Chichester Wetland Park, Kelowna

Lone female bufflehead duck at Chichester Wetland Park.

Today I visited a wetland I had not been to before.  I learned of it last week and decided to go today to see what there was.  The park is located in the Rutland area of Kelowna, BC and was easy to get to.  It is surrounded by suburbia, but that did not seem to diminish the presence of wildlife.  Upon arriving, the first thing I witnessed was a Merlin chasing down a small songbird of some sort.  A burst of feathers was a testament to the hawk's intentions.

There were a lot of mallards, perhaps over a hundred.  About half the pond was frozen over; the ducks were either in the open water or foraging on land.  The only other waterfowl present was a solitary bufflehead duck.  I photographed it with my 500mm and 1.4x teleconverter.  The gray day did not help with my shutter speed, as I shot at 1/125th of a second using an ISO of 200 and a fully opened aperture at f/8 (includes the extra stop from the TC).  

I also photographed a few flickers that were taking some form of seed off a tree.  I have not been able to identify the type of tree it is - if you know the species can you please let me know.  I am including a photo below.

Male flicker eating tree nuts (or seeds) of some type.

I had the company of a friend while I was there and enjoyed the entire outing.  The weather was cool but there was no wind.  It was a beautiful day for it.  I hope to visit it again when spring finally comes; there should be a lot more variety of birds present then.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hang in there, things will get better.

Image
The Svendsen Family - Eric, Samuel, Leanne, Joshua (top row), Nora, Kathryn, Chanelle, Emma If I could go back, in my mind, to a day in my life when I was really down, it would be nice to be able to see into the future.  If could see things as they are today, with the many blessings that have been given to me, it would give me hope knowing that things wouldn't always be so discouraging.   The message here is we do not know what the future holds.  When things are bad, it is hard to raise your head out of the mire to see beyond the darkness.  There are no guarantees, of course, that things will be better, but I think it is true that fortunes ebb and flow as tides do.  The trick is to see beyond the low points and not be too haughty during the high ones.  I know that, at this moment, things are very good.  What the future holds is unknown, but low and high points are likely in the forecast.   This is why taking satisfaction from the moment is so important.  Instead of looking forward
Read more

Happy to be alive - enjoy the moment

Image
My daughter, Leanne, enjoying our hike on Knox Mountain in Kelowna Each of us goes through hills and valleys, sometimes even mountains and canyons, on our sojourn through life.  Joyous moments seem to last but an instant while depressing lows can crawl along at the pace of a handicapped snail.  Fortunately, it seems, that the bulk of life is about maintenance and upkeep, of both self and invested interests.  It is during that metaphoric walk on the plains of life that an abrupt change in topography occurs, often without warning. I love my daughter.  As a parent, I have watched her grow and borne witness to those life events that have both blessed and haunted her.  Where my wife and I could, we have supported her in the difficult times and celebrated with her in the good.  I would like to think that we have made the valleys less daunting and the peaks even higher.   A recent personal setback has left her reeling, yet she still finds moments to enjoy life and enjoy those things that it o
Read more

Working out life's problems.

Image
Kathryn and Eric - together for 35 years. Whoever said life is easy hasn't been alive for very long.  Yes, although there may be times when everything sails along very nicely, the truth is that hardship is just around the corner, in both directions. The essence of the problem is that we are imperfect beings and we live in an imperfect world.  Bad things happen, both to us and those we care about.  We make decisions and take actions that others may oppose or be hurt by.  Even when, after much thought and research, we do what we think is best or right, our opinions or behaviours are not approved by those we love.  People get hurt, and sometimes the hurt leads to serious repercussions.   I can say that Kathryn and I are happily married.  But I can also say that our relationship has gone through difficult moments.  A great deal of the challenges we have faced have come about because of differences in opinion, differences in problem management, and difficulties in effective communicatio
Read more