Retracing the Christmas Count

 We have participated in the Vancouver Christmas Bird Count in the past, and since we didn't manage anything exotic over the holidays we decided to be involved again this year. Unfortunately it rained the entire day so we got thoroughly soaked, didn't take many photos, and (worst of all) had pretty mediocre sightings. Luckily, the weather cleared a few days later so we took another long walk through Stanley Park in search of birds. The varied thrush is pretty stunning in good light and I always forget that we have them in decent numbers during Vancouver winters.

 Deeper in the forest, Kathryn turned up a pileated woodpecker tearing away at the side of a tree. It was a reasonably agreeable bird in that it let us get fairly close and photograph it for awhile, but was also a quickly moving dark bird in deep shade, so of 100+ photos there were only 2 worth keeping. An impressive sight and a good find all the same.

 Finally, we wound up on the sea wall and came across a group of 6 or so Black Oystercatchers. We have photographed and shared pictures of these birds in the past, but this set had particularly brilliant bills that almost seem to be lit from within. We've had several encounters with a group (we assume to be the same batch) of oystercatchers over the last week and learned their distinctive and high-pitched call is a surefire way to locate dark birds on wet rocks.

Walking with the Winter Waterfowl

My Christmas break started a little early and I was very pleased to have glorious weather on my first day off. Since Kathryn was driving for the ferries, I decided to walk down to Granville Island, meet up with her for a ride east, and then have a long wander home. On the way out I had a close look at a Bufflehead, which are a common duck along the coast here but typically as shy as they are small. This male surfaced repeatedly quite close to the seawall and I was able to capture the lovely iridescence on his head better than ever before - typically they look black and white and I had no idea their heads were so colourful.

 This pied-billed grebe has been lurking near some fishing boats in False Creek for most of the winter and I have long wanted to get a few pictures. As I initially searched its territory I became concerned it had moved on, but just as I was giving up it swam around a corner and posed quite obligingly.

 Every year Vancouver gets huge flocks of surf scoters during the fall migration and a handful of them stick around for the winter. With their white-patched heads and big orange bills they are easy to identify and always a pleasing bird to see. This one was quite close to the shore in English Bay and in perfect light to catch its markings and clearly highlight its eye.