A Gaggle of a Monday

[martin]

As I might not get out for the next couple of weekends I took Monday off and went to Reifel and Tsawwassen.



On the drive over the Westham bridge saw a couple of W grebes.


Headed down the east Dyke and came across a few GC sparrows and decided to take a few shots.









About halfway down there were about a dozen Greater White-fronted geese. The day had only started and it was great.










Took a few shots of the ducks, RN,Canvas Backs Buffles, Pintails and L Scaups and then headed down the center Dyke.










Spotted a Yellow rumped Warbler, took lots of shots as it was moving thru the branches pretty quick. It was pretty hard to get a clear shot.










On the way out got to see a RB Nuthatch nest cleaning.










It was 1:00 so I had lunch and headed over to Tsawwassen.



Wow lots out today, stopped by the Herons, most were paired off and in the trees.









Up next were Brants, B Oystercatchers and RB Mergansers.



















Wow the day couldn't have got any better. The Icing on the cake came next, a Wiilet ( not a Knot) and flock of Surf Scoters.












On the drive home saw a N. shrike, pulled in the drive walked up the stairs turned around and saw a T Vulture, first one I have seen up here on the top of the hill.







The species seen today ;D ;D

Western Grebes
GWf Geese
F,H & GC Sparrows
Pintails
A. Coots
Woodyducks
L. Scaups
12- Canvas Backs
RN Ducks
A. Wigeons
Mallards
Canada Geese
Buffle Heads
Greenwinged Teals
Hooded mergansers
Yellow-rumped Warbler
RB Nuthatch
Chickadees
Juncos
T. Swallows
Kinglets
RW Blackwings
Night Heron
GB Heron
A. Bittern
4-Black Oystercatchers
RB Merganser
Greater Scaup
Golden Eye
C Loon
24-Brants
Willet (not a knot)
12- Surf Scooters
P Falcon
B Eagles
Gulls (Duh)
N.Shrike
T. Vulture

[dpeppar]

Nice list.....maybe the weather will improve and I will make the trip....DaveP

[Dave]

Hi Martin.

Beautiful photos! So sharp and clear!

I hate to bear any bad news but I think that your Red Knot photo is actually a Willet.

Thanks for posting,

[birdtrekkerbc]

I agree with Dave, it's a Willet and still a great bird. The Willet has been seen a few times over the months at Tsawwassen.

[davidandkaren]

Really cool stuff - I took my kids to Reifel last Thursday (bought a 5lb bag of duck food at WBU beforehand) I guess I'll have to do a report eventually.

As for Tsawwassen are you talking about that dirt road along the left side of the causeway? I've been there before but I found it difficult to shoot there because of the low winter sun - I would love to get a shot like that of an Oystercatcher - just marvelous!

[oldfulica]

Nice set of pictures Martin. I missed you by a day. I was at the jetty Sunday.
(Pictures in next journal)
I checked my files and I first saw that Willet in 2001 and it had been coming to the jetty before that. Not sure how old the bird is but we know for sure over 10 years.

[martin]

David Karen, Thanks.Yes the dirt road on the east of the jetty. I was on both sides of the jetty though. The Ostercatchers were on the west side. I got about 15 great shots I didn't post the best ones.

Willet? Thanks, everyone I thought at first too, but wasn't sure.
I only have two guides to refer too, but the bird was smaller about 11- 13 max" the legs seemed shorter and the rear feather edges didn't seem right. But as I am no expert, more a beginner, I will leave it to the experts. Thanks for confirming it so I don't mark it down wrong.

Any advice on better ID'ing the birds better or do I just need more experience?

[Chris]

Mar 31, 2011 8:06:28 GMT -8 martin said:

David Karen, Thanks.Yes the dirt road on the east of the jetty. I was on both sides of the jetty though. The Ostercatchers were on the west side. I got about 15 great shots I didn't post the best ones.

Willet? Thanks, everyone I thought at first too, but wasn't sure.
I only have two guides to refer too, but the bird was smaller about 11- 13 max" the legs seemed shorter and the rear feather edges didn't seem right. But as I am no expert, more a beginner, I will leave it to the experts. Thanks for confirming it so I don't mark it down wrong.

Any advice on better ID'ing the birds better or do I just need more experience?

Excellent report and pictures Martin. I love the picture of the Black Oystercatcher. Tswwassen is a great place to see birds that can be hard to find, Oystercatcher, Willet etc.

IDing birds can be tricky and frustrating at times. Experience I believe is the best way to improve ones IDing skills. The more you do something the better you get at it. Studying bird's habitat and behaviour can be a great way of improving ones ID skills. Learning the bird calls can help significantly at times. IDing most flycatcher species are easier by call rather than by physical appearance. Looking at the field guides and memorizing the differences between similar species continues to help me. Hopefully that helps a little.

[birdtrekkerbc]

I think Chris worded it very well. Experience goes a long way. There are also many guides available that are species specific and in regards to Shorebirds, I have three field guides that deal with just Shorebirds and go into far more depth then a regular field guide.

Songs and calls can be the deciding factor with some ID's. Chris mentioned Flycatchers. Two years ago we caught a Flycatcher at the Colony Farms banding station. We had to release it without banding it because we could not ID it 100%. There were four of us there and we were split on Least or Dusky. It was in between all the measurements. Had it made a sound of any sort we would have been able to ID it immediately. This one stayed quiet and was released.