A Day Out on the Field

Wild Berries at the George C. Reifel
Migratory Bird Sanctuary

Today was a great day for shooting in the GVA (Greater Vancouver Area), broken cloud cover meant that it was nice and cool and the light was well defused for the most part. After spending time thinking about all the new cameras released in the last few months I figured now was a good time to go out and take some pictures rather than just reading stuff online in my free time. So with that being my purpose I set out for the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, one of my favorite places to go for a walk, and to shoot birds. As I noted in an earlier blog entry, this time of year means that there are fewer birds around, but that doesn't mean there isn't any action going on. One of the most noticeable thing upon arrive to the Sanctuary was the number of wild berries growing around the trails, some of which are in my photo above, and boy did they look tasty, but Sanctuary rules forbid eating the wild berries.

The first nugget of the day was when I spotted a lone Stilt Sandpiper walking around in the outer marsh (see the picture of the week), which I was able to follow for a time, before it started thinking I was a threat and made a run for waters away from the trail. My next encounter of interest was a large group of Long-billed Dowitchers, who were feeding, which give me an opportunity to snap a few photos of them at work. After watching the Dowitchers for about ten minutes or so I heard a loud screech, coming from a Peregrine Falcon, upon which all of the Dowitchers took flight! It would have been great to see the Falcon coming, but bushes and some small trees blocked my view until it until the Falcon had flown over and behind me. Otherwise the afternoon was uneventful. I saw a Great Blue Heron resting on a small island in the marsh, and got some decent pictures of it, which can be seen in my photo gallery, along with shots of the Stilt Sandpiper. All in all a nice day trip, more of which are to come as the winter migration season comes closer.