Waterfowl photography at the George Reifel Sanctuary, Vancouver.

[@fgb3126]

Seeing those fat, very well fed Mallards reminds me of a time recounted by a falconer. He had been training a Cooper's Hawk and one day decided to teach those lazy Mallards a lesson or two. He came down to the water's edge where the ducks hung out waiting to be fed by the public, and instead he pulled out his Cooper's and let it fly around a little bit. Those Mallards went bananas! Running and flapping away in every direction. Fortunately no one was hurt whilst this moral lesson was performed! 😅

[@wayneemery5709]

Some really nice shots there Mike

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Thank you.

[@MichellesPuppyCam]

Wow, cranes in the parking lot ! 😮

[@nickclaytonphotography]

Fantastic stuff Mike! I love Welney & as you say it’s a fantastic place for Barn Owls. To try & manually focus, pan & zoom with a bird approaching you is admirable too - & to admit you didn’t always get it right in camera too is also admirable. Great video, enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@MrTmiket0007]

Thanks for sharing another wonderful video like always, beautiful place 👍👌

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@oneoldgit]

I love Saturday mornings with your videos

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you like them!

[@georgep5032]

I have enjoyed your Vancouver videos. Many thanks for sharing. Your images and videography are superb. 👍 Vancouver is now on our list of bird photography locations. Cheers from Oz.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you like them!

[@stevemurnan1702]

Excellent Mike. V1.4 of the firmware has just been released!

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Yes just after I updated to 1.3. I see 1.4 does not offer AF improvements.

[@meadhbh9308]

Lovely Mike! As usual another great watch. I wait avidly for your next upload

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Many thanks!

[@gijsvermeulen5248]

Hello Mike,despite the terrible weather the images are pretty good and what a great place for birding with such a variety of birds!! This is great vlog of you and you captured the birds very well!! Greetings Gijs

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@mjsmith8741]

Another cracking video, I'm no expert on NA/Canadian birds but from the upright stance " Jizz" I think your Song Sparrow is one of the smaller Thrush species

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Thanks.

[@davidosborn3356]

Another fabulous video, essential breakfast viewing!

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Watch it with every meal and increase my advertsing income!

[@jonathanashton4758]

Thanks Mike I really enjoyed this video, a bit different to Burton Mere Wetlands I'd say!!

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Burton Mere has less rain!

[@wildcat1065]

Always fascinating to see other country's birds.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

I enjoy travelling a great deal.

[@TatraScrambler]

It's crazy how tame those birds were! 😲 If only it were that easy where I live... 😢 Also, nice to see our all-too-familiar mallards or northern shovelers on the opposite side of the globe 😄

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

North America has a lot of tame birds compared to Europe

[@micktoulmin4616]

Superb as always Mike fantastic reserve looking forward to the grey ghosts next week 👍

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Thanks 👍

[@JanicevD]

I did not know about this place - I live about 4 hours from there - will definitely have to go see it! Thanks again for sharing your work

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Please do!

[@wolfgangkiesewetter1492]

Excellent work Mike. Thank you for sharing your experiences

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@rogerhance5883]

Fantastic selection of birds. I can see why you went all the way to Vancouver with the variety of birds that they have.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Tame wildlife was the draw. Nobody mentioned the rain!

[@rogerhance5883]

@@MikeLaneFRPS 😂😂😂

[@MJSPhotographyUK]

Thanks for sharing Mike, great pictures and video, and can't wait for next week with the owls.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enoy them

[@louisswaim7024]

Very enjoyable, as usual! It’s nice to see my Pacific Coast bird friends. Spotted Towhees are common here in the hills above Oakland, California, and always a thrill to photograph. Fox Sparrows pass through in fall and winter. Looking forward to your next one!

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@StephenJStephen_Photography]

Well done Mike! I love the George C. Reifel Sanctuary although I've only been there a couple of times. Your Dark-eyed Junco is of the "Oregon" variety. We see them occasionally here in Ontario but most often we get the "Slate-Coloured" variety here.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@davidolson8559]

Wonderful video Mike I alway enjoy them. British Columbia it’s always great to film. If you get to the states and ever want to photograph songbirds, owls and more birds of the Midwest let me know. I have blinds and locations for many species. I would be honored to have you. Take care !

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Thank you David.

[@TimSiggs]

Another enjoyable offering Mike, greetings from Australia.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@tntytube]

Hope you get to see all the owls on the West coast!

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Only the Short-eared owl.

[@leehanley71]

Great video Mike, really enjoyed it. What a reserve that place is 📸👍🏽

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

It really is!

[@michaelphibes8386]

Reminds me more of a Redpoll than the Bull finch Mike. Great video as well.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

It was the bramble like seed heads it was feeding on.. typical of a bullfinch

[@fgb3126]

The best time to visit our Pacific Northwest (I mean specifically western Washington and southern British Columbia) is summer. We can go weeks, even months without rain. Now, however, you came at the absolute rainiest time of the year. It was charming to see a foreigner name and describe our birds that we see almost every day. And yes you got the Fox Sparrow correctly identified. None of the sparrows you featured are difficult, as you noted. However! go into the Lincoln's Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, and even sometimes the Song Sparrow, and things get a bit more difficult. I could not agree with you more on Ringed-neck Duck. The ring idea came in examining dead birds back in the day. The naming authority in North America is as conservative as an old cook, and I doubt they'll ever give in and name that duck what it obviously should be named, the Ring-BILLED Duck.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Song sparrow was one I was confused with.

[@joshuahorner2639]

Agree with your comments 100%. Small correction Ring-necked Duck.

[@stefangoldensteinwildlife9929]

Hey. Wonderful footage of the wildlife in that area. I really enjoyed watching. Greets Stefan

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Many thanks

[@telkirton]

Excellent video Mike, thanks.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Very welcome

[@cliftonwhittaker260]

Hey, Mike, you saw the sun twice while you were there? You're lucky. I was in Seattle one time when it wasn't raining. Anyway, I'm with you when it comes to staying in the hotel room or walking in the rain. I've never melted yet and sometimes you can get some good shots out there. Looking forward to your next post.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

After vancouver I think of the uk as a desert.

[@stevevickers2844]

Another well narrated video - looks like a smashing place to visit.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Excellent place.

[@chrispitman1169]

Fantastic video

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Thanks! 😃

[@CamillaI]

Very good Mike what a reserve ! I have enough problems with the LBJ 's in this country ! So I think you did very well there 👍

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

I cheated by showing local birders picture on my notebook, but I still got mixed up.

[@CamillaI]

@@MikeLaneFRPS Good move that's experience in action 👍

[@brianboudrot7055]

I haven't been there since I was a young boy living in nearby Ladner. It's my dream to go back. I love the cranes in the parking lot - are they security?

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Could be. Like geese.

[@ulflundh_birdsandnature]

Nice to se as always :) Thanks for charging

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Any time!

[@eljayr4669]

Great video as usual. It was a pity that your weather wasn’t as friendly as it could have been. Good to see new Birds from another Country. You always give me new tips and ideas. Great stuff.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Yes it was

[@h.e.verheijden8083]

Now you even can do update 1.4 😊

[@theflyingdutchman7127]

what beautiful pictures you show us. do the photos come straight out of the camera, or have you edited them yet? if so, can you tell us a bit more about what you've done about photo editing. I think there is a lot of interest in that. thanks again for hey sharing your beautiful images.👍❤️

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

I shoot raw so yes they are processed. All go through Topaz Photo Ai.. i do very little other than that. I am not a great one for photoshopping.

[@theflyingdutchman7127]

@@MikeLaneFRPS hi Mike I think your photos are very neat and well done. they are very beautiful, also the background is very neat and calm. I'm not a photo editor myself. am very bad at that. I'm considering buying an OM system camera next to my Canon R3 for the extra mm's that M4/3 gives, but I'm still unsure about the noise problems that a small censor gives, but your photos look very good. my compliments for that.👍❤️

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

My default setting us 1600 iso and I go tovti 3200 readily.

[@theflyingdutchman7127]

@@MikeLaneFRPS hi mike do you have a link for me to the Topaz software you use?.🙏

[@PeteCroft1]

Good pictures Mike in difficult conditions. Pity about missing the GBH kill on video!

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

I blame the Operator

[@stevevickers2844]

Mike I wonder if you will give me your views on using a plain or ND filter on the end of the lens, basically for protection of the front element. Logic seems to say that, having an expensive lens and then interrupting it’s view with another piece of glass must degrade the image to some extent but KZbin is full of arguments for both having and not having a filter. Cheers Steve

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

UV filters is the name I usually use. I used to fit them all the time for protection. A simple test shot proved they made no difference to the image quality. Then Canon bought out DO lenses and they required different UV filters. I then had a problem with a Panosonic lens that was soft with the same filter that was perfect on a normal Canon lens. Now I don't bother with them as it got too complex. However it is a good idea and I am just being lazy. Be aware there are very cheap filters out there. The quality is low and they are not hardened glass and break easily. Buy a well known brand such as Hoya. Take a simple test shot with and without. The sharpness will be the same. Maybe a very hard to see colour shift, but sharpness the same.

[@stevevickers2844]

@@MikeLaneFRPS Thanks Mike appreciate the response.

[@markchambers8826]

Excellent. Thank you and by the way we are now on firmware update 1.4.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

I updated to the latest firmware this week, but it is 1.3,

[@markchambers8826]

@@MikeLaneFRPS 1.4 came out 2 days ago.

[@tacul9333]

With the 150-400 in your quiver, do you even use the 100-400 or 300 any more?

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Yes, but not often. Both are lighter when walking a long way or hand holding for birds in flight.

[@kathykeiver9]

Yes, a fox sparrow,

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

Thank you. Glad I am right for once.

[@przybylskipawel]

In adverse conditions video tend to be more dramatic and engaging.

[@MikeLaneFRPS]

It copes with dull light bettrr