Eventually managed a pic of the very flighty Golden-crowned Kinglet....
The silence was constantly shattered by the song of Red-winged Blackbirds, singing amongst the typhae - (bit like a child playing an out of tune penny whistle) real characters.
The rain came down and Northern Harrier and Cooper's Hawk were seen and the camera went in the bag - pity as the highlight of the session was bumping into an American Bittern which we accidently flushed in the open - just 10m away - by the time I'd started to open the lens bag - it had of course scuttled to safety......
Then it was off to Van Dusen Botanic garden where I was supposed to be admiring the plants.... Wait a minute, just look at these guys!!
American Wigeon
Then, surely what will be one of the highlights of the trip - Hooded Merganser, the male simply stunning - the female just back from the hairdressers and giving the male a real 'come on'!!
Bufflehead are pretty cute too - the light was pretty grim though - black and white not easy to capture....
Then finally back to my hospitality with a Dark-eyed Juno in the rain and fading light - what a start!!
Birds from the session:
Dark eyed junco
Black-capped Chickadee
Bald Eagle
Canada Goose
Northern Flicker
American Robin
Red-winged Blackbird
Northwestern Crow
Great Blue Heron
Fox Sparrow
Western Grebe
Common Loon
Cooper’s Hawk
Northern Harrier
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Horned Grebe
European Starling
American Wigeon
Bufflehead
Green-winged Teal
Glaucous-winged Gull
Spotted Towhee
Hooded Merganser
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Bittern
