Post by Ben on Sept 3, 2022 16:54:46 GMT -8
Turns out that Jon and I had pretty much the exact idea as Gord+fam but for a day later...
Got in the vehicle at 5:30 and arrived at Blackie Spit around 7am - wanted to kill some time before going to boundary bay which we wanted to do when tide would be higher (11:30). Started with some nice shorebirds including black-bellied plover, killdeer, short-billed dowitcher, and long-billed curlew.
Next went to Boundary Bay. Jon was hoping for Hudsonian Godwit as that was the only recently reported lifer.
At 112th street we did a quick 3 minute look, which had some Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs which made for a nice comparison. Also lots of ducks out there but difficult to ID.
Did find the American Golden-Plover, Red Knots, and Ruddy Turnstone that have been hanging out there for a few days. Weather was hot and the tide didn't come up very high, quite hazy, the shorebirds stayed far out, and peregrines made for some less-than-ideal circumstances. We did however get to see the Peregrine catch a tasty shorebird. We were at 104th street for a long while, then started walking but decided to move on.
Near the mansion we had a blue-winged, a cinnamon, and a few Green-winged. The cinnamon and Blue-winged were hanging out together and looked quite similar, but the Cinnamon was slightly larger, with a noticeably larger bill, and had far less white at the base of the bill, and a less distinct eye-line.
American Golden-Plover at Boundary Bay - 104th St., Delta by Benjamin Pap
We had booked to go to Reifel at 1. It's an odd setup they have there -- because nobody is allowed in between 11 am and 1pm for what?? and you have to prebook... Which doesn't make sense to me as there seems to be lots of space out there so I can't see a valid reason to limit people. Anyways, we ended up getting there at 12:15 and couldn't go in, so we checked out the Alasken Wildlife area instead. In the heat of the day, we did fairly well there for migrants with Pac-slope Flycatcher, a few Warblers, Swainson's Thrush with some of the local residents.
Back to Reifel at just after 1, we made it in and paid the increased entry rate and checked the house pond. There we had nice views of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs again, a Pectoral Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, and a Wilson's Phalarope! The phalarope was a bit funny looking as it walked about with it's yellow legs. We looked for Black-crowned Night-Herons but only found Great Blues. We also had nice views of a Western and Least sandpiper and the typical array of ducks. Then we got a text from Dave: "a Curlew Sandpiper had been found at Boundary Bay"!
Wilson's Phalarope at Reifel Bird Sanctuary by Benjamin Pap
After a brief decision making (and a specific message which said to Leave riefel and go there) in the hot sun on the dike, we ran down the path to get back to the car. After a suspenseful 30 minute drive we pulled into the parking at 104th street once again. We'd heard the bird was close to the dike so no need to carry the scope, and we ran down the dike. I passed a few birders on the way up. The first said to keep running as I was almost there. Later another birding heading back was more like no need to run, they've got the bird on a leash! Nevertheless I didn't want to miss the bird by 1 minute if it were to fly shortly. Arriving tired after running a friendly man pointed me directly on the bird. Such a nice surprise to see this asian vagrant! It was a juvenile bird -- with pretty light edges to the wing and back feathers creating a "scalloping" look. The bird also had a nice light supercilium, long curved bill, and a clean white belly.
It was nice to see Mel (who initially found the bird) and Ilya again - and we chatted briefly before going on. It was very nice to see this bird as it was a lifer for us.
Curlew Sandpiper at Boundary Bay--104th to 112th Sts., Delta by Benjamin Pap
Curlew Sandpiper at Boundary Bay--104th to 112th Sts., Delta by Benjamin Pap
After this unexpected trip, we couldn't very well go back to Reifel as they close at 4 and by now it was about 3, so we went to the Tsawwassen jetty. The sea ducks were all very far out, but we did find White-winged, and Surf Scoters, Common Loon, and a Horned Grebe. We also saw all three species of Cormorants, and some friendly Black Turnstone and Black Oystercatchers. We identified all the scaup as Greater, so that's a bit awkward -- unless the 40ish birds all swapped species. Caspian Tern, Short-billed (Mew) Gull, Ring-billed, and Glaucous-winged gulls were also nice to see.
Black Turnstone at Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Jetty by Benjamin Pap
Black Oystercatcher at Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Jetty by Benjamin Pap
Since we were out that ways, we went to look for the "Beach Grove Park" that we'd never been to, and had some Avocets. We ended up at the wrong spot, walked about in a forested area, and then finally found & drove to the right place. We were looking forward to finding the birds, but there were about a dozen photographers there which was a bit of a letdown. Most were standing up on the dike, and were there for the entire time we were. On my way into the park, a random stranger came walking beside me and was asking me a bunch of questions about what all the photographers she'd seen recently were taking pictures of. I had a relatively friendly conversation with her and explained a little bit about Avocets and other birding things. Later when heading back to the car, I passed by all the photographers and one of them pulled me aside and said, "Oh hey, are you the guy from Chilliwack, I heard you're an expert on these birds" I was a bit confused -- "well, I'm not exactly an expert, but I know a couple things." She knew that they were Avocets and that they weren't typically from the area, but after talking with her for about 5 minutes she began asking me is the "other" larger birds (Greater Yellowlegs, about 12 present) were the males or something (to explain the color difference) and if the "little ones" were the babies (50ish Western Sandpipers). I don't know where these ideas came from, but it sure answered my questions about whether or not half the photographers even knew what they were taking pictures of
This was the last stop of the day - traffic on the way home was surprisingly mild for the beginning of the last long weekend of the summer.
Lesser Yellowlegs at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap
Greater Yellowlegs at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap
American Avocet at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap
Western Sandpiper at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap
Got in the vehicle at 5:30 and arrived at Blackie Spit around 7am - wanted to kill some time before going to boundary bay which we wanted to do when tide would be higher (11:30). Started with some nice shorebirds including black-bellied plover, killdeer, short-billed dowitcher, and long-billed curlew.
Next went to Boundary Bay. Jon was hoping for Hudsonian Godwit as that was the only recently reported lifer.
At 112th street we did a quick 3 minute look, which had some Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs which made for a nice comparison. Also lots of ducks out there but difficult to ID.
Did find the American Golden-Plover, Red Knots, and Ruddy Turnstone that have been hanging out there for a few days. Weather was hot and the tide didn't come up very high, quite hazy, the shorebirds stayed far out, and peregrines made for some less-than-ideal circumstances. We did however get to see the Peregrine catch a tasty shorebird. We were at 104th street for a long while, then started walking but decided to move on.
Near the mansion we had a blue-winged, a cinnamon, and a few Green-winged. The cinnamon and Blue-winged were hanging out together and looked quite similar, but the Cinnamon was slightly larger, with a noticeably larger bill, and had far less white at the base of the bill, and a less distinct eye-line.
American Golden-Plover at Boundary Bay - 104th St., Delta by Benjamin Pap
We had booked to go to Reifel at 1. It's an odd setup they have there -- because nobody is allowed in between 11 am and 1pm for what?? and you have to prebook... Which doesn't make sense to me as there seems to be lots of space out there so I can't see a valid reason to limit people. Anyways, we ended up getting there at 12:15 and couldn't go in, so we checked out the Alasken Wildlife area instead. In the heat of the day, we did fairly well there for migrants with Pac-slope Flycatcher, a few Warblers, Swainson's Thrush with some of the local residents.
Back to Reifel at just after 1, we made it in and paid the increased entry rate and checked the house pond. There we had nice views of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs again, a Pectoral Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, and a Wilson's Phalarope! The phalarope was a bit funny looking as it walked about with it's yellow legs. We looked for Black-crowned Night-Herons but only found Great Blues. We also had nice views of a Western and Least sandpiper and the typical array of ducks. Then we got a text from Dave: "a Curlew Sandpiper had been found at Boundary Bay"!
Wilson's Phalarope at Reifel Bird Sanctuary by Benjamin Pap
After a brief decision making (and a specific message which said to Leave riefel and go there) in the hot sun on the dike, we ran down the path to get back to the car. After a suspenseful 30 minute drive we pulled into the parking at 104th street once again. We'd heard the bird was close to the dike so no need to carry the scope, and we ran down the dike. I passed a few birders on the way up. The first said to keep running as I was almost there. Later another birding heading back was more like no need to run, they've got the bird on a leash! Nevertheless I didn't want to miss the bird by 1 minute if it were to fly shortly. Arriving tired after running a friendly man pointed me directly on the bird. Such a nice surprise to see this asian vagrant! It was a juvenile bird -- with pretty light edges to the wing and back feathers creating a "scalloping" look. The bird also had a nice light supercilium, long curved bill, and a clean white belly.
It was nice to see Mel (who initially found the bird) and Ilya again - and we chatted briefly before going on. It was very nice to see this bird as it was a lifer for us.
Curlew Sandpiper at Boundary Bay--104th to 112th Sts., Delta by Benjamin Pap
Curlew Sandpiper at Boundary Bay--104th to 112th Sts., Delta by Benjamin Pap
After this unexpected trip, we couldn't very well go back to Reifel as they close at 4 and by now it was about 3, so we went to the Tsawwassen jetty. The sea ducks were all very far out, but we did find White-winged, and Surf Scoters, Common Loon, and a Horned Grebe. We also saw all three species of Cormorants, and some friendly Black Turnstone and Black Oystercatchers. We identified all the scaup as Greater, so that's a bit awkward -- unless the 40ish birds all swapped species. Caspian Tern, Short-billed (Mew) Gull, Ring-billed, and Glaucous-winged gulls were also nice to see.
Black Turnstone at Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Jetty by Benjamin Pap
Black Oystercatcher at Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Jetty by Benjamin Pap
Since we were out that ways, we went to look for the "Beach Grove Park" that we'd never been to, and had some Avocets. We ended up at the wrong spot, walked about in a forested area, and then finally found & drove to the right place. We were looking forward to finding the birds, but there were about a dozen photographers there which was a bit of a letdown. Most were standing up on the dike, and were there for the entire time we were. On my way into the park, a random stranger came walking beside me and was asking me a bunch of questions about what all the photographers she'd seen recently were taking pictures of. I had a relatively friendly conversation with her and explained a little bit about Avocets and other birding things. Later when heading back to the car, I passed by all the photographers and one of them pulled me aside and said, "Oh hey, are you the guy from Chilliwack, I heard you're an expert on these birds" I was a bit confused -- "well, I'm not exactly an expert, but I know a couple things." She knew that they were Avocets and that they weren't typically from the area, but after talking with her for about 5 minutes she began asking me is the "other" larger birds (Greater Yellowlegs, about 12 present) were the males or something (to explain the color difference) and if the "little ones" were the babies (50ish Western Sandpipers). I don't know where these ideas came from, but it sure answered my questions about whether or not half the photographers even knew what they were taking pictures of
This was the last stop of the day - traffic on the way home was surprisingly mild for the beginning of the last long weekend of the summer.
Lesser Yellowlegs at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap
Greater Yellowlegs at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap
American Avocet at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap
Western Sandpiper at Boundary Bay Regional Park by Benjamin Pap