| Photojournal
- 9 December 2006
The
giant chickadee of Sapperton Landing
The 9th was a greyish sort of Saturday. Despite a late night out the night before, I was up earlier than normal and decided to do a little photography before brunch. So it happened that I pulled into the parking lot at Sapperton Landing a little after noon, under overcast skies.
Sapperton Landing is a small linear park between the Fraser River and some rail tracks right off of Columbia Street between Front and Brunette. It's a relatively new park, and I'd only been there a couple of times before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
My first stop after spilling out of my car was a small dock, where I was able to see a few ducks out on the river. The closest was a Common Merganser. |
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Unfortunately, the overcast conditions meant that I didn't get enough light on him to separate his eye from his head plumage. Bummer.
As I was shooting the merganser, a few Mallards took off from my left. I switched to following them with my camera, and got some neat flight shots. |
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| Through the miracle of modern photography, both of those shots are lighter than the conditions. The following gull photo, however, is much more indicative of the actual gloom. |
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It had started to rain a bit, too.
Using the rain and darkness as cover, a Common Goldeneye had snuck up in front of me. |
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Well, it's probably more like he used the fact that I was looking at the gull as cover. Goldeneyes are only sneaky when they're underwater.
I walked along the trail a little ways, seeing little in the way of life until I came upon a small flock of Black-capped Chickadees feeding on some dry pods in the tangle. Chickadees tend to hang below something to eat it. |
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| I think it might be to show off their bulging biceps; they're small birds and they need that strongman reputation to avoid having other birds come by and kick sand in their faces. |
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I walked a for a few minutes past the little flock, finding nothing else of interest, before turning around. On the way back, I caught up with the flock again, and in the midst of it there was this chickadee, hanging and eating from the pods.
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| I soon realized that this chickadee was a bit bigger than the others, and he had something red on his black-and-white head. Here he's picking a little something out of a pod. |
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I'd never seen a chickadee whose head had some red on it, and come to think of it this guy's head also lacked the usual chickadee pattern of a single white area in a field of black.
I was slowly approaching the bird, stopping to take photos every few steps. He was so intent on his meal that he didn't seem to mind.
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| As some of his flockmates briefly lit near him, I was able to tell that he was really huge. His body looked to be about twice as long as any of the others, and his bill seemed longer and sharper. |
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He was one giant chickadee, that's for sure. And he had that odd red on his head, different plumage on his face (and on his wings, belly, back, and tail), and a different bill shape. If he hadn't been feeding in that flock with the others, I never would have recognized him. I'm sure I would have thought he was a woodpecker or something.
Eventually, though, I succumbed to the rain and to hunger, and I hurried back to my car, where a fluffy towel and the car heater made my day.
Feelin' downy,
Tom
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