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#91430
Randy! Nice work on the yellowthroat pair ... wow. That is patience!
Zach ... wow. Great captures!
You, too, Judy -- I'm falling way behind ... sorry you had to update the list Zach.
No new adds for me this month ... was in the US and did some bird-looking.
This Carolina Wren looks strangely like the Bewick's Wren. haha.

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#91431
My wife and I were out for a hike around Knox Mountain Park today and accidentally startled what appears to be a juvenile Great Horned Owl. I snapped a few quick pictures before moving on and letting him get back to resting -- it was right around lunch ...
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A quite lovely bird and owls are always so inquisitive ... I love seeing them!
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(I was so excited about seeing him I forgot to add the video -- sorry, Kevin!!) :D
Enjoy,
James
#91438
Thanks, Randy! I do love those owls ...
The other bird(s) with very interesting eyes -- Spotted Towhee and the Brewer's Blackbird.

I went to a new park (for me) yesterday -- Black Mountain Regional Park near Kelowna. It is a beautiful example of grassland here in the Okanagan and it was teeming with birdlife.

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We saw Vesper, Song, and Savannah Sparrows, Lazuli Bunting, at least a dozen (or more) hummingbirds, Say's Phoebes, Western Kingbird, Western Meadowlark, and many other species. I'm sure in early spring, the bluebirds are abundant. I would add this to my list of birding sites in the Kelowna Area ... I was able to get a better picture of a Lazuli Bunting ...
Like most of the other birds we saw, he was busy hunting ... Image

And singing ...
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Since I can never capture the Calliope Hummingbird at my feeder, here she is in the wild! lol
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And here it is resting ...
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Can't believe it's already mid-July! Great work on the challenge this year everyone!
James
#91447
Sorry for the delay in this post -- I went to Salmon Arm lon the 12th of July ... wanted to snag that Western Grebe! Fortunately, they were still around. lol. Here's a pair of them ...
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While it was a little warm, we had an excellent time there and saw several different birds. It really is a nice locale to do some bird-watching. We had decided to stop for a "refreshment" and were sitting on the patio at "Don Cherry's Sports Bar" when we saw this guy right in front of us. lol. Ring-necked Pheasant.
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While sitting there, we also saw this Great Blue Heron flashing somone ...
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We also saw this Northern Osprey fishing -- he (or she) decided to fly right over our heads ... I had a difficult time focusing on them!
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We did add this Cliff Swallow ... this is an easy find if you are in Salmon Arm ... they nest right on the pier.
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I'm updating the list ... that will be on the next post. Nice work, everyone!
James
#91451
I haven't been out birding much lately, actually not at all, and when I did get out the birds obviously got the memo about me coming with camera in hand, so they all beat it. Well it seems that way sometimes. Anyway, I finally got the female Pileated Woodpecker so now we have both, although not together. Sorry about the twig but what can you do?

ImagePileated Woodpecker (Female) by Jewill on Flickr

That's it!
#91453
James' earlier description of his Black Mountain Park trip (and his picture) was so compelling, I drove out from the coast a few days ago, and had a wonderful time. Not only went to Black Mountain (such a beautiful walk amongst the grasslands and hills) but hit Carney Pond, Robert Lake, and Chichester Bird Sanctuary and Knox Mountain. Loads of birds, many firsts for me, and many great pics. I stayed at the UBC campus, and all the bird sites were 10 to 15 minutes drive from there. It was perfect. Most of my captures already posted earlier, but here are my new contributions.

ImageDSC_4253 (2) by Randy Varga, on Flickr
American Goldfinch: female

ImageDSC_3948 by Randy Varga, on Flickr
Eared Grebes: male and female

ImageDSC_3675 (2) by Randy Varga, on Flickr
Lazuli Bunting: female

ImageDSC_2174 by Randy Varga, on Flickr
Virginia Rail: Went to Chichester Park, in middle of residential area. Not much happening, but I decided to walk around, and saw a break in the brush, and walked into a dark area, under a large tree, where I saw some waters edge, reeds, swampy area. And what should appear a minute or so later, but a Sora, and this Rail, foraging together. Even more, my camera noise didn't bother them at all. A real gift from the birding gods. Only challenge was the lighting, as they went from dark shadows to partial lighting. Ended up with high ISO.

ImageDSC_1961 (2) by Randy Varga, on Flickr
Pied-billed Grebe family: male, female and kidlet in one frame. Didn't even know there was the small one in the picture until I got home and uploaded to my computer. Bonus! This was at Carney Pond.
#91454
ImageDSC_4510 (2) by Randy Varga, on Flickr
Brewers Sparrow. Struggled greatly over the ID of this bird. It was one of my captures at Black Mountain Park in Kelowna. At first just assumed that this was another Vesper, (saw them all day), but there was just something different about it, and the coloring, that caught my attention. The quality of the picture didn't help with ID. Merlin IDs it as a Brewers Sparrow, but was reluctant to accept this as it is far, far outside of its range as identified by Merlin. But just spent the last hour comparing pictures of Brewers on the internet with my pic, and am now convinced Merlin is right. Am ready to be corrected however if you think I am wrong.
#91461
Congrats to all who have posted your excellent photos lately. I've been lying low mainly due to the heat but I am hoping to get back to some birding when it cools down, which isn't supposed to be for another couple of weeks! Anywho, I did manage a very quick shot of the Lady of the Nest - a Barn Owl box I've been watching for a while now. The resident pair recently saw 3 of their owlets successfully fledge and they may be thinking of trying for another brood because the weather has been so good. Barn owls are the only owl species that will breed more than once a year as long as there is food available, which in this particular area (Delta), there is.
Sorry, it's not the greatest picture but I didn't want to disturb her any more than I had to so I just snapped and then left.

ImageBarn Owl (Female) by Jewill on Flickr
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