| Saturday
the 8th was the first weekend day of January when I could get out
and take photos. Some snow had just fallen, and I love the look
of things when they are snow-covered. I headed over to Piper Spit
on Burnaby Lake, just to see how the usual fowl were faring. Noone
else was around, and it was all quiet and beautiful. |
|
 |
| The fowl,
it seems, were doing the same old, same old. Here are a pair of
Spotted Towhees and a Song Sparrow, scratching around on the ground,
looking for food. It didn't seem to bother them that the ground
was snow, not dirt. They just did what they normally do. |
|
 |
| Here's a
Song Sparrow caught perching on a nearby branch. |
|
 |
| I headed
out towards the spit itself, and found this Mallard drake standing
on a pile of snow. Snow really changes the lighting conditions,
making for fun photography. For instance, this guy is lit from below
as well as from above, creating a shadow around his middle; this
wouldn't happen in other conditions. |
|
 |
| Once I was
by the water, I could see that there were a lot of Green-winged
Teals around. Here's a little flotilla of them. |
|
 |
| The teals
were holding their feathers more away from their body in order to
maintain body heat. It made them look all puffed-up, round, and
very cute. Here's a close-up on a male. |
|
 |
| And here's
a female, showing the green speculum from which these ducks get
their name. |
|
 |
| Green-winged
Teals are rather small ducks; as you can see in this comparison
with a Mallard. |
|
 |
|
I took bunches of photos
of the cute little round fluffy teals before continuing out the
small boardwalk that goes out the spit.
To my left, there
was a frozen section of lake. Two gulls were standing on the ice.
My best guess at the species of these gulls is Glaucous-winged
Gull; but that's not a certain identification. All I can safely
say is that they're gulls.
|
|
 |
|
Another gull flew by;
I think this one is also Glaucous-winged, but his uniformly dark
head and hood seem different from the previous ones. Maybe this
one, or the two before, are hybrids.
As you can see, it
was still snowing.
|
|
 |
|
There were a variety
of birds between me and the frozen section of the lake. Here is
a Pied-billed Grebe, in winter plumage.
|
|
 |
|
And here are a pair
of Hooded Mergansers, up near the ice's edge.
|
|
 |
|
I saw a male Wood duck
who seemed to be gnawing on something, or trying to manipulate
it with his mouth.
|
|
 |
| His mate
was paddling nearby; the cold weather had given her a runny nose.
It's a shame that there weren't any duck pharmacies nearby. I would've
offered her a tissue but that would've meant wading out into the
lake and I didn't have my waders on. |
|
 |
|
On the other hand,
this Northern Pintail didn't seem to be suffering at all. He seemed
to be having a wonderful day.
|
|
 |
|
I had only been out
on the spit for about half an hour, but I was getting pretty cold,
so I headed back to land and the sheltering windbreak of the woods.
As I was headed back in, I shot this photo of a snowy snag.
|
|
 |
|
Back on proper land,
I found a Fox Sparrow scratching around.
|
|
 |
|
And then I saw a Varied
Thrush in the trees to my left. Its orange really stood out from
the white of the snow. I got two photos of it before my memory
card was full, and I cursed my luck as I stripped my gloves to
change cards. The thrush was nice and stuck around, letting me
get my gloves back on and take a few more photos before it flew
off..
|
|
 |
|
I tried to give chase
and get more thrush photos but he starting being difficult and
I didn't get any worth showing.
I finished my day out
by taking a few shots of plants and trees. I'll leave you with
this shot of a few catrushes, or bulltails, or whatever they're
called.
|
|
 |
|
Pass me a corn dog,
willya?
Always ready to eat,
Tom
|
|