  A very active Heron Colony in North Saanich that has over a dozen nests...Lots contain 3 youngsters... Very interesting to watch and observe! (Like a scene out of prehistory... timeless and amazing... Also noisy!)
 Back yesterday at the possible Little Eagle nest in N Saanich. A new generation of Redtails is popping up to see the world and here is one beautiful little hawklet!  Mom flew in briefly to check on the nest then left shortly afterward leaving baby making lots of noise. Redtails are very vocal!!!   Another look at the little Hawklet .. sweet thing!  Ruby the star Anna's Hummingbird has just hatched 2 tiny prickly looking jellybean sized kids. Photos of them as they grow.. fingers crossed!
 I use a red suet holder to place soft dog fur for nestbuilding. Hummingbirds, chickadee's nuthatches, bushtits, wrens, etc have all been using the self serve nestlining material!!!    Beautiful tiny female Rufous rests in the morning sun
 Pair of Redtail Hawks on their nest (North Saanich) as the Eagle flies fairly close proximity to where "Little Eagle" was raised. As with all raptors, the female is always larger than the male. You can see the Mom Redtail is the bird at the top and Dad is the lower one that flies off the nest first. The last slide in the 5 images below is not a great shot but shows the 1 fuzzy chick that we observed. This nest is a long long ways up in this tree , so these images are very cropped out...   This adorable wee Anna's hummingbird has built her incredible hidden nest (about the size of 1/2 a golf ball right beside my friends house in a tree full of decorative icicle lights.  About 25 feet over from the Hummingbird nest sits this Bushtit nest. Bushtits are incredibly tiny birds weighing only slightly more than a Hummingbird but they weave a long sock like nest that can be a foot long. Photo above shows the male BT coming out after delivering food to the kids. Momma Anna's foraging for nectar in Eric's amazing flower filled garden.
 About 1:30 this morning after patiently watching the skies off Sidney for already 3 hours and the second night, I saw a faint cloud of green shimmer overhead. The Eastern sky right down to the water began to glow intermittently and for over an hour I shot images of the Aurora. Green so vivid at times it reflected on the ocean! very cool!!! * Note to my new friends from C Saanich... I am sorry I didn't have your contact info because about 10 min after you left for home this happened (lasted till about 2:40 then faded out, but the east sky was vividly lit up and overhead also! Maybe again tonight???    Friday Night was the time to be out auora watching ... I missed it! Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday posed challenges to get photos of this greenish smudge on the North horizon. My first couple attempts (height of land, then a local beach proved to be fruitless , though I did meet a few very nice folks there... Thanks for the conversations) Finally about 12:30 I was able to navigate my way into Sidney and found a bit of an observation spot. The image above and slide show below give you an idea of what Sat nites aurora showed us. It wasn't a lot but it was interesting to say the least. Log exposures from 5- 15 seconds bring out the depth of colours and streaks of light . And thanks also for the nice conversations in Sidney while waiting for some magic to happen!     All about the drakes... Not a single female spotted. I believe the nesting activities have the females hidden away and/ or gone to other areas to raise their fuzzy ducklings.      Wood Duck Aix sponsa   Wonderful to see my Barred Owl friend again... When the Robins go crazy, I know she is around!    It was pretty much dark, tho at 20,000 ISO the camera gleans what light there is. I was so happy to see Gracie as its been several months.
* for anyone new to my blog, this Barred Owl has spent a lot of time in my yard over the past few years and I have taken 1000's of photos of her. If you hear Robin's scolding and being chaotic, there is likely an owl close by.  Female Anna's above takes time to "smell the roses" which in this case is a new variety of Salvia I just got..... She seems to like it!   A male Anna's hovers for a few seconds... Long enough for me to click a few flight shots.   Above & below Mr Rufous who rarely pauses in flight gave me a few late evening (high ISO) shots   Native Red Squirrel enjoying some peanutty breakfast.  Chickadee making sure the coast is clear!     The dynamics around the hummingbird feeders change quite a bit after the Rufous arrive from their migration around mid March. (Its a long way from Central America and S Mexico ... Though smaller than the Anna's, the Rufous are faster and very aggressive. Its all about the territory and the Rufous do a great job of muscling in on the feeders and taking over. The 2 species only seem to get along during the last hour of light before darkness sets in, when all hummingbirds need to fill up the nectar tank in order to survive the night. At that time you will often see both species mixed in and feeding seriously before bed! |
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December 2024
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Summer 2023.. I just received notice that my blog has been awarded a distinction of being one of the top 10 photography blogs in Canada.
* All images and content copyright Terry Venables and NaturalImagesCanada *
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