Boundary Bay and Riefel

[kastern]

Yesterday, being such a gorgeous day, we decided to take a trip into Riefel......just to see it in the snow. Stopped at Boundary Bay on the way. Managed to see one Snowy Owl and a couple of Short eared Owls but all at a distance. There were a couple of photographers there, the type with the humongous lens, who were out on the beach area. They had a 'spotter' who walked the dyke with a radio and every time a bird was 'spotted' directed them and they would head off to it. Consequently all the birds were constantly being chased further away. A woman who obviously spent a lot of time there on the dyke said they had been doing the same thing the day before. One wonders if areas like that shouldn't be policed or something.
The poor birds weren't getting a chance to hunt or to rest. Not good - especially in the minus 5 degree weather that there was at the time.

At Riefel the waterways were all frozen of course so the only waterfowl were the overfed Mallards and a few Coots. The resident Sandhill Cranes were walking around on the ice and hanging out close to the warming hut. The only open water was right around the entrance. The resident Black Crowned Night Heron were the most co-operative we've ever seen them, sitting out in the open in the sunshine. One even decided to walk up and preen so we got some photos of them doing something other than sleeping.

As for the rest of the area I was surprised at the lack of variety. There were lots of Song Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, and Black Cap Chickadee. We saw a couple of Chestnut Back Chickadee, a Gold Crowned Sparrow, House Sparrows, a few Towhee, some Red Wing Blackbirds and a couple of Robins. I was surprised that we didn't see any Varied Thrush, Junco or Steller's Jay - things that are in my own backyard constantly.

There were quite a few Northern Harrier and lots of Great Blue Heron....I think we counted 21 of them all lined up along one of the open areas of water and we could see that the shoreline was absolutely black with waterfowl of some sort. Trumpeter Swans were off shore and there were some Canada Geese feeding in one of the corn fields.

The sun stayed shining and temperature hovered around zero so it was a very pleasant day - apart from the aforesaid photographers.

Kathy

[Gord]

Sounds like a nice day! Ive never seen the night-herons very active. Would like to have been there. Hope to see some pictures!

You have to love those 'photographers'. I wish they cared for their subjects as much as they care for their pictures. Sounded like a high $ operation with guys on radios and so forth. Likely looking for shots that will bring them several hundred dollars a use. Just as bad as letting your dogs chase the owls. Grrr.

I would have approached them and hoped to enter into dialoge. No one packing $20,000 dollars worth of gear is going to risk taking a poke at me. ;D ;D

Another thing, and Ill sum up my rant here, is the plethora of calander and internet pictures of raptors and other wildlife up close. Many photographers do not realize that most of these animals are captive so they go out expecting to get frame filling images in the wild every day. It doesnt happen that way, especially by running around chasing the subjects.

I wish such images are described for what they are so people dont get the wrong idea and have unrealistic expectations when they go out and purchase several thousand dollars worth of gear and then panic when they're not getting the results they were dreaming of and end up losing sight of common sense and going wild.

Nothing more rewarding than maintaining a boundary between yourself and the wildlife and yet obtaining nice pictures all the same. The rewards of taking the time to learn intimate details of your subject and surroundings often bring great results and an easy sleep at night.

[Dave]

There is quite the rant on Bcvanbirds with almost an identical story as yours, Kathy. I remember this topic coming up last year around the same time. There is something about owls that attract everyone of those big camera dudes. You never see them stalking some rare sparrow. I can't see Short-eared and Snowy Owl pictures being worth mint money anyway, considering that each raptor at Boundary Bay has had its picture taken 600x.
Then again, I will sooner or later take a pilgrimage down to Boundary Bay this winter as well, and to enjoy an owl or two is definitely on the wish list. It boils down to respect, common sense, and Gord's now famous quote about ethics.

Dave

[b1schmor]

Hello birders,

I heard a story of about a Great Gray Owl, that stayed in a particular area for some time, that was photographed by hundreds on people in Ontario. One day the bird fell over and died. They did an autopsy on the bird and found that it was blind. The theory was that all the flashes from the cameras caused the blindness. It had stopped being able to hunt. Just think how sensitive an owl's eyes would be to flash!!!

Brent

[Gord]

I heard that too, Brent. There was a great grey hanging out at UBC in 2003. After the chaos died down I went for a walk with my little guy to see it and if it was close enough to the trail, take a couple pictures. It was close to the trail much to my delight, so I took some. While I hadnt heard the story about the flashes on the Ontario bird yet, I figured since this bird had taken a lot of pressure I wouldnt use the flash even for one shot. I was glad I didnt! I would have felt really guilty.

Dave, I think a lot of these 'problem' photographers focus on the big and/or easy and quick results. A sparrow is not an easy target unless it's coming to a nest. A snowy owl who flies just far enough away and lands close by keeps the interest. Last year I got some great shots of the owls at the Bay and I never stepped one foot off the trail. Mind you, it took a bit of time to wait for one to land closer but it was worth the wait.

Ive also found nests that have had all the foilage cut back for photography. All nests ended up empty thanks to predation or lack of shelter.

Sorry to hijack your report Kathy (I think I did this last year too on you! ) but this is one of my major pet peeves. It will be a challenge, which I plan to win, to be polite and respectful towards the next photographer I catch jepordizing wildife. I hope my words dont fall on deaf ears, but Ill do my part all the same to make harrassing wildlife socially unacceptable.