Totally Swamped.

1 Reply

Over the last month I’ve been very busy. Unfortunately it’s normally my wildlife blog that suffers. I still spend loads of time out birding but after going through photos, editing, and then publishing I just run out of steam.

But I’m back and I’m going to give it an honest shot. Until I leave to the Philippines at least. So until then I’m going to start with a basic photo blog. Here are some of my fav shots from the last month. (I did travel out to Whistler, BC. So not all of the photos are from Edmonton)

Pine Siskin

Sooty Grouse

Double-crested cormorant

I’ve been working on getting some good spring footage over the last few days. This summer I want to put together some more in depth videos, you can check out my videos by searching “Zac Peetsma” on youtube. But even though I’m focusing on video I still managed to slip in a few nice shots. Here they are.

American Robin

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup & Bufflehead

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Today I noticed a bird that I may have missed or accidentally named a song sparrow. The differences are very subtle and I only just spotted them. A tint of yellow, a multi coloured bill and that’s about it. I’m pretty happy to have seen it and I’m starting to feel like a birder 🙂

It also turned out to be a pretty nice shot. Pretty excited about that too!

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Last night Monikah and I photographed a beautiful wedding. Everything turned out beautifully, and today we relaxed. Which really means heading off into the wilds, birding.

So first thing this morning, after coffee of course, which was more like noonish we walked over to my feeders. They are currently teaming with life and we spotted our first purple finches of the year.

After that we headed over to the Clifford E. Lee Nature Sanctuary. By this point things had really warmed up and we saw lots of fantastic birds and met a really nice birder.

All in all it was a great day and here are a few of the bests from the day.

Purple Finch Male.

Purple Finch Female.

Wood Frog

Grasshopper

Over the last few days I’ve heard the song sparrows calling but I haven’t been able to get a good shot. So this morning I headed out with the song sparrow in mind and set up. I had to get down and dirty, crouching in the mud close to a spot where they like to forage. This is always pretty tough because after a few minutes your legs begin to burn but it paid off. I got the shot of the song sparrow exactly where I wanted him.

Song Sparrow

Birding Big Lake!

Leave a reply

Today Monikah and I went out to Big Lake in search of a great horned owl but came up short. It was a little bit disappointing but the birding was still good and we saw plenty of other fantastic animals. I didn’t get many good photos on this outing so I’ll be stealing some of Monikah’s for the blog post.

Red-winged Blackbird

Common Grackle, Photo by Monikah

Each year when spring happens things begin to get crazy. Work starts to speed up and the wildlife starts to arrive. It’s very exciting and I’ve been spending as much time outside as I can. Here are a few of my best shots over the last few days.

Canada Goose Branta canadensis

Red-tailed Chipmunk Tamias ruficaudus

Fire-rim Tortoise Shell Aglais milberti

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa

Budding Tree Branch

American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

American Robin Turdus migratorius

Canada Goose Branta canadensis

Minnow

Muskrat Ondatra zibethicus

In a little tree stand beside my house I’ve build a small platform with a bench and have it surrounded by feeders. It’s where I spend the most of my birding time. Anyways with springs arrival a small puddle has opened up right beside myplatform. So while I was out sitting and watching suddenly waxwings started falling from above, almost landing on me, anddiving into the puddle to get a quick drink. It was pretty startling at first but I was able to get some great pictures.