2013/01/01

First outing of 2013 - Boundary Bay revisited

It has been more than four years ago when I first visited Boundary Bay Park.  With another year's Snowy Owl migration, (fairly) good weather today, and recent news report about starving owls, my parents were intrigued to see these owls for themselves.  After some searching, I found out the best spot to see these owls is Boundary Bay, and that was where we headed to today.

Before I start on today's post, I strongly suggest people read this person's post about Snowy Owl photography or any wildlife photography in general - treat the owls (and other wildlife) with the same private space as you would with any other creatures and humans.  I personally would not like it if I know people are photographing me, especially from close distances.

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Entrance
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Unfortunately, despite the lack of rain, it was quite chilly and very foggy!

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Lots of signs about owl ecology and respect the owls' private spaces.

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First bird of 2013 - Short-eared Owl!  This particular owl was feeding on a prey.  As you can see from the photo, the fog made photography incredibly difficult today.

Frosty Morning
Must be very cold last night.  I hope the animals are surviving.

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We saw several herons.

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With the thick fog covering most of the bank, most of the photographers turned their attention to this crab apple tree which attracted many small birds such as sparrows and robins.

Female House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
A female House Sparrow hidden away.

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A female Northern Flicker perched on a log and not doing anything.

White Ghost or Snowy Owl?
After about two hours of walking around in the cold and not able to see more than 100 m out into the bank, we decided to head home.  As we were about to leave, I spotted a large-bodied animal out in the distance on a log.  I am fairly certain it was a (Snowy?) owl.  I pointed it out to my parents and it was gone afterwards.  An imagined white ghost or a real Snowy Owl?  Who knows.

Hopefully we will be back again before I fly back to Ontario next Wednesday.

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