April Round-up - Queen Elizabeth Park, North Delta backyard and Boundary Bay

This blog covers the rest of April. It was fairly quiet but I got some good shots, especially at home.

April 26 - Queen Elizabeth Park Warblers

I had the day off and decided to chase a rarity in Vancouver, a female Common Grackle. It had been seen around 4th and Alma, and is still appearing on the Rare Bird Alert as I write this in mid-May. I didn't see the Grackle and decided to try my luck at Queen Elizabeth Park.

It took me a while but I finally located a group of Yellow-rumped Warblers near the pitch and putt golf course. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) - Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC

There are two predominant races of this species:

• The western Audubon's race of which the bird above is a member, the yellow chin and the eye crescents are good indicators.
• The eastern Myrtle race commonly see east of the Rockies, it has a white chin, a white eye line and is less dark around the breast.

There's also some intergrades where the birds have features of both races.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle?) - Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC

This bird has the Myrtle characteristics, but when the photo is blown up there is some yellow on the chin, so it may be an intergrade.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle?) - Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC

This photo was taken about 10 minutes later than the one above, but it might be the same bird. There definitely seems to be some yellow on its chin.

April 28 - Backyard Finches and Boundary Bay

We had a sudden influx of American Goldfinches on this day at the feeder. They temporarily displaced the usual Pine Siskins who hog the feeder.

American Goldfinches and Pins Siskin - Backyard, North Delta BC

American Goldfinches - Backyard, North Delta BC

I was quite happy with the last shot through the window.

April 28 - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

Later on that day, I made an evening visit to Boundary Bay to see if there were any interesting shorebirds around. Spring migration is fast moving as the birds are heading north to breed. They stop here to load up on biofilm to fuel the next stage of their journey.

Here's a teal that was reasonably close to shore.

Green-winged Teal - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

There were hundreds (perhaps a couple of thousand) of Dunlin but they were far out on the low tide. I did find some that were closer to the dike and used all the magnification that the Nikon gives me. I believe these are both Dunlin, the top in breeding plumage for sure, the lower looks like a youngster still in Basic plumage.

Dunlin  - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

This bird is a Western Sandpiper in nice breeding plumage.

Western Sandpiper - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

2018 Bird #139