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| Female American Kestrel with a mouse. The Kestrel is the most common falcon in North America. Sumas Prairie has a few of these in residence for the winter. |
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| Downy Woodpecker at my home. Male. |
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| Downy Woodpecker female. |
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| Gyrfalcon in Sumas Prairie. While the Kestrel is the smallest falcon in Canada, the Gyrfalcon is the largest. |
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| White-fronted Goose. This goose is injured-probably shot somewhere and made it to Wilband Ponds where it may die. At least it is in a favourable habitat which may help it recover. |
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| I shot this Northern Pygmy Owl in Neah Bay and decided I liked it better than the one I posted last month. Next time I photograph one I will have to try and eliminate those annoying black branches. |
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| American Tree Sparrow. One of 3 or 4 in Sumas Prairie. |
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| This Red-tailed Hawk was caught and tagged at the Vancouver airport last July. The airport does this to rid the airways of possible hazards. It was released in Chilliwack. I reported it to the airport and they gave me the info. This was the first time it has been sighted (and reported) since its release. |
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| Golden-crowned Kinglet in Agasszi. |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet in Agasszi. |
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| I found this Rough-skinned Newt slowly crossing the road east of Chilliwack. It was 6 degrees celsius which probably accounted for its slow progress. I picked it up and put it on the post for some pictures not realizing it can exude a highly toxic poison through its skin. It is the same toxin that is found in Pufferfish and Blue-ringed Octopus. Luckily I didn't put my fingers in my mouth or eyes. I set it down on the side of the road and watched it disappear beneath the leaf litter. There is some interesting information on this Newt if one googles it. |
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| River Otter marking territory near Wilband Ponds. This is called sprainting or depositing a small amount of feces which is called a spraint. |
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| River Otter trying to figure out where the shutter noise is coming from. Looks like it is holding a Pumpkinseed Fish (future spraint). |
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| Bohemian Waxwing. We found 70 of these uncommon birds (for this area) on Rannie Road, Pitt meadows. |
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| We were watching a Northern Shrike when it flew to the ground and started dispatching a vole. It flew off with it before I could get a good shot. |
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| We later found the Shrike sitting quite contented. |
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| I can get so involved with my camera settings that sometimes I misidentify what I am photographing. For instance I thought I was photographing a Kestrel until I uploaded the pictures to the computer and realized I actually photographed a Merlin. This is the last blog for the year. Looking forward to next year. Happy New year to everyone and thanks for checking out the blog. |
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