Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve
March 26th to 31st 2010
More walks at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve in rain, wind and sun brought a lot of interesting subjects for us to photograph.
Anemone or Windflowers are starting to bloom in the gardens, while Butterflies visit Dandelions along the paths.
Wind toppled logs lay striped of bark by the Beavers; we could see the marks of the Beaver's teeth on the logs.
Male Red-winged Blackbirds of varying ages compete for the attention of the female of the species.
Bufflehead Ducks are still visiting the lagoons.
Black-capped Chickadees called to each other.
A lone American Coot was seen on several days.
The Double-crested Cormorants have moved on except for this surprise visitor.
The resident Bald Eagles are nesting and one always keeps guard near the nest while the other sits in the nest.
A nice Fox Sparrow peaked out of the dense shrubs for a few seconds.
Frogs have laid eggs that are developing into little creatures soon to be released from their eggs into the world.
The male Canada Geese are guarding their nest sites while the females sit on the eggs.
We have seen a few Juncos that may stay to nest in our area.
A female Belted Kingfisher spent a long time successfully fishing across the lagoon from where we watched.
A little Ruby-crowned Kinglet hopped around on a very dark, cold, rainy day.
We kept running into several Lincoln’s Sparrows in different areas of our walks.
Mallards can be found everywhere.
The Common Mergansers are still found on the lagoons.
The Hooded Mergansers were also present. Take a look at the different eye markings on these females; actually, the one with the yellow eye is a young male.
American Wigeon were also present.
A little Mink spent time marking its territory on a mossy log near the East Bird Blind.
The Mountains in the distance kept getting new snow then it would be washed away by a rain storm only to be covered again the next morning. At our level in the valley Wild Cherry Trees are now blooming. One very cold, rainy day, we watched a long colourful rainbow appear changing the trees to a surprising colour through the camera lens. This was one time that we wished that we had a smaller lens with us to be able to get the whole rainbow.
Another River Otter was seen on the North Lagoon; perhaps the same one.
The Great Horned Owl announced that it has hatchlings; we found her feeding them while we were whipped with an ice cold rain and wind storm. The tiny little white balls of fluff were only visible temporarily and just for seconds. She keeps them covered most of the time.
Cottontail Rabbits have started to appear again.
Ring-necked Ducks enjoyed a courtship ritual at the East Bird Blind.
Song Sparrows did what they do and sang to our enjoyment.
Violet-Green and Tree Swallows stopped to rest and preen for awhile.
Green-winged Teal were gathering at the East Bird Blind.
Click below to hear the Green-winged Teal
Spotted Towhees called and sang their quaint ringing tones.
Click below to hear the Spotted Towhee
Turtles can be found on logs around the lagoons.
White-crowned Sparrows were found in several locations.
A male Wood Duck was at the East Bird Blind with a female this time while other males sat alone in various locations perhaps near a nesting female.
We stopped in at the Rotary Interpretive Centre for enjoyable visits with Walter, Gordon, Muriel, Donna, Connie, Karen, Tony, Janet, Mary, Val, Barb, Mike, Brenda and Marla. We ran into Mike and enjoyed meeting Colleen and Sharon on one of our walks. We also enjoyed talking to Deb Soutar on the afternoon she took a group on a tour of the Great Blue Heron nests. We also waved to Warner cutting the lawn one afternoon.
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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