April 1st & 2nd 2010
Our last two walks at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve were rather cold but productive.
Red-winged Blackbirds are very active at the moment. We enjoy their voices and their lovely plumage as well. This male sang to a female from its perch on a Cattail. This female was a surprise to us, with the diluted colours of her plumage, we think that she could be considered leucistic.
We watched the cute little Black-capped Chickadees collecting insects and soft materials from Cattails for quite awhile.
A Northern Flicker carved a hole in a piling near the edge of the water.
While we were watching a pair of Bush Tits, we heard a lot of noisy confusion coming from the East Bird Blind.
When we got to the East Bird Blind, we were delighted to find a small flock of Green-winged Teal executing a courting dance on water. The sounds that they produced were surprising as well as the intricate square dance that they performed.
Click below to hear the Green-winged Teal
While we were watching the performance a little Mink swam right through the middle of the dance. To our surprise, the little ducks just backed off a bit while the Mink clambered onto a mossy log to rub itself dry. It then scampered back and forth across the log while a few of the Teal and some Mallards watched from the water.
After the Mink disappeared into the logs, a pair of Ring-necked Ducks appeared.
American Robins stopped to look at us or found Earthworms for lunch.
Song Sparrows sang from perches even though it was dull and cold.
A pair of Spotted Towhees has taken up housekeeping near the edge of the Salwein Creek Loop where we think that they may be planning a nest.
We did a quick check of the Great Horned Owl nest; off in the distance, in her tree top nest, the mother owl was sheltering a little white ball of fluff that quickly popped its head out for a second then back under its mother’s warm feathers.
A little Lincoln’s Sparrow stopped in a momentary sunbeam before heading up to a shaded tree branch.
Stellar’s Jays played in the shade of the forest trees.
Mallards are starting to look for nesting spots.
A male Wood Duck looked slightly miserable on a log in the cold April morning.
We stopped to talk to Hazel and Graham; they told us that we had just missed an Otter that was swimming near the main bridge. After a nice chat with them, we went to the bridge and found the River Otter on the far bank of the North Lagoon. It returned to the water to dive and fish and dive again. We watched it doing this for quite awhile before it finally headed off down the edge of the lagoon toward the East Bird Blind.
The Turkey Vultures were back on the Cottonwood snags to warm their wings on April 1st as well.
We enjoyed a quick visit with Cynthia taking a group of children for a walk to the heronry. We also stopped in at the Rotary Interpretive Centre for a visit with Janet, Alice, Muriel, John, Pearl and Walter over the last two days.
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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