Where: Iona Beach Regional Park and Terra Nova (Richmond) Weather: Sunny, 23-27C
The Outing
Deferring our pilgrimage to the heron refuge in Chilliwack one more time, we stayed local and still saw herons, plus heron drama. It seems no body of water is big enough for some herons to share with others.
We started at Iona Beach and I had a plan–a second pair of sneakers to wear, so I could get them muddy and wet and still have a nice dry pair waiting in the car after. I also had bug spray to prevent a repeat of the Episode of Many Bites from the previous summer. Between the bug spray and sunblock, I was assured that every piece of sand would glue itself to my exposed skin. Which it did.
But no bites and no burn!
As is nearly always the case, the tide was extremely low and after going through the wooded area near the river, where we saw flycatchers, sand wasps, goldfinches, a bazillion dragonflies and more, we moved onto the tidal flats, where the sand was unusually firm1Obligatory “That’s what she said” joke here, affording us a sense of security that would later partly betray us as we did a big loop out into the area north of the jetty, only to encounter much muckier and slipperier sand as we approached the beach. We both stayed upright and my feet never got wet, though. I love it when a plan works.
At Terra Nova, the birds were fewer, including a few seagulls, distant herons and some more furtive goldfinches (Nic got nice shots, I got shots). I did get a decent pic of a seaplane, though! And the views are always nice.
I did some experimentation with adjusting ISO on the fly this time, and it looks like it somehow got stuck at a setting a few times that was way too high, blowing out several images (easily fixed in post, however). I may have to read the documentation.
Despite the heat (both areas offer little shelter from the sun), it was a perfectly pleasant outing. Who knows what setting on my camera I will next figure out how to sort of use?
The Shots
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Blackbird
- Brown-headed cowbird
- Goldfinch
- Flycatcher
- Northern flicker
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- Swallow (could not ID which type)
- White-crowned sparrow
Waterfowl:
- Mallard
- Great blue heron
Common:
- Crow
- Seagull
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
Non-birds:
- Sand wasps (roughly one million)
- Dragonfly (several types)
- Grasshopper
