| On the 25
of September I set out with no fixed plan. I thought I'd drop by
the Mansion to see if there was anything interesting there. As I
drove into south Delta, it was foggy and overcast. The grey clouds
lent their grey color to the grey water where a bunch of grey birds
were. I guess that's my way of saying that there wasn't much in
the way of interesting photo-ops at the mansion. I took a few shots
of the yellowlegs and dowitchers that seem to always be there. I
also took a few of a group of gulls, at what appears to be the gull
bathing hole. Somewhere a little below the middle of this photo,
behind the first row of ducks, there is a spot where the gulls would
go to wash. Gulls weren't washing in the water anywhere else that
I could see (and I saw plenty of water); they would come to this
one little spot. Maybe it's a natural jacuzzi or a little warmer
than the rest of the water...I dunno. |
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| Well, I
abandoned the mansion, and as I was driving in the area, I found
this Brown-headed Cowbird peeking around a big nose. |
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| That's a
horse, of course, of course. He and the cowbird were grazing and
foraging in the same area. Perhaps the farmer threw some oats or
somethin' out there for the horse, and the cowbirds decided to crash
the banquet. Or maybe they're all just eating the fresh-cut grass. |
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| A bit farther
to the west, at 112th Street, I found a few Northwestern Crows hanging
out in a beautifully-striped field. |
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| Here's a
more vertical interpretation of the scene. |
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| I drove
on, but I wasn't done with 112th Street yet. At another roadside
field I noticed quite a number of birds poking around between pumpkins.Here's
a European Starling. |
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| And here's
a yellow-eyed black bird of some sort; it's most probably a Brewer's
Blackbird. I like the contrast of the black bird with the orange
pumpkins. |
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I decided not to stay
at the pumpkin field for too long. It was an attractive setup,
but I had gotten a late start and it was time to head on to brunch
at the Golden Pita.
After my customary
Saturday brunch, I went over to Piper Spit on Burnaby Lake to
see what was there. There were a few Long-billed Dowitchers, and
lots of the usual Mallards and Rock Doves.
The sun had started
to poke through the clouds in places, and I managed to get some
sunlit shots of the Mallards. Here's my favorite of the bunch:
a mud-encrusted male sunning himself.
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And here's a female
that I had to follow with the camera for quite a while before
she stopped to pose for me.
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This one heard me say
"duck" and thought it was a warning.
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A few days before,
I had bought some extension rings for my camera. Extension rings
help in macrophotography, which is close-up photography of small
things. (It's called "macro" because the image formed
on the film or electronic sensor is bigger than usual.) Anyhow,
I took a few flower shots just to see how a couple of my lenses
performed with the rings. Here's one of them. I don't know what
this flower is, although it's really common here. I've been trying
to find out the identification of this flower for a few years
now, ever since I got my first digital camera. It looks like an
orchid of some sort...if anyone knows its name, please drop me
a line!
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This flower also accepts
visitors. This particular one crawled up inside the flower for
about twenty or thirty seconds before coming out and flying off.
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After about an hour
at the spit, I headed off to do some shopping before all the stores
closed, so that was it for the day.
Your roamin' friend,
Tom
..with a thank-you
to Ilya for correcting my misidentification of the cowbirds as
starlings.
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