Totally captivated in 2007 by the live camera feed of the Hornby Island nesting Bald Eagles in B.C., I was drawn into birding and have never looked back. Thus begins my account of what I'm fortunate enough to discover each day and perhaps capture with my camera.



Unless otherwise stated, all images were taken by and are the property of Janice Melendez

Species Counts:

2014 Final Year List: 255; 2015 Year List a/o June 5, 2015: 235; Life List: 327

Monday, May 17, 2010

First Official Cottage Run of the Season- and a Lesson Learned


Did a run to the cottage today with a full car load of "STUFF", making a pit stop at the Lindsay Sewage Lagoons, and was thrilled to find that last year's Baltimore Oriole had returned. Ok-fine, I have no way of knowing for sure if it's the same one, but in my mind, he is. So there. 




He was foraging around in the same trees as last year, right outside the entrance to the lagoons, and was singing away, between chowing down on caterpillars:





As for my "Lesson Learned", I was loitering around taking photos of this fellow for a good twenty minutes, wandering from tree to shrub to tree, etc., when all of a sudden a red pick-up truck from within the lagoon "compound" drove towards the gate (and me) and I thought nothing of it- until they blocked me in! I recognized the driver as one of the employees from last year, so spoke to him immediately. As it turns out, they had been watching me from inside, and in fact thought I had a gun, and were driving over to investigate me before calling 911! I explained to them that I wasn't shooting birds, I was just shooting them but in a good way! I just knew that damn camo lens protector was going to give me grief, in addition to the nerd factor. Lesson learned is that I will check in with them regardless of whether or not I'm on their property, even if I do have written permission. 


Once my heart rate simmered back down to normal, I enjoyed serene views of Blue-winged Teals...






...offset by dozens of Red-winged Blackbirds:





An Eastern Kingbird was my second new bird for the year:







But I had to depart for the cottage (after all, it was a work trip today), where I was greeted by these wonderful Trilliums:


 


Although the Point was virtually deserted, I was not alone: my work companion for the entire time I was inside the cottage slaving away was this Yellow-rumped (Myrtle, John!) Warbler, who slowly made his way around the property, chasing the sunshine while singing away like mad:






So not bad for what was supposed to be a Work Day, two new Year birds!
(and a lesson Learned)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great story Janice...sounded like those guys were no "Roy"

Unknown said...

High drama in a sewage lagoon. Who says birding doesn't have a bit of everything? And this time most of the species were familiar to the ornithologically ignorant like me!