Crescent Beach – Page 2

Birding, July 1 2023: Canada Day crowds, fuzzy birds and a desire to be carried

July 3, 2023

Where: Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest, Serpentine Fen, Crescent Beach (all in Surrey)
Weather: Sunny, 22C

The Outing

I went out with a minor bit of trepidation. A few days earlier I’d caught a bug from Jeff, but on Friday I was feeling fairly decent and got a lot of stuff done, so I was hoping some birding on Saturday would be fine.

I was mostly right. By the time we got to our third and final stop, Crescent Beach, I was beginning to flag. Despite asking really nicely, Nic refused to carry me out. I managed to get out on my own two feet.

As for the various locations:

Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest: The name is a bit of a misnomer, because most of the area is shrouded in semi-permanent shade due to the abundance of very tall trees. It’s great for that forest vibe, and is neat to walk off a street and into the middle of fairly dense woods. The Merlin app was going cuckoo, reporting as many as seven different species at once, yet we actually saw very few birds, most of them remaining high up in the trees or away from the trails. My shots here were not great, though I did get a couple of nice shots of some fungus and then, right as we were about to enter the parking lot to leave, a junco came out and did a bunch of posing for us. What a nice junco!

Serpentine Fen: It had been a while since we’d visited here and the weather was ideal–sunny, but not hot. It was very pleasant, and the area was lush, though the river was very low. We did see more birds here, including an abundance of geese and herons in the river. Songbirds were more elusive, but we caught sight of a wren, a Savannah sparrow and a few song sparrows. Strangely, no ducks at all–not even mallards in the ponds. Again, my shots were not great.

Crescent Beach: We arrived here around 3 p.m. and given that it was:

Canada Day
A Saturday
Gorgeous weather

The beach was very crowded. We could not find parking in the usual lot and ended up parking further away, near a café, and had to walk in from there. As we trekked across the beach and through the trails, I began to flag, but managed to stay upright. We again saw no ducks, but there were song sparrows, some herons and purple finches were in abundance. A cedar waxwing also made an appearance, as did some Savannah sparrows.

Yet again, my shots were not great. As we left, I pondered this. A lot of the birds were far away, and the lighting was often not great (shadows or bright sun), but there seemed to be more to it than just the specific conditions of the shoot.

Later, when Nic and I talked about it, I mused that my shots had been getting worse–blurrier–for some time now. I am cleaning the lenses and contacts regularly, so I didn’t think those were the cause. As Nic looked over my camera, he noticed that the EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) was blurry. I concurred, but had always figured that it was my eyes and not the EVF (my prescription for lenses is about two years old now). Nic consulted the internets and discovered where the diopter¹ is located. I’d known about this before, but had completely forgotten about it. Fiddling with it brought the EVF into sharp focus. It is very possible this was at least one of the major culprits of my shots not being as clear as they could be. I will find out more the next time I go out and aboot shooting birds.

In the meantime, and as a bonus, I have also discovered how to make quick exposure and ISO changes. I’m finally learning to use my camera two and a half years after buying it! Go me.

As for the outing, I put in 25,000+ steps, which was probably way more than my body was in condition for, but the weather was nice, and I was glad to be out.

The Shots

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

Blackbird
Chestnut-backed chickadee
Dark-eyed junco
European starling
Purple finch
Robin
Savannah sparrow
Song sparrow
Spotted towhee
Wilson’s warbler

Waterfowl:

Canada goose
Great blue heron

Common:

Crow

Raptors:

Bald eagle

Non-birds:

Bumblebee
Butterflies
Some dogs at Crescent Beach
A drone buzzing a farm building

Trees, birds, and pacing myself

July 1, 2023

I’m still recovering from a head cold or maybe the flu (who can say for sure?) but thought a gentle day of birding would be fine. I mean, it was, except that I walked way more than intended–over 24,000 steps. That was perhaps too much, and toward the end I was flagging pretty hard. Some food and rest later helped, but I haven’t felt this bagged in quite a while.

We hit three spots:

Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest
Serpentine Fen
Crescent Beach

Overall, my shots were not great, but I may have found out partly why–more later when I have more energy to typy-type.

For now, here’s a shot looking up in Sunnyside Acres, taken on my iPhone:

Birding, March 25, 2023 (Centennial Beach and Crescent Beach)

March 30, 2023

In which I got mercilessly pelted by hail.

Where: Centennial Beach, Crescent Beach
Weather: Clouds, rain, hail, sun, 5-7ºC

The Outing

More like CentenniHAIL Beach, amirite? (I am right, see below.)

After last weekend’s lovely spring-like weather (it was technically still winter), this outing’s weather was decidedly less lovely and winter-like (it was technically now spring).

We expected the morning to be cool and cloudy, and it was. We headed out, with the usual low tide, capturing a few shots on the vast mud flats before moving up the trails. We neared the end, having spotted a few of the usual suspects–golden crowned sparrows, wigeons and others. It started to get drizzly, which was not ideal, then the drizzle turned into an assault of hail. This was totally not ideal.

Fortunately, we were close to the 12th Avenue pump house, which has a nice covered area to hide under in situations like this. I assured Nic that hail never lasts, so it wouldn’t be long before we could venture out from under cover.

Fifteen minutes later, we were still waiting, with the hail varying between relentless and slightly-less-relentless. I have never seen such persistent hail. It started piling up like snow. I finally made the call to head out when the worst of it seemed to have stopped, so we headed back at a brisk pace, getting pelted for most of the way. As expected, the storm pretty much stopped by the time we were back where we’d started, so we took the opportunity to shoot some ducks, robins and Brewer’s blackbirds.

Still soggy, we headed out to our Plan B backup, Crescent Beach, noting, ominously, that it appeared to be clearing up everywhere except precisely where we were heading.

When we got to Crescent Beach, it was showering, so we sat in the car and waited. About 15 minutes later, the last of the rain passed and the sun came out and I was all yay!

The tide was out here, too, which was the first time I’ve seen it here, so the usual boat shots were not to be had, as there was literally no water for them to run through. We did see lots of gulls and some wigeons and green-winged teals, along with a rare group of Northern flickers clustering in a stand of trees. It was just nice to have a bit of sun, though.

The Shots