Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Boundary Bay (Delta)
Weather: Sunny, 18–23°C
The first birding of August, just before the fall fliers1bird and consumer joke rolled into one start arriving.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
We started at Reifel, which was packed in the morning with both hardcore birders and their Very Big lenses, and assorted families and holiday goers (today is BC Day here in, well, BC).
We did a reverse of our usual route, which isn’t especially radical, but does give a slightly different view on things.
As expected, no fall arrivals have shown up early, but the barn swallows are still hanging around. In fact, we saw one actively maintaining a nest, so at least one more batch of babies is on the way.
Nic shot a billion swallows in flight. I shot a few and the results were not horrible, nor good, but somewhere in the middle. Horrigood.
Most of the ponds were devoid of any waterfowl, but we did see some:
- A pair of Spotted Sandpipers in the pond by the viewing platform
- A pair of Greater Yellowlegs in one of the small ponds east of the viewing platform
- A large group of Long-billed Dowitchers in one of the large main ponds
The dowitchers and sandpipers were not very close, alas, but the yellowlegs compensated.
Sparrows seemed to be mostly hiding from the sun, but some chickadees and House Sparrows were out. And we saw a scruffy young Yellow-rumped Warbler, who was just starting to show some of its yellow.
The geese had filthy mouths and fluff beards, but were well-behaved. A large gaggle on the shore past the marshland may have been migrating.
The oddest moment came when a bird of some sort flew directly over us on the outer dyke and landed on the trail ahead. The profile seemed to be a hawk of some sort, but having one land on the trail is very weird. It flew a bit into a shadier spot, and we got some photos before it…walked into the grass, then popped out and finally flew off. I correctly ID’d it as a Cooper’s Hawk because it’s one of the few I know are local.
And near the end we saw the Sandhill Crane family, so in all, a fine outing, even if many of the ponds are a little too green.
Boundary Bay
We originally went to Centennial Beach, but for some reason it was so busy the parking lot was full and backed up. Nice weather + holiday = overcrowded? Whatever it was, I finally relented and agreed to go to Boundary Bay. As always, the scenery was nice, but the tide was extremely low, so seeing shorebirds meant walking about a km across the mudflats to find some water and hoping for the best. We did not do this.
Instead, we walked a few km along the trail mostly populated by cyclists and a few people on horseback, and shot a lot of grasshoppers. We did see a few errant birds, such as some Cedar Waxwings, but that was it.
I am sated on this stretch of Boundary Bay for, let’s say, the next year. Or more. 😛
But overall, the weather was lovely (not too hot) and we saw some birds we don’t see often, so a good time was had.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted. Coming soon.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Barn swallow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Cedar Waxwing
- Collared Dove
- House Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- Belted Kingfisher
- Canada Goose
- Great Blue Heron
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Long-billed Dowitcher
- Mallard
- Sandhill Crane
- Spotted Sandpiper
Common:
- American Crow
- Rock Pigeon
- Various seagulls
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Northern Harrier
Non-birds:
- Assorted pollinators
- A red-eared slider (turtle)
- Woodland Skipper (approx. one million)