Behind the Shot: White-Crowned Sparrow at Boundary Bay
1st Place, Wildlife & Wild Places category, Outdoor Canada Photo Contest 2026
I got to the Boundary Bay Dyke Trail at 104 St at about 6:45 a.m. on August 7, 2025. It was my first time at that part of the trail, and to this day, my only time. I had seen on the eBird app that a lot of species show up there, so I was excited to shoot somewhere new.
The sunrise was a good start. The birding? Not so good. There were no shorebirds. I saw a hawk (or harrier) far off, but it was too distant to photograph. I walked west along the trail and saw nothing but a few passing gulls in the air.
My first shot of the day was a European starling on a telephone pole at 7:34. Like I said, there wasn't much. Then I settled for an American crow at 7:45. Who shoots crows on purpose?
Next was a Eurasian collared-dove at 7:49, followed by more starlings at 8:04. After that, I saw some killdeer and a bald eagle in the distance, and some more crows. By then, I was pretty disappointed.
After walking west with little to show for it, I doubled back to where I started, had a snack, and decided to try heading east. I had no expectations. It was a loss day.
Then, at 8:35, a lone bird flew past and landed about 30 feet ahead of me. I figured it was just another typical bird. As I continued along the path, I noticed the bird didn't skirt away into the underbrush like they usually do. Instead, it moved closer to me and stopped.
That's when I noticed it was a white-crowned sparrow with something in its beak. It looked like some kind of caterpillar or insect.
Of course, I started shooting.
I got a few frames, then it flew a few feet away. I took a few more, then it moved again, still close. By 8:37, it was still with me. I couldn't believe it. "Don't you have places to be? Kids to feed?" I was wondering.
But I wasn't complaining. Earlier, I was just hoping for something living that wasn't a crow. Now, I found myself in the middle of a full-on photo shoot.
The winning photo was taken at 8:41. It was another minute before it finally flew off.
Have you ever had a bird stay with you for seven full minutes? Most small birds give you a split second, sometimes. This one stayed put and let me work on my angles and composition. It was almost as though it knew it had something worth showing off.
All in all, I took over 400 shots of this proud bird. While culling, I counted 16 unique poses, allowing me to get some extreme close-ups, where you can actually see the rising sun reflected in its eyes, and some with it in its environment.
But one shot took my breath away. The sparrow was sitting perfectly on a common tansy flower, face forward, head down, as if to defer all the attention to its prized catch.
What it didn't realize was that it would become my prized catch as well.
