December 15 - Point Roberts Shorebirds

Here's a different post from Point Roberts, it only features some smaller shorebirds, no ducks, loons or cormorants.

For some reason there were a number of smaller sandpipers/shorebirds on site on this Saturday. The other usual birds were also present, but they have been featured many times recently. The common sandpipers at the rocky beach are Black Turnstones and Sanderling. they were both present on this day.

Turnstones get their name from their feeding behaviour, they turn over the stones on a beach looking for small crustaceans, mollusks and insects. The one below has found something...


Black Turnstone - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Only a minute later, it looks like the shell has been cracked open.


Black Turnstone - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

It's hard to get a good photo of this species as the dark head hides the eyes. This shot below is somewhat successful.


Black Turnstone - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

The other shorebird present today also likes the rocky shoreline. It is much different looking from the Turnstone.


Sanderling - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Here's the two of them together in a short video.

This video shows a couple of Turnstones in the surf.

And finally here's a video of a large number of shorebirds. I did not get an identification but I suspect they were mostly Sanderling.

That's it for this post, there may be one or two more visits to Point Roberts in 2018.

December 2018 - Backyard Birds

Here's a short post featuring birds photographed in our yard in December. One of them is an addition to my 2018 year list.

December 2

Downy Woodpecker - Backyard, North Delta BC - December 2018

House Finch - Backyard, North Delta BC - December 2018

December 8

I had seen this Brown Creeper before as it's a regular in our yard. But I had not added it to my 2018 list and had no photo. I shot this through the living room window with the Nikon P900. It turned fairly well.

Brown Creeper - Backyard, North Delta BC 

2018 Bird #200

December 1 - Point Roberts, Tsawwassen and Boundary Bay

I had a productive time on the first day of December. I made three different stops as  you can see in the post title.

Point Roberts

Not too many bird photos taken here on this day, but the wind was up and  there were sailboats close to shore. The light was very good for some action photography.

The great thing about this location is the boats come close to shore as the bottom drops off very quickly.

There were the usual ducks around, mostly ignoring the sailboats nearby.

Harlequin Ducks - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Here's one more sailboat shot:

Tsawwassen - Beach Grove Lagoon

After getting a coffee at Starbucks in Tsawwassen, I visited Beach Grove Lagoon to see if I could get a better photo of the Ruff that had been in the area for a couple of weeks. I did spot the bird, but it was even further out from the dike than my last visit.

Ruff - Beach Grove Lagoon - Tsawwassen BC

I did get a nice action shot of a Harrier overhead...

Northern Harrier - Beach Grove Lagoon, Tsawwassen BC

Some nervous ducks took flight when the Harrier flew over...

Northern Pintail - Beach Grove Lagoon, Tsawwassen BC

104 St at Boundary Bay, Delta BC

I decided to try one more location, there had been some good shorebirds reported at Boundary Bay over the last couple of weeks. There were plenty of the common Dunlin, a medium sized shorebird flying around the Bay.

Dunlin - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

Another common bird here (and everywhere on the coast) is the Glaucous-winged Gull.

Glaucous-winged Gull -  Boundary Bay, Delta BC

There was some loud honking overhead as a group of Trumpeter Swans flew over...

Trumpeter Swan - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

As I was walking back to my car I had a man with his dog in front of me. The dog had found quite a treasure that it was attempting to carry home...

Unfortunately, it was a long walk and the stick was eventually abandoned.

There were some raptors in the area, including this immature Bald Eagle...

Bald Eagle (Imm) - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

Even when I got back to my car at the Boundary Bay Airpark, there were still birds to be seen. The Merlin is a smaller member of the Falcon family, kind of like the Peregrine's little brother or sister.

Merlin - Boundary Bay Airpark, 104 St,  Boundary Bay, Delta BC

As I left the Airpark, I spotted one last hawk on the wires overhead. 

Red-tailed Hawk, 104 St. Boundary Bay, Delta BC

December was off to a good start!

November 24 Part 2 - Brunswick Point

Brunswick Point is in western Ladner, south of Westham Island. It has a mix of farms and open foreshore. I headed west after crossing the bridge and parked in one of the spaces provided for visitors.

This shot shows the foreshore area.



I met up with a few other photographers and joined them for a while. They were there primarily to find and photograph Short-eared Owls.

The first bird spotted was a Northern Harrier, an active huter during the day.


Northern Harrier - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

Eventually a Short-eared Owl showed up and had some skirmishes with the Harrier.

Short-eared Owl and Northern Harrier - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

I have to admit I was seriously out-gunned by the other photographers. They had bigger lenses and much more expensive camera bodies. I'm sure they were getting better shots than the ones I took. But they were not really interested in anything other than the Owls. 

At one point I heard a familiar song more commonly heard in the Okanagan in springtime. It was a Western Meadowlark!

I was aware that they wintered in Delta, but did not expect to hear one sing. I tried to get a video of it singing but the bird was downwind from me and the recording did not turn out. However I did get a nice photo...

Western Meadowlark - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

I spotted another bird nearby. It was my second Northern Shrike of the day. These photos are better than the one I took at Reifel.

Northern Shrike - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

The Shrike appeared to be hovering here, but I could not find any reference that states that they can do this. I guess it's just the timing of this photo.

Northern Shrike - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

It appears to have spotted some prey and took off...

Northern Shrike - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

At this time of year there are thousands of Snow Geese resident in the Lower Mainland, many of them in Delta. There had been some noise coming from the Deltaport dock area, but suddenly it reached a crescendo. You can hear the high-powered cameras clicking away in the background...

Here's a photo that shows the numbers.

Snow Geese - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

This ended a very good day of birding at Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Brunswick Point.

November 24 Part 1 - Westham Island and Reifel Bird Sanctuary

After a soggy Thursday, the weather was much better on the last Saturday in November. I decided to take advantage of the good light and visit Reifel Bird Sanctuary. I was also thinking of visiting the nearby Brunswick Point later in the day.

Just after I crossed the Westham Island bridge, I spotted a raptor on a power pole alongside the road. I was able to pull over off the road and get some shots through the windshield with the Nikon. The bird turned out to be a Peregrine Falcon!

Peregrine Falcon - Westham Island, Delta BC

I zoomed in closer and had the feeling that the Falcon was looking at me.


Peregrine Falcon - Westham Island, Delta BC

I carried on the the Sanctuary used the Nikon to shoot a couple of movies featuring some common birds seen here.

First was some Mallards:

Next were some Black-capped Chickadees that seemed to be materializing in a spot where some bird seed had spilled.

Staying with the common birds, I took a couple of portraits of Song and Fox Sparrows.

Song Sparrow - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

Fox Sparrow- Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

And here's a close relative, the Spotted Towhee...

Spotted Towhee - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

I had reached the North Dyke trail which has a good view of the Purple Martin boxes out beyond the Sanctuary boundaries. Of course, all the Martins have migrated south by this time of year.

Near the viewing tower I took this photo of a woman hand feeding a Sandhill Crane. This seems like a dangerous practice to me as a good peck could pierce the skin. Feeding cranes  is illegal in Florida. 

Sandhill Crane - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

I continued along the West Dyke trail and spotted my second bird predator of the day, a Northern Shrike.You can see the hook on the bill, good for ripping a songbird open.

Northern Shrike - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

Far off in the distance I spotted what looked like a Raptor on a tree stump. I zoomed the Nikon out to maximum and took this shot. When I looked at it on the computer at home, I realized it was another Peregrine Falcon...or perhaps the same one as earlier?

Peregrine Falcon - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

On my return to the entrance of the Sanctuary, I took this shot of a pair of House Sparrows. Fon an invasive species, they are pretty darn attractive. The female is on the left.

House Sparrows - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

The last bird for this visit was the ever-elusive Black-crowned Night Heron.

Black-crowned Night Heron - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC

My birding day was not over, I decided to visit the nearby Brunswick Point back on the mainland side of the bridge. That's detailed in the next post.

November 22 - Boundary Bay Raptors on US Thanksgiving

This Thursday was the American Thanksgiving and I decided to take the day off to watch football and get out for some birding. It was a rainy day, so I limited myself to a morning visit to Boundary Bay.

I parked at 72 St and made my way north hoping to see some Owls and Raptors. There were no Owls on view on this day, but there were a couple of Raptors.

There is an electrical compound north of 72 St that often features a Rough-legged Hawk. Today was no exception. The rain was coming down hard at this point and the Hawk did not look happy.


Rough-legged Hawk - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

Here's a zoomed in shot using the Nikon.


Rough-legged Hawk - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

The only other bird seen on this soggy morning was a Harrier.


Northern Harrier - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

I took one last shot of the Hawk and headed home to watch football.

Rough-legged Hawk - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

November 18 - Rare Bird in Tsawwassen - visit to Blackie Spit

This is actually the second post for this date. I visited Point Roberts earlier in the day as detailed in my November post for that location.

Ruff at Beach Grove Lagoon

There had been a rare bird alert for over a week for a Ruff in Tsawwassen at Beach Grove Lagoon. This is an Eurasian bird that shows up occasionally on the West Coast. I saw my lifer in 2014 at Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

The alert specifically said it was a male, but that is a bit redundant as the female is known as a Reeve. However, in winter plumage the males and females are similar, although the males are quite a bit larger when seen together.

In breeding plumage, they are easy to distinguish. I suggest the reader use a Google search or Wikipedia to see what a male Ruff looks like in breeding season. I'm reluctant to violate copyright by posting an image here.

This was my second attempt to see the bird, the previous weekend it was present but hidden out of photo range. This week I was luckier and took a few acceptable shots.

Ruff - Beach Grove Lagoon - Tsawwassen BC

2018 Bird #199

In winter plumage, the Ruff is similar to our Yellowlegs and tends to associate with them. It has a shorter and darker bill than that species.

It also blends in very well with the background vegetation, making photography difficult from a distance.

Ruff - Beach Grove Lagoon - Tsawwassen BC

Blackie Spit

After seeing the Ruff, I headed east and then south to visit Blackie Spit near Crescent Beach. It was a nice afternoon with good light, but there was not much bird life to photograph.

There were quite a few Northern Pintail Ducks on the ponds.

Northern Pintail - Blackie Spit, Surrey BC

I'm sure I've photographed Cormorants on these pilings in the past.

Double-crested Cormorant - Blackie Spit, Surrey BC

Double-crested Cormorant - Blackie Spit, Surrey BC

This was the last stop for the day, the Ruff was definitely the highlight.