Birding In the BC Interior

    While on my vacation last week I didn't just take photos of the landscape, I also found some time to focus on one of my other favorite subjects, birds. Many of the birds that migrate through the Greater Vancouver area during the fall and spring travel into the interior of British Columbia for the summer. I was able to observe a number of Yellow Warblers, Cedar Waxwings, Downy Woodpeckers, a pair of Pelicans and more.

Cedar Waxwing, Resting On A Dead Pine Tree

     Where I was camping there are birds everywhere, everything from American Crows to Sandhill Cranes. I did not see any Sandhill Cranes, but I heard them, I figure they were at the far end of Green Lake, where there are no people around. On the first evening of my trip there was a pair of Pelicans out on a rock formation at dusk, and it would have made for a great shot, but I'd left my 300mm F4 with TC back at the campsite, so I borrowed a family members 18-200mm VR, but that just didn't get a tight enough shot for it to be any good.

    I also captured some images of a few birds that I have not been able to identify yet, including the one in the photo above. At first I thought they were American Robins, but the call and shape of the head quickly made me realize that was not the case.

Downy Woodpecker, Looking For Some Grub

    I watched the Downy Woodpecker in the photo above for a few minutes, but I got to the location a little late, as it was starting to get rather high up in the dead pine tree that it was in. Just in case you are wondering, these photos were not taken of birds in just one tree. British Columbia has been suffering from a Pine Beetle infestation for a number of years, and it has wiped out a large amount of the adult pine trees in the province. In this area the beetles came through a number of years ago, and all the adult trees are dead.

I found birding in this area to be almost too easy, most of the shots I took were in the same location, although the birds were moving from tree to tree often. I found myself I nice rock to site on by the lake side and waited, which paid off nicely.