Egret on the rocks
This Great egret (Ardea alba) stepped around the point and into view from the rocks where I was photographing.
After a short pause, she flew across a small gap and began fishing. The head cocks back and then strikes into the water, rarely coming up without a fish.
At home I photograph the Great blue herons frequently which is in the same family as egrets. Their mannerisms are very similar as is their size. The white feathers are the most obvious difference and I love shooting them against the blues of the water and the warm hues in the rocks.
In flight, I find them particularly alluring and this bird flew between several outcrops affording me great opportunities to watch.
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Red-tailed flights in Turner Valley
On my return from the two separate visits with Great Horned Owls near High River, I drove past Okotoks, through Black Diamond and Turner Valley and then back to Bragg Creek. I counted more than twenty five hawks before I reached Priddis. Along the way, I stopped a couple of times that were in interesting locations.
One Red-tailed hawk was hunting from a wooden gate and fence dividing a farm from the highway. This hawk dove once while I was set up – it was great to observe an attack from close range thanks to a long telephoto lens. It returned to the post empty-taloned but then launched out over the field and grabbed a mouse when it neared the far side. Too far for a decent photograph but great to watch.
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A little dragonfly
This dragonfly flew by me when we were at a friend’s wedding near Osoyoos. I took that to be a good sign and was not surprised in the least that it turned out to be a great day.
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Full extension
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/2000 second at f/4 on ISO 800
When this Red-tailed hawk launched off the post I had been watching him on for a few minutes, I was really impressed by the power and balance displayed. He flew closer and then went to the ground after circling back towards the fenceline. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an attacking dive only an uninspired landing in the tall grass.
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens: 1/2000 second at f/4 on ISO 800
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Water skimming Tree Swallow
Canon 5DIII and 500mm lens + 1.4X extender: 1/2000 second at f/6.3 on ISO 1600
I was on the edge of the lake at Wild Rose a week ago watching the three loons who were diving in and swimming on the water. A few different times a small flight of swallows deftly skimmed the water nearby while searching for low flying and water-walking insects to pick off. These Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) are swift, acrobatic fliers so trying to catch a sharp image is a fun challenge. This little one had just hit the water but missed the little creature and was just pulling up when I caught up to him.
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Raven flight
Canon 5DIII + 70-200mm lens at 200mm: 1/6400th of a second at f/4 on ISO 1600
I went out for a long walk in Kananaskis this morning. Along an old road I hadn’t traveled on before, I was kept company by the heavy snow falling and a lone raven that croaked as I was returning to the trailhead. I stopped for a few minutes and heard another raven further down the valley that was talking with “my” raven. This one flew off in that direction and I carried on.
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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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Seagulls in the Khutzeymateen
Though named for its bears, the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary shelters a great variety of other wildlife as well. Seagulls abound in the inlet with several different species mixing in with any one of the flocks.
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With the salmon running up the creeks to spawn, the bears would go into the forest where the water is shallow for easy hunting. When a bear is feeding upstream, seagulls soon arrive at the river mouth and wait for the scraps.
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Bears are pretty messy when they are feasting on salmon so a lot of bits float down. The birds hang in the air and perch along the banks watching for the bright red meat in the water.
The aerial acrobatics as they angle for position, dive for scraps, hold their territory and generally heckle one another are a lot of fun to watch. The small streams keep the birds packed into a little area which allows for great photography as they fly in the same locations repeatedly. Even with big lenses, it is relatively easy to track them as they fly up and down, back and forth.
On the sail out of the inlet, a few seagulls were using a stick of driftwood as there base of operations. I don’t know if they were on a break from the salmon or if the insects along the surface were more enticing.
Whether on the rivers or out on the open water, I enjoyed photographing these birds throughout my time in the Khutzeymateen.
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An eagle’s easy meal
I was out on the ocean with my friend Jeff yesterday. We are heading into the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary this morning for four days on a boat where we will be looking for the wild bears that own this remote inlet on British Columbia’s Pacific coast. That’s today but yesterday we were out whale watching leaving from Prince Rupert and cruising the coastline in search of humpbacks. On the return, there were a pair of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) attracted by fishing scraps thrown overboard in the channel.
I saw it as a rare easy meal for these beautiful creatures. Seemed like good target practice as well. They circled around a couple of times for the chunks of fish, chasing off a large raft of gulls that seemed to materialize out of thin air.
More to come in a few days when I get back.
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The emperors of the marsh
The Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) is a beautiful marsh dweller. It also rules many of the prairie marshes it inhabits with an iron fist (or claw, as the case may be). With smaller birds, like its cousin the Red-winged Blackbird, it will chase them off hounding them well past the edge of its nesting territory in the reeds. Members of the heron family, gulls and coots will predate the nests and with these creatures the Yellow-heads will defend against very aggressively.
On the day I was at Frank Lake most of their activity was spent calling to one another and holding boundaries with other Yellow-headed neighbours.
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I think the females are on the nests now as I only saw males flying around. The babies may have hatched already but if so, I would have expected to see some hungry predators. The males defending their nests can be very dramatic but I was happy to not see any of these would-be egg thieves around. They will come at some point so it was nice to see the Blackbirds having respite during a warm afternoon. I enjoyed photographing them flying around and perching with great balance on the reeds waving around in the breeze.
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The nests are built over deeper water which helps keep curious creatures (animal and human) away. I have seen the occasional person wading into reeds, presumably to look for nests and more reclusive birds, however the potential for disturbance is enormous and I am not comfortable with seeking out the next great photograph that way. It is a personal choice but if you go in, learn all you can about the birds residing there beforehand so that you don’t inadvertently cause a nest to be abandoned, trampled or exposed to predators that come along afterwards. I didn’t see any signs of people tramping through the large marsh around the Ducks Unlimited blind at the lake so I’m hopeful it will stay undisturbed through the nesting season.
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Owl flights in Bragg Creek
Canon 5DIII camera with Canon 500mm F/4 IS lens: 1/1250 second at f/4 on ISO 2500
Kezia and I drove out to see the owl the other night. This visit was a real treat. The Great Gray Owl was very relaxed and flew towards us in two short glides separated with twenty minutes of perching on a fencepost.
Canon 5DIII camera with Canon 500mm F/4 IS lens: 1/1250 second at f/4 on ISO 2500
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Canon 5DIII camera with Canon 500mm F/4 IS lens: 1/640 second at f/4 on ISO 4000
Kezia was delighted watching the owl’s swooping flight and she whispered to the owl urging her to keep flying. As it got darker the owl got more active so Kezia got to watch it flying every couple of minutes. It moved into the forest, came back and then crossed the road, perched nearby and then we left for home.
Canon 5DIII camera with Canon 500mm F/4 IS lens: 1/640 second at f/4 on ISO 4000
It was a great evening to be out, especially with Kezia and I having so much fun.
Canon 5DIII camera with Canon 500mm F/4 IS lens: 1/320 second at f/4 on ISO 5000
Christopher Martin Photography 