Saturday, February 11, 2017

Family Day Weekend Part 1 - Brydon Lagoon

It was a long weekend and the snow and cold had returned. On the Saturday, I decided to make another try for the Green Heron at Brydon Lagoon in Langley. After parking and walking along the path towards the lagoon, I saw the birder who had reported the Heron.

He was looking up into a tree and I caught a glimpse of a large bird just as it flew. He confirmed it was the Heron. This was a very unsatisfying 2017 Bird # 60. I did not get a photo, so I've posted one I took at Brydon in 2014. I didn't get a very good look at it then either.


Green Heron - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC - March 2014

The lagoon was still frozen in some places, but there were some ducks other than Mallards present, including Common Mergansers. The males in the background are easily identified. At first I thought the other ducks were female Hooded Mergansers, which didn't make sense. Upon review at home, I found out that they were first winter Common Mergansers.

Common Merganser - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

Here's an adult male by itself.

Common Merganser - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

With the Nikon I took a couple of artistic shots of a younger bird.


Common Merganser - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

Common Merganser - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

At the end of the lagoon I heard the loud call of a Belted Kingfisher. This one was a male as it was absent the reddish-brown markings on the neck and breast.

Belted Kingfisher - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

The Kingfisher flew to a telephone wire. I noticed another bird on the telephone pole. I don't imagine these two birds are seen together very often.

Belted Kingfisher and Northern Flicker - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

The Kingfishers are always aware of you and will keep a certain distance. At one point I approached  too closely and it flew over me and landed farther away.

Belted Kingfisher - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

As I was leaving, I stopped by a flooded field and got a close-up of this Coot.

American Coot - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

I popped back to check out the entrance to the Lagoon one more time but it was occupied only by Mallards.

Mallard - Brydon Lagoon, Langley BC

So ended day 1 of the long weekend, the other two would be more productive.


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