Author: Richard Lee

The following photos were taken in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve in Newfoundland on June 30. There are literally tens of thousands of Atlantic puffins nesting in the reserve.

Some of the photos taken on walks and hikes over the last few weeks, in the Lower Mainland of BC.

Glaucous winged gull, dropping shell in order to crack it.

Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to observe the osprey nest in Matsqui. The female was on the nest incubating eggs, when we heard and then saw the male approach with a fish. It then landed on a distant tree and started to eat the fish. The female on the nest called to the male, clearly wanting to be fed. After a while, the male approached, carrying half of the fish. It landed on the nest,and gave the half fish to the female. The female then left the nest and started to eat the fish in flight. The male stayed on the nest, presumably on the eggs.

Pictures taken last year and this year.

In November, bald eagles arrive on the Harrison River in great numbers (thousands) to feed on spawning salmon. They hang around until the dead and dying salmon are flushed down the river by high water levels. By January, most of the eagles have left. The following photos were taken in November and December. I was surprised to see a golden eagle amongst the large numbers of bald eagles, as they are a rarity in this region. This is a follow-up posting to one I made in December, with additional photos, not previously published.

The following are from a collection of photos I have taken of owls, that I will be using for a self published book. It wasn’t that long ago, I was thrilled to take a photo of a distant owl in a tree in Southern Ontario. (At first I thought it was a plastic bag that had blown into the tree). Subsequently I was thrilled to see my first short-eared owls in Southern Indiana, when we still owned a home in Kentucky. I still get the same thrill every time I manage to see and photograph an owl, and living in British Columbia, I am finding many opportunities to see owls.

The Fraser Valley is a great location to see wintering ducks, geese and swans which have migrated south from more northerly regions.The following photos have been taken over the last couple of weeks at the Cheam Lake Wetlands, Willband Creek Park and the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

There is a very large gathering of eagles on the Harrison River near Vancouver, every November and December. At its peak, there are literally thousands of eagles along a short distance of river. They are drawn by spawning salmon, which die after they spawn. The following photos were taken over the last month.

Over the past few weeks I have had a lot of fun photographing an American bittern and a great-blue heron, fishing in nearby Willband Creek Park.

The following pictures were taken in July in Southern BC and in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. It has been a great summer for variety, although mid-summer tends to be a “slow” period. A recent trip to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary, resulted in the lowest number of species I have seen on an outing there, but with hot, dry weather, I was not surprised.

Western tanager. Taken at Okanagan Lake near Summerland.

Lewis’s woodpecker. Also taken in the Okanagan.

Male ruddy ducks. Tunkwa Lake.

Great grey owl. Taken near Logan Lake.

Female great grey owl with vole it had just caught.

Juvenile great grey owls. Taken near Logan Lake.

Common loon, mother and juvenile. Lac le Jeune.

Feeding time for the baby loons. Lac le Jeune.

Male California quail. Okanagan.

Peregrine falcon. Fraser Valley.

Sooty grouse (female). Manning Park.

Ospreys at the nest. Fraser Valley.

This osprey is about to fledge. When the young osprey opened its wings, the wind lifted the bird, but it did not leave the nest.

Female belted kingfisher. Reifel Sanctuary.

Heerman’s gull. Smith Island (Washington).

Tufted puffin. Smith Island.

A school of fish come to the surface near Smith Island, resulting in a feeding frenzy for gulls, puffins and auklets.

Glaucous-winged gulls feeding on the fish.

Common murre. San Juan Islands, Washington.

Rhinoceros auklet. Smith Island.

We were able to watch and photograph great grey owls on several occasions this past June, in both British Columbia and Alberta. Here are some additional photographs taken of the owls. (We saw nine altogether). All photos were taken with a 500 mm lens. Most were cropped, some significantly. The owls seemed unperturbed by our presence and kept up their normal activities, while we stood back and observed.

In the preceding photo, the male has just passed over a mole to the female, who in turn passes it on to one of the owlets.