2018 Birding Blog: May 6 Part 2 - Lighthouse Marine Park

My next stop on this busy day was my usual visit to Point Roberts for gas and bird watching. the birding season here is ebbing as the birds migrate north for breeding, but I had good luck on this day.

The first bit of luck was catching a flock of Brant Geese flying by. These sea-going geese are always in flocks near salt water. About this time of year there is a Brant Festival on Vancouver Island.

Brant - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Another bird that travels in flocks is the Sanderling.There were a group of them flying around the foreshore looking for a suitable place to land for an midday nap. There were some people in their preferred spot, so they kept circling and coming back.

Sanderling - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Eventually they did settle on the rocky beach where their plumage blends in with the rocks. The brownish birds are closer to breeding plumage than the lighter coloured ones.

Sanderling - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

This is a bit tighter close-up:

And here's an individual bird:

Sanderling - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

There was another birder present and by this time we had joined forces. We were both shooting with Canon bodies. He had a Canon 100-400 zoom lens while mine is a straight 400 mm prime lens. At one point we traded lenses to see what the other felt like.

I felt good about buying my prime lens, it lacked some flexibility but weighed about 60% of what the other did.

There was a Pacific Loon quite close to shore and we turned our attention to that bird. Point Roberts is the only place I've ever seen this species, it is always awesome to see. This one is in full breeding plumage as far as i can tell.

Pacific Loon - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA - 2018 Bird #140

I took this with the Nikon and cropped it into an almost square frame. This bird amazes me every time I see it.