I have followed Connor Stephanison and Jess Findlay on Instagram for a few years, and recently noticed that they organized photo tours in BC. I respected both of their photography styles, so was keen on learning more from them. While all of their tours interested me, a couple were more in my price range- Manning Park and the Winter Birds of Vancouver. When I received my retroactive pay from my union settlement late last year, I wanted to invest that money in improving my photography skills and decided on the Vancouver workshop.
Although I lived in the Lower Mainland for over twenty years, I still thought a guided tour would teach me so much. The bonus to attending this tour was that my best friends live in New Westminster (shoutout Terra & Rony for reno-ing the bathroom for me), so I would be able to save some money on my accommodations. Winter in Vancouver has a great variety of birds, and I knew we would all be in for some great photo opportunities. I also had upgraded my camera since living on the coast, so I was excited to get some shots with a better zoom lens.
Connor and Jess plan 3 different dates for this workshop every winter, and I signed up for the last one available, which ended up being the first week of March. The first evening of the tour we met up for a group dinner to discuss the plans for the coming days. We actually had pretty decent weather forecast, which was important as some of our plans were dependant on the rain and winds, most specifically for our day trip to Vancouver Island to look for Northern Pygmy Owls.
Our first morning started in Burnaby, in what used to be my favourite place to bird when I lived in BC- Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake. This is a super popular spot, with plenty of waterfowl, shorebirds, and song birds year round. Some years there are even Sandhill Cranes that hang out close to the pier. This morning though we started very early, just after sunrise, to position ourselves in some gorgeous golden light before anyone else arrived.
Here we were taught the importance of the light, placing ourselves with the sun behind us so that our subjects were bathed in the beautiful, golden sunrise. We also talked about point of view, and how being down low, especially with waterfowl, really makes photos more engaging.
We sat at the water's edge for a couple of hours, and were able to catch some beautiful shots with gorgeous light before heading out to our next shooting location on the North Shore.
Next up, they took us to watch some Pigeon Guillemots in North Vancouver. I found these shooting conditions tough, as the sun was quite bright overhead, and created some unattractive reflections on the ocean. Even without photographing them, I loved watching these birds interact with each other- they seem to be squawking constantly!
We had a brief stop to grab some food to eat at our next shooting location. As a group we decided to just get food to go, and not waste time sitting in a restaurant. The next stop was for some more waterfowl, with the ever-popular Bufflehead as the target.
The colours on the pond here were beautiful, if not somewhat psychedelic with some interesting reflections! In addition to the Buffleheads, we had fabulous looks at Ring-necked Ducks, Pied-billed Grebes, and both American and Eurasian Wigeons.
While this seemed like a full day of birding already, we headed out to our last stop for the day to see some Barred Owls before the sunset. By this point I had used up two batteries, and only had a bit of juice left in my last one. They warned me in advance to bring extra batteries, but I honestly was not used to shooting all day, especially with using the live-view, which really drained my batteries more than usual.
I feel very lucky that I was able to get a handful of really great shots of this pair before my battery died. We got to watch them calling back and forth, and even were treated to a brief moment of copulation (sorry no pics!)
The forecast for the next day wasn't great, but Jess and Connor had another full day planned. First off we went to a little, neighbourhood park, where they had found 4 different Anna's Hummingbird nests. With all these different nests, all us photographers could get good views separately at the same time.
We were very respectful of these teeny, tiny birds, and kept quite far from their actual nests. Honestly I wouldn't have been able to even spot these nests on my own, they are just so small, and perfectly camouflaged. It was crazy to see their miniature nests blowing in the wind- the birds did such a fabulous job keeping their eggs dry and warm.
We lucked out and got a couple of hours of shooting in here before it started to rain. The rain got heavier as we headed out to Central Park in Burnaby to see our next target, the Hooded Merganser. One of the workshop members wasn't keen to be out in the rain, so returned to her hotel, and the rest of us waited out the worst of the rain in our cars.
While most folks don't enjoy sitting out in the rain, it can actually make for some interesting shots if you're dressed appropriately. This was something that Connor and Jess emphasized on the workshop- the importance of planning and being prepared. You don't want to miss an amazing shot because you didn't bring a raincoat.
This pond was full of curious ducks, who circled close a few times. In addition to the Hooded Mergansers, we got some really good looks at American Wigeons, who I think are adorable. Jess pointed out an intersex Mallard, which is a genetically female duck who develops some male characteristics (this is an overly-simplified definition).
We rounded out this stop with a walk in Central Park. The forest was pretty quiet, but offered some classic Vancouver views with some fog, mist, and the sun trying to peek out.
There weren't a ton of birds to be seen here, but we were treated to some good views of one of my favourites, a Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
After a quick stop for lunch we headed out to next to see some Male Anna's Hummingbirds. Again, this was just a random spot in a local neighbourhood, but with some good angles around the blackberry bushes to help with composing nice backgrounds.
We ended the shooting day with another park, looking for some different Barred Owls. Unfortunately we struck out on the owls this time, and the rain started to fall again. We called it a day as we had a super early morning to catch the ferry to Vancouver Island the next morning (and an early morning it was!) We met at 5am to head to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry. Today our plan was to find the Northern Pygmy Owl (a lifer for me and many others), and Jess had pre-scoped some potential spots on the Island, close-ish to Duncan.
This was a day that birders dream about. We found six Northern Pygmy Owls in total, and I had the opportunity to get good photographs of five of them. The morning started off super foggy, and I was worried none of my shots would turn out, but I have to give it to Adobe Lightroom, dehaze is a powerful tool, and I was able to save pretty much all of my pictures.
Pretty amazing!!
We spent the entire day watching these little, tiny owls, who were even smaller than I ever imagined. During one of our stops we found two owls together, and even caught them in a heated moment for a minute. So cool that we were able to see both Barred and Pygmy Owls mating during this workshop. On our way back to the ferry, on our last shoot for the day, we were all treated to a shot that many of the group had been hoping for:
Our last day of the workshop started at some feeders in Burnaby where Jess and Connor regularly feed the birds. It was super cold this morning, and I regretted not bringing my gloves. It had been a strange year, and Jess mentioned that there hadn't been any Steller's Jays seen at the feeders. I was pretty disappointed, as these are one of my favourite birds who I have zero photos of.
We had great opportunities to photograph some common Vancouver birds: Spotted Towhees, Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and some Northern Flickers.
Normally the workshop would spend the afternoon at
Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island, but there was an unfortunate incident where a barge struck the only bridge that connected the island to the mainland, and Reifel was closed to the public for many months. This was disappointing as there is amazing bird diversity there, and there would have been incredible photo opportunities. Connor and Jess pivoted and took the group out on a small, custom boat tour around Steveston harbour in Richmond.
Even though I have seen thousands of Bald Eagles in my life, it was still pretty cool to watch this one starting to build a nest on the jetty. In addition to birds we were able to see harbour seals as well as a close encounter with some stinky Steller Sea Lions.
One of the women on the tour had a Rock Sandpiper on her wish-list, and we were lucky to spot one mixed in with the Black Turnstones out on the jetty. Turns out Rock Sandpiper was a lifer for me as well. This is representative of most of the pictures I got while out in the boat - not that great!
Our very last stop for our workshop was the West Dyke Trail in Richmond with our sights set on catching some Short-eared Owls hunting before sunset. There were tens of thousands of Snow Geese that kept getting spooked and circling above.
The Dyke here is a well-known spot in the Lower Mainland for Short-eared Owls, and we saw a couple hunting from a distance. While I didn't get any spectacular shots, it was still fun to watch them. When we were leaving for the day and it was almost dark, we caught a small glimpse of a Barn Owl flying over the salt marsh. While this photo was way too dark and unusable, I was still super stoked as this is the first Barn Owl I have seen in Canada.
Overall this was an amazing four days of photography, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. I took thousands of photos, and have so many that are printable, framable, or sellable! Two months later, and I am still processing new pictures. Thanks Connor and Jess!
