Posts Tagged “varied thrush”
I looked out into my back garden on the morning of October 2, 2019 to see more flocks of birds flying around in an early October downpour. Far more birds than I expected. It is bear season and there are more black bears around town than usual, which means my feeders are currently empty. No matter, the birds were concentrating on a mountain ash tree in the backyard.
In less than a hour I visited by a raven, a varied thrush, a northern flicker, steller jays, juncos and too many robins to count. I managed to get good photographs of the robins, the raven, the northern flicker and the varied thrush. I had no luck capturing the juncos and steller jays. I didn’t see any sparrows.
A robin grabs a mountain ash berry. (Robin Rowland)
I used two cameras for this shoot. I normally keep an older Sony Alpha 55 with a Tamron 70-300 lens on my dining room table all the time to shoot birds in the garden. Once I realized that the feeding was going to continue for a while I grabbed my Sony RX10-iii which has a 24 to 600 lens.
The raven (Robin Rowland)
American robin at the top of the mountain ash (Robin Rowland)
A robin grabs a berry from the top of the mountain ash. (Robin Rowland)
A pair of robins at the top of the mountain ash (Robin Rowland)
Varied thrush. (Robin Rowland)
A robin perches in the mountain ash. (Robin Rowland)
This morning the garden was quiet, so it looks like that for some reason, the gathering only happened yesterday,
One of my favourite birds in here in Kitimat is the Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius). There were a lot more than usual this spring for one reason or another. So here is an album of images.
A varied thrush on my back deck. (Robin Rowland)
There was still snow in a hollow in a small woods near my house in mid-April. (Robin Rowland)
The snow in the hollow which lasted for about a week after all the snow had gone elsewhere attracted varied thrushes almost every day. (Robin Rowland)
The spring melt advances on the last patch of snow. A pair of varied thrushes. (Robin Rowland)
As the spring buds come out in the nearby woods. (Robin Rowland)
And in my backyard.
And on an old log in the same hollow a couple of days later. (Robin Rowland)
In early May on the waterfront at the Minette Bay Lodge. (Robin Rowland)
A closer shot of the varied thrush at Minette Bay. (Robin Rowland)
On an driftwood stump at the mudflats of Minette Bay at low tide. (Robin Rowland)
A closer view (Robin Rowland)
A Great Blue Heron perches on a tree overlooking the Kitimat River during the Christmas Bird Count, December 15, 2012.
The bird count photo op wasn’t as good this year as it was last year. It was just as overcast with low late December light, but this time it was high tide with wind gusts making for chop on the ocean, estuary and river and that meant not as many birds in view.
A merlin, a falcon, devours its prey on a tree branch overlooking the Kitimat River. (Robin Rowland)
As we were starting out, we spotted a merlin, a falcon, (marco columbarius) on a bare branch overlooking the Kitimat River, devouring prey, a smaller bird.
The Kitimat River estuary on Dec. 15, 2012 (Robin Rowland)
There wasn’t a bird to be seen at the Kitimat River estuary.
A bald eagle perches on a telephone pole near the Kitimat River estuary, Dec. 15, 2012 (Robin Rowland)
Although we could see a bald eagle on a telephone pole far off at the other end of the estuary.
As we were finishing the tour of the estuary, we spotted an American dipper grabbing a salmon egg out a rocky creek. The American dipper (cinclus americanus) has a special ecological niche, a fast moving stream. (The American dipper was also known as the “Water Ouzel”).
An American dipper picks a salmon egg out of a fast, rocky stream near the Kitimat River estuary. (Robin Rowland)
A gull hovers over the Kitimat harbour, Dec. 15, 2012 (Robin Rowland)
Although the estuary bird count wasn’t that successful, I did get some interesting visitors to my feeder.
A varied thrush visits my deck, Dec, 12, 2012 (Robin Rowland)
A fox sparrow on my snow covered deck, Dec. 12, 2012 (Robin Rowland)