Pied-billed Grebe

An excellent, unexpected close encounter.

American Wigeon

I enjoy photographing ducks, especially while they are in flight.

American Wigeon

Fly-by.

Dunlin

A Dunlin pauses briefly on a windy day along Victoria's waterfront.

Northern Pintail

Male, also known as a drake.

A Landing gone wrong.

A female Mallard comes in hot with a tail wind, miss judged her momentum as she tumbles after landing. All good she managed to right herself and waddled off.

Mallard, female

Flared for landing.

Rock Pigeon

American Wigeon

Fly-by

Bufflehead, male

Wet and wind swept.

Lesser Scaup, female

She was quite willing to pose for us.

Lesser Scaup, juvenile male

Fox Sparrow

A bush/ground bird I don't see that often. The Fox Sparrows winters on Vancouver Island.

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Finding bits of food while clinging to a stump.

Dark-eyed Junco

The bird perched on blackberry and Wildrose bushes with rose hips, enhancing the background colours. We have some great colours in the winter, especially yellows and reds.

Golden-crowed Sparrow

Another sparrow that winters on Vancouver Island. I heard a story of Golden-Crowns riding cruise ships across the Pacific Ocean to the Kamchatka Peninsula. However, I can't find any evidence that they have been established there. It may have been an isolated incident/s, or perhaps the sighting information was never published.

Sunrise

Out bright and early this morning catching the sunrise over Mill Bay. I used my drone with a Neewer ND16 CP to cut the brightness and help saturate the colours.

Sunrise January 22

I underexposed the photo to catch all the beautiful colours.

Black Turnstone

Walking the shoreline in search of edibles.

Incoming Duck

A Mallard male (drake) setting up for landing.

Mallard, female (hen)

Coming in for a landing.

Grey Squirrel

I half expected the squirrel to start singing the national anthem.

Trump gets in our space.

We first met in 2015 during a camera bag theft in progress, fortunately not mine. There was food with the gear, so why wouldn't she go for it? She is a bear. Although I have had some very close encounters with her (always initiated by her), I have never experienced any real threats; she loves to intimidate.