Sunday at White Rock Pier

Last year I did not see a White-winged Scoter until near the end of year, even though they are frequently seen off the White Rock Pier. I decided to be pre-emptive this year and not miss this striking species of duck.

Parking's a bit messy around the Pier as the City is doing some renovations. You also have to be wary of trains rumbling through the area.



By far the most common of the Scoter family is the Surf Scoter. The male has very colourful and distinctive markings.


Surf Scoter - White Rock Pier, White Rock BC



There's almost always a Gull posing on the rails of the jetty.


Glaucous-winged Gull - White Rock Pier, White Rock BC

Near the end of the pier was a female Scaup. I believe it is a Greater Scaup.


Greater Scaup (F) - White Rock Pier, White Rock BC

Before I headed back, I went down some steps to water level. Looking up I caught this shot of a Rock Pigeon. I assume it was trying to get at a piece of food that had fallen through the cracks.

Rock Pigeon - White Rock Pier, White Rock BC

I started walking back still hoping for a White-winged Scoter. There were none in this group of Surf Scoters.

Surf Scoter - White Rock Pier, White Rock BC

Finally I saw a male White-winged Scoter in the distance. I zoomed out with the Nikon and got this poor quality shot.

White-winged Scoter - White Rock Pier, White Rock BC - 2018 Bird # 81

This shot is a bit better. I assume this is an immature male as the White marks around the eyes are missing.

White-winged Scoter - White Rock Pier, White Rock BC 

This was my last outing of the week and the month of February. I'll be back at it in March.

Saturday at Point Roberts and Iona Regional Park

Lighthouse Marine Park

It was a windy Saturday in Point Roberts as I dropped in for a short visit to Lighthouse Marine Park.



I don't know if there was a small Herring run, or if the waves had just stirred up some food from the bottom, but the local gulls were active in the surf. I got a nice sequence of shots of this Glaucous-winged Gull.


Glaucous-winged Gull - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

The pink legs and markings on the bill show well in these shots.



I saw some other gulls in the surf and noticed they were different. These were Mew Gulls, a smaller species that resembles the common Ring-billed Gull. I generally see Mew Gulls once or twice per year, usually in late winter/early spring.


Mew Gull - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA - 2018 Bird # 77

This shot shows their smaller size and plain yellow bill. The one on the left shows the yellow legs.



Although Point Roberts is in the United States, many of the residents are Canadian. I'm not sure what nationality this Crow is...

Northwestern Crow - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

As I was walking back to the parking lot, a pair of Killdeer flew in and landed quite close in front of me.

Killdeer - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA - 2018 Bird #78

I still had some time and headed north Iona Regional Park in Richmond.

Iona Regional Park, South Jetty

I decided to make the 8 kilometer hike out and back on the Iona South Jetty. The jetty is actually a huge discharge pipe from the Iona Sewage Treatment plant that is used to discharge fully treated sewage into the Pacific Ocean. This shot was taken about 3/4 of the way out.

Early on the walk, I took this shot of a Bufflehead. I believe it's a female rather than a juvenile male.

Bufflehead (F) - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

Earlier in the day I'd seen my first Mew Gulls of the year. It didn't take long for a second sighting. This shot shows the bill and leg colour very clearly.

Mew Gull - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

A few minutes later I saw a small bird on the path. I was hoping for a Longspur or Lark but it turned out to be a Song Sparrow.  Nice shot however.

Song Sparrow - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

I was quite far out by now and was surprised to see some ducks close to the jetty at this point.

Common Goldeneye - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

Even more surprising was this male Eurasian Wigeon. 

Eurasian Wigeon - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

Right near the end of the Jetty I saw a pair of Harbor Seals. This was a first for me out on the jetty.

Harbor Seal - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

As I headed back I spotted a trio of Red-breasted Mergansers, two males and a female. I normally see these birds at Point Roberts, but I'd missed them so far this year. I did not get a good shot of the female, but here's the showy male.

Red-breasted Merganser - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC - 2018 Bird #79

The common Merganser is similar to this species, but is a much heavier bird and lacks the distinctive crest.

The Red-breasted is very striking in flight.

Red-breasted Merganser - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

On my way out I'd briefly seen a bird flitting around the rocks on north side of the jetty. My impression was a Horned Lark, but I didn't have time for a photo. I saw the bird in the same area on the way back and took a couple of photos.

I realized it was too big to be a Horned Lark, it was a Western Meadowlark. These beautiful birds are normally seen (and heard) in the Okanagan. However, in the winter, some come west to the mild climate of the Lower Mainland and favour tundra like areas such as Iona. 

They only sing to declare territory and attract a mate in breeding season, so one does not hear them here in winter.

Western Meadowlark - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

2018 Bird #80

The last bird of the day was a Great Blue Heron Heron hunting in the shallows near the base of the Jetty

Great Blue Heron - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

That was it for Saturday, I'd make a brief outing on Sunday as detailed in the next post.

Sunday at Point Roberts and Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Winter ends early on the West Coast, but we had a dump of snow just before this weekend. My outings today included a brief one at Point Roberts (gas fill-up) and then over to Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Ladner.

Point Roberts

There was no trace of snow here, probably due to the proximity to the Pacific Ocean. There was little activity at Lighthouse Marine Park other than seeing a few Black Turnstones.

Black Turnstone - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Here's a short movie that shows how quickly these birds move around.

The only other bird I photographed was this Common Goldeneye.

Common Goldeneye- Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

I crossed back into Canada and made my way to Reifel. As is normal for a Sunday morning, there were many people visiting. There was some evidence here of the recent snowfall.

At  Reifel in Winter  there are plenty of ducks on display. The first was a male Ring-necked Duck. In this photo you can see some of the Orange ring around the neck.

Ring-necked Duck - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

The female looks quite different, but she's quite an attractive duck as well. Looking at both of them, it's hard to figure why they weren't called Ring-billed Ducks.

Ring-necked Duck (F) - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

The common Mallard male is featured in this picture. We often take its beauty for granted.

Mallard - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

A duck that looks somewhat similar is the Northern Shoveler. This bird gets its name from using its enormous bill to filter food as it swims in shallow ponds. It also uses it to stir up pond bottoms for mollusks and other small creatures.

Northern Shoveler - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - 2018 Bird #74

Here's the male together with the plain female, who resembles the female Mallard.

Northern Shovelers - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

A common winter duck at Reifel is the showy Hooded Merganser. This male is in full breeding plumage.

Hooded Merganser - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

A far less glamorous bird is the American Coot. However, it was my first of the year.

American Coot - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - 2018 Bird #75

In the winter, the Sandhill Cranes are out among the people. In nesting season, they disappear and should not be bothered if seen. Here they are eating bird seed off the ground.

Sandhill Cranes  - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

These birds have a great profile, and they're so tall that pictures like these are taken at our eye level.

One of my targets for this visit was the Eurasian Wigeon. I took one last photo of the Cranes and didn't realize my target bird was in the background. It happened that the sanctuary manager was nearby and had just pointed the Wigeon out to someone else.

Sandhill Crane and Eurasian Wigeon (2018 Bird #76) - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

Of course, I took some more shots of this beautiful bird. They are increasingly more common here, but are outnumbered about 20 to 1 by the American Wigeon.

Eurasian Wigeon - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

This next shot shows the male Eurasian and a female bird. According to my field guides, it appears to be an American Wigeon as the female Eurasian has a grayer head. There is some hybridization between the two species. 

Eurasian and American Wigeon - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

And finally, what makes a better photo than Wood Ducks with snowy backgrounds? First the female...

Wood Duck (F) - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

The male also wanted to strut his stuff...

Wood Duck - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

This ended my day at Reifel. It would be another week before I'd get back out for more birding.

Extra long weekend Day 4 - Maplewood Revisited

I returned to Maplewood Conservation area on Family Day to try again to see the Northern Goshawk that had been there since November. I arrived earlier than I had on Friday, when I missed it by an hour.

The pond/inlet once again featured a Common Goldeneye, this one in quite remarkable light.


Common Goldeneye - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

On my way to the West Marsh, I had a good photo opportunity for an adult Glaucous-winged Gull.


Glaucous-winged Gull - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

There were quite a few people visiting today, many of them looking for a Bobcat that had been seen recently in the area close to where the Goshawk was often seen. There was one person looking up into a tree nearby. It was the Goshawk.

I quickly snapped a couple of shots with the Canon, this being the best one.

Northern Goshawk - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

2018 Bird #72

This bird is the largest North American member of the Accipiter family. In Europe and Asia, only the Accipiters are referred to as Hawks. Birds like our Red-tailed Hawks, members of the Buteo family, are called Buzzards outside of the Americas.

I zoomed in with the Nikon. The bird was quite high up, it would have been nice to get one at a lower level.

This part of Maplewood is well treed, the viewing platform in the photo looks out onto the area where the Bobcat was seen.



And this is where it was seen the previous day.



I went deeper into the forest and caught this interesting pose by a Flicker.

Northern Flicker - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

There weren't many birds in the forest, here's a Towhee just off the path.


Spotted Towhee - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

I turned around and headed back towards the Bridge. The view of Burrard Inlet is one of the features of Maplewood.



On the east side of the reserve I saw a few more common residents.


Song Sparrow - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

American Robin - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

Back at the car there was a crow nearby and I took a couple of nice shots with the Nikon.

Northwestern Crow - Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC

This was my last bird on the extra long weekend. I added 16 birds to my 2018 list over the four days, including three owls and three hawks. The weather was a real bonus over this period as most of 2018 had seen rain or snow on many days.