Trumpeter Swan | Robin Rowland Photography

Trumpeter swans, signets and canvasback ducks in the Kitimat River estuary, Dec.15, 2018. (Robin Rowland)

My portion of the Christmas Bird Count in the Kitimat River Estuary (courtesy Rio Tinto) was in an afternoon blizzard which cut visibility by up to about 80 per cent at times and was no help to the cameras, whether or on auto focus or manual.

A killdeer hunts for food on a patch of wetland grass as the tide rises (Robin Rowland)

A rare sighting of a Wilson’s snipe out in the open on the river estuary. (Robin Rowland)

A bald eagle overhead. (Robin Rowland)

Another shot of the killdeer. (Robin Rowland)

Another shot of the Wilson’s snipe. (Robin Rowland)

The Wilson’s snipe getting a last shot at a meal as the tide rises. (Robin Rowland)

The trumpeter swans, signets, canvasbacks and mallards. (Robin Rowland)

A great blue heron huddles against the snow storm. (Robin Rowland)

Another great blue heron. (Robin Rowland)

A loon in the choppy waves of Kitimat harbour. (Robin Rowland)

A trumpeter swan feeds in the Kitimat River Oxbow, during the world wide annual Christmas bird count, Dec. 17, 2011. The reddish neck comes as the white feathers are stained by high levels of iron oxides in this part of the river as the swan dips into the river to feed.

A view of the Kitimat river estuary on the day of the annual Christmas bird count, Saturday Dec. 17, 2011. It had started snowing on Thursday. By noon Friday, that had changed to freezing rain which continued over night. At midafternoon Saturday,the rain had stopped but it was still a gloomy day.