January 1st to 8th 2010
We wandered into a new year at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve in Chilliwack, B.C. with some rain storms and wind but also a bit of sunshine poking through every so often.
Little Bufflehead Ducks can always be found here at this time of year. These delightful little fellows are extremely small ducks but they can withstand the cold temperatures that come in the winter. Their heads will show rainbows of colour when the light hits them in the right angle.
We saw an American Coot at the Salwein Creek.
Mount Cheam peeked out from the clouds on a pale blue winter sky day.
Male Downy Woodpeckers were found in several different locations on several days.
The resident Bald Eagles came to the Salwein Creek Loop to rest in the Cottonwoods.
A male and female Gadwall paddled along in the midst of flocks of American Wigeon; one afternoon we found an Eurasian Wigeon with an extremely large flock of American Wigeon.
Pied-billed Grebes fished the lagoons as we watched them. They are also quite small but another winter resident with a lot of energy.
Red-tailed Hawks hunted along the edge of the dyke roads, while Cooper’s Hawks spent more time along the Salwein Creek.
Great Blue Herons spend time along the edges of the water and in the trees at the East Bird Blind. There are about a dozen that congregate there at different times of day.
A Belted Kingfisher stopped on the overhead wires at the South Lagoon to see if he could see any fish in the water below.
Spotted Towhees spent a lot of time in the undergrowth durring the cold windy weather.
Lincoln’s Sparrows popped out of the shrubs at the edge of the pathway near the North Lagoon before diving back into the undergrowth for protection from the biting winds.
Song Sparrows are resident birds that always blend with their surroundings.
Mallards never seem to mind the cold; they sleep on logs and spend time on both lagoons.
Hooded Mergansers are still being seen on both lagoons. They seemed to be interested in some kind of race to be best bird, while a male and female stood on a log away from the action.
Ring-necked Ducks were seen on both lagoons. These females were keeping each other company near the East Bird Blind.
Green-winged Teal were on both lagoons; these two males were behind the East Bird Blind.
Wood Ducks were happily bathing on the North Lagoon one afternoon while most of the time they were found behind the East Bird Blind.
A very active Bewick’s Wren popped up right in front of us at the East Bird Blind.
The Double-crested Cormorants are always entertaining; we found them at the East Bird Blind every day. One of them had just finished a fish lunch when we arrived and we were entertained with the final swallows of the meal.
One afternoon there were three of the five standing on one of the logs near the East Bird Blind when another younger one approached swimming up to the log. The others seemed to know what was going to happen and squawked at it with bills open and aggressive posture. The young Cormorant ignored their warnings and hopped up onto the log spraying the bird closest to it. While it tried to gain balance on the log a log rolling contest ensued with the results that we expected. Every dry Cormorant got wet as they fell into the water while the young one finally gained its balance.
We enjoy visits with many people on our walks and the volunteers at the Rotary Interpretive Centre. This week we visited with Dick, Rick, Eileen, Brenda, Mike, Val, Barb Janet, Muriel, Alice and Walter. Thank you for visiting our journal and we hope that you have a great weekend ahead.
We enjoyed extra walks on clear days at Sardis Park and the Vedder River; those are in separate journals.
We are not authorities on birds, wildlife, plants, cameras or photography, if you are doing research on any subjects, please refer to a more educational site for advice and double-check whatever you research.
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