Jan 25: Richmond Nature House
There were of course lots of birbs around the feeders, especially juncos and chickadees. I didn’t take many photos of them, though. But I didn’t take many photos of them. They were moving and hopping around a lot, which didn’t make things easy, but also… they kind of felt predictable. Played out, y’know? I’ve never felt this way before and it’s very odd.
There was a Purple Finch, in his resplendent wine-red outfit, so that was nice.
And a Hairy Woodpecker.
The juncos really did look cute so I’m not mad at them!
I also tried my hand at super-short exposure hummingbird photos. It was an easy decision, with so many feeders around and a number of these fast shiny bois guarding them. I’m not super happy with the results, though, they’re not quite as crisp as I’d like. At 1/5,000 sec, I’m not sure I could have made things much faster… maybe it’s the focus. Maybe I’m overthinking. We’ll see.
A short trek on the trails behind the feeders yielded a couple nice birbs that felt much more satisfying to shoot.
(Maybe it’s because Song Sparrows and Towhees were too hard to shoot around the feeders; either keeping their distance in the bushes, or on the ground hopping about.)
Jan 25: Iona Beach Regional Park
Birds are very hit and miss here. There’s always something in the main pond — like ducks and whatnot — or around the main pond — like the dozen grim herons standing guard, still as statues enchanted to hold back the eldritch abomination. But mostly you just had to hope for blackbirds or wrens or something. I guess after all this time I’m still hoping for another Yellow-headed Blackbird, but I know it’s not the right time of year.
So at first it was all about the scenery, which I know Iona always delivers. With the cold weather, the shoreline was dry so I could get a little closer to the water.
There were eagles and cormorants, though they kept their distance
The main pond has a certain atmosphere, all dry and wintery like this, that I’m really not mad at.
And I thought, well, that was an all right outing, and I was ready to leave. In fact, we were leaving, when I spied some little shorebird peeps on the beach to the right of the access road. Re-energised, I parked the car and we set out again. Actually gaining access to the southern beach seemed too much of a challenge, so my partner in birb suggested climbing on the tube thingy to the north side of the road, to see some of the side ponds we rarely enjoy. That sounded like an excellent plan, and indeed it was. One pond had a bunch of lovely Dunlins…
… but best of all, it got us close to a whole gaggle of Ruby-crowned Kinglets! They were a challenge to shoot, and the light wasn’t always friendly, but I did my best.
And that, my friends, is how you close out an afternoon of birding.
Jan 26: SW Marine Drive Lookout
So from the mix of “Iona Beach” and “meh predictable photos” thoughts running through my brain, out popped “Hey there’s a lookout thing on SW Marine that overlooks Iona, which I’ve never been to. Maybe it could be fun?”
Folks, it was. I went mid-morning after trying to get into Competitive 2 vball, then just before sunset after my regular Competitive 1. Warning: the parking lot will be full at sunset. But I found a spot, snapped some photos, and I’m very glad I tried something new.
