.
There were a few American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana) fishing in the shallow water. These shorebirds stole the show for me and I spent that evening and came back again on Sunday to enjoy watching and photographing them.
Curious, beautiful and agile the Avocet is a great bird to photograph. I had not been around them before so it was a lot of fun learning some of their habits. I’m excited to get back down there as they start their courtships.
Mark Garbutt, a fellow photographer who I met on the weekend, said their dance is elaborate and wonderful to watch. I hope to be able to see some of these performances in the next couple of weeks.
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Flight of the Mallard
Mallard ducks are agile fliers. When they come into land, sometimes grace gets forgotten as kind of seen here. This male careened a little bit over the same pond where I watched the Hooded Merganser before hitting the water and I liked how this image showed an unusual flight position.
Christopher Martin Photography 