Reifel Bird Sanctuary
I know it’s early in the season, but I was really hoping to see some migrant songbirds. Where are my golden-crowns, my fox sparrows? Still on their way I guess.
Meantime, here’s an Anna’s lady with a wasp friend.
As usual, there were lots of House Sparrows around the London Slough lookout. So I decided to shoot them. They do make nice subjects, once the artist gets over his snobbiness.
So do the Mallards, though I do like taking their pictures.
Hello!
A woolly bear caterpillar, making its way over the treacherous obstacle course that is the trail.
A very special sight! This is a female Blue-winged Teal, which I’ve only seen a handful of times. They’re not very closely related to Green-winged Teals, sharing a genus with Northern Shovelers of all people. Well, you can see the resemblance in the nose…
We can occasionally see bushtits flocking around the north dyke trail, and today was one of those days!
This is called a Gray Looper Moth. They’re mostly found in the southeastern US, Mexico and some of Central America and the Caribbean, but can be seen as far as Montana or Manitoba. Or, apparently, here.
My first round of image search pegged this as a Silver Y Moth, based on the whitish Y (or lowercase gamma) on their wings. Problem is, that’s a mainland European species!
I call this piece, “The Bashful Goose.”
They do love their dust baths! It must be a European thing, I’ve never seen American sparrows do it.
Terra Nova Rural Park
A cool-looking grasshopper!
And a pretty dotless lady beetle!
Burnaby Lake
The Long-billed Dowitchers were out in big numbers, and the water was shallow enough that they came unusually close. The light was less than ideal, with gathering clouds and a lowering sun, though 🙁
