Sometime around 1979, I was fly-fishing in a creek near Carpenter Lake, BC. The creek was a very fast flowing and I wasn’t thinking I could get a bite. Then to my surprise, I got one good “hit” on the fly. Previously, I had seen an Osprey circling high up overhead and she – I’m assuming “she” for no good reason! – promptly dropped down towards me and hovered where I was fishing. Suddenly, she dove straight into the rapids, ten feet in front of me and emerged with an 18 inch trout!
My trout!
Hope she enjoyed it – grrr!
It would have been wonderful to get a shot of the event, but this was long before digital photography.
Nonetheless it was a wonderful, “never forget”, wildlife moment – of which, I’m happy to say, I’ve had my share.
Over the ensuing 40 years I’ve seen osprey in the distance occasionally, but never managed a photo until today at the Pitt Addington Ecological Reserve next to Pitt Lake. This area is home to 200 bird and 29 mammal species so it is a treat for nature-lover’s. There were three osprey nests along the trail, with two of them close enough for some pics. I finally have my osprey shots after 40 years.
I also saw two osprey eating trout. Darned ospreys! No wonder I can’t catch any trout!
We also saw bald eagles; mallard, wood and ring necked ducks; common mergansers; red-wing blackbirds; cedar waxwings; a great-blue heron; white-crowned sparrows; tree and cliff swallows; gulls and crows and a few unrecognizable LBJs (“little brown jobs”) that rapidly disappeared into the foliage. There was also a family of otters.
It’s a beautiful wilderness area for hiking, bicycling or bird-watching, less than an hour away from Langley, Surrey or Vancouver.
Oh, and it’s all flat, a bonus for my crummy knees.
Colin “Birdman of Langley” Rankin, for Travel Rich Die Broke (TRDB)
Other birding articles by Colin Rankin that you may enjoy:
Wildlife in Antarctica – a Photographer’s Dream! (Penguins)
What Makes The Falkland Islands Worth Visiting? (Albatross, penguins, caracaras)
Costa Rica – Finding your Inner Bird!
A Cluster of Buntings (Lasuli and Snow Buntings)
A Pleasant Surprise (The Cape May Warbler)
Birding Rio Lagartos (Mexico Birds)
“Keepers” – what makes a great photo?
Even More LBJ’s – The Bewick’s Wren (Little Brown Jobs)
Puffins (Newfoundland)
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