I wish everybody a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Went to Boundary Bay in a cold day and saw many white-crowned sparrows gathering on one tree. The birds look more roundish in the chilly weather because they were all puffed up to stay warm.

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) is a medium-sized sparrow native to North America, but the northern weather making these little guys even harder to find the food in winter. Appreciation for whoever hanged out the feeders in their yard.

Adult

Adult

Juvenile Plumage

It is not like bird flu or some kind of disease, it was me caught cold while birding at Boundary Bay. The weather forecast says it would be partly cloudy with sunny break in the afternoon but actually not, it was gloomy all day and getting colder and colder in the afternoon.

I felt cold and sick when I get home, and spent whole day next day lying on the bed. Aww….

Not the decent shots but it is my first Northern Shrike. Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a large songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae), males and females are similar in plumage. I saw this guy standing on the top of the tree so I quickly took some shots from distance. When I try to get closer to get a better view then it flew away. Darn, but it was part of fun for birding~

Actually I don’t like shooting photos on the sunny day, it makes the images too much contrasted. Especially when you are shooting wild animals that you don’t get the chance to compensate the lighting.

The Long-eared Owls (Asio otus) is a medium sized owl. Although it is classified as the nocturnal species perhaps most easily seen perched in a tree in its daytime roost, sometimes in small groups during the winter months. I have seen the Short-eared Owls several times, but The Long-eared is my first time, if the zoo doesn’t count :)

As I said, the pictures turned out great, but I really don’t like the strong contrasted and the shadow of the branches. May go there again on a slightly cloudy day.

It was raining over the weekend. Not the good day for bird watch so I decided to stay home to fix my camera’s focusing issue. While I looking at my backyard I found this little guy hovering on top of grapevine then I quickly set up my gear to photograph her.

Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte Anna) is a medium-sized hummingbird native to the west coast of North America. Unlike the Rufous Hummingbirds, Anna’s Hummingbirds are year around residents here in southern British Columbia, while Rufous Hummingbirds start migrating south in September.