April hummingbirds in British Columbia...

                                                      Photos by Dave Kemp                                                

British Columbia naturalist and photographer Dave Kemp has adroitly captured a Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding a chick on the eastern shores of Vancouver Island.   They may be tiny birds but long beaks make for easy targets when feeding the young.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Long-tailed Ducks, Surf Scoters and Common Loons...in B.C.

Photos by Dave Kemp

Naturalist Dave Kemp photographs B.C. Surf Scoters 

and Long-tailed Ducks getting ready to take off

Surf Scoters run on water to take off

Seabirds by the thousands off Vancouver Island

Long-tailed Ducks lift off

 Beautiful Common Loon's name is surely understated

Please comment if you wish. 

BarrytheBird

Do Roadrunners fly?

Photo by Trudy Walden/National Audubon Society

Greater Roadrunner

(Geococcyx californianus)

Yes, but not often.   It prefers to run after prey such as insects, small animals, lizards, snakes and small birds.   It can run up to 40 kms. per hour.   Note the size of that formidable beak.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Goldfinches turn gold in April and May...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

MTURNING TO GOLDM

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

British Columbia birds by Dave Kemp...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Harlequin Duck

Red-breasted Merganser (male)

Red-breasted Merganser (female)

Please

comment

if you wish.

Barry Wallace

More Common Loon photos from British Columbia

Photos by Dave Kemp

Vancouver Island naturalist and photographer Dave Kemp has passed along more Common Loon photos from Canada's west coast.   Back here in the east, it will be a little while before they show up in cold Ontario.

        Please comment if you wish.

        BarrytheBirder                                                                        

Vancouver Island Common Loon...

 

Photo by Dave Kemp

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Barry Wallace

Arrived late March...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Turkey Vulture

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Dave Kemp's west coast birds from Vancouver Island east...

Common Goldeneye

Photos by Dave Kemp

Gulls galore

Glaucous-winged Gull

Raven

Red-necked Grebe

Herring Roe

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Dave Kemp photos from Vancouver Island's east coast...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Herring Gull

Length 25" (64 cm) ~ Wingspan 58" (147 cm)

Female Kingfisher

(Ceryle alcyon)

Above and below 

Male Kingfisher 

Octopus egg sack & live Herring roe

Weathered Stump

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

British Columbia Loons by Dave Kemp...

 

Photos by Dave Kemp

CCOMMON LOONN

(Gavia immer)

Thank you to Vancouver Island photographer Dave Kemp for these beautiful and definitive photos of Common Loons on Canada's west coast.   This bird has been my all-time favourite species from the time I first heard its haunting call while paddling a canoe in Ontario's Algonquin Park.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Another bird for my life list...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

LESSER SCAUP

(Aythya affinis)

Life list now stands at 427

The Lesser Scaup pictured here is number 427 on my life list of birds.   I photographed it on March 24 on the side of the Ravenshoe Sideroad marshlands, southeast of Lake Simcoe.  It was a male and part of a male-female pair.   This duck is quite attractive with its black and white colouring, blue bill and yellow eyes.

 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

A great close encounter...

Photos by Dave Kemp

Vancouver Island Raven

British Columbia photographer Dave Kemp, whose photos 

I regularly present in this blog, was recently introduced to 

this black beauty by a buddy named Scott, at Comox

 on Vancouver Island. Dave's friend established 

a close relationship with this Raven several years ago 

 and when Dave was introduced to the big bird by Scott, 

he was immediately accepted as a new friend 

and posed for a few photos.   Well met, Dave.

West coast 

gulls surround

a sailboat between 

Vancouver Island 

and B.C. mainland.

Please comment 

if you wish.

Barry the Birder

Some of my favourite Green Heron pictures...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Green Heron

(Butorides striatus)

Here is how my Audubon Society Field Guide describes this common heron: "A retiring bird, it is often first noticed when it flushes unexpectedly from the edge of water and flies off uttering its sharp call note".   If however one quietly and stealthily approaches this waterside forager, excellent photos can be the reward.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder