Yeah, I still haven’t posted any pics from Saturday yet to the gallery, but to be fair, my PC was off most of the time since then.
As a stopgap, here’s a photo of the extreme low tide at Iona Beach, with bonus smoke haze. The perspective makes it seem as if the sea is drying up, all the way across the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver Island in the distance.
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta) and Iona Beach (Richmond) Weather: Smoke haze, 17-23C
The Outing
We started out bright and early, but with an ominous sign: Smoke haze from forest fires to the east was starting to turn the sky a white-gray. By the time we got to Reifel, the blue sky was all but gone.
Still, we saw birds!
It was windy as all heck, too, which made the first part of the morning a wee bit chilly, but not too bad overall.
We started by watching some geese go cuckoo over an apple, then moved on, slightly disappointed by the lack of winter migrants, but it’s still early. Mallards, geese and house sparrows were in abundance, with the latter two showing up in unusually large numbers at the London Slough.
From there, we didn’t see a lot for a while, but came across the proverbial jackpot, with a plethora of dowitchers and yellowlegs in a pond that is most often unoccupied. I suppose the lack of rain has created shallower conditions in this particular pond, just right for shorebirds.
We also finally lucked out in Chickadee Country with a bunch flitting around the viewing platform, after mostly just hearing them taunting us earlier on the trails.
A thing we noticed among the birds and birbs at Reifel: Many were molting, so everyone was looking extra scruffy, sometimes adorably so. The mallards and wood ducks were starting to show signs of their handsome breeding colours returning, so the shift from summer to fall is underway in Birdville.
We wrapped up with some shots of sandhill cranes, one of whom was gorging itself on whatever was in a big plastic Rona bucket. Another actually sat down, something we’d never seen before (except when nesting). Sometimes you just want to get off your feet.
Our trip to Reifel was bracketed at the beginning and end by…cows! In an adjacent field, not in the actual sanctuary itself. I’ve now shot both cowbirds and cows. (We did not see any cowbirds.)
From there we went to the Richmond Nature House, which was a complete bust, as the feeders are still empty. We completed our tour with a tour of Iona Beach, though the wind and bugs (which caused us to retreat quickly from the pond area to apply bug spray as they were biting into us with relish) made us less adventurous than usual. The wind was so brisk I had to wear my cap in reverse to keep it from blowing off, and pretend I was hip. We walked onto the jetty to the point where you can move up or down on the stairs, then turned back. Along the way, we saw some gulls and distant herons, but not much else. Back on land, we caught sight of some cormorants near the barges, but really not much else in terms of birds.
It’s funny how the combination of the wind and the encroaching heat haze made the day feel a bit weird and off. I was expecting it to be quite warm originally, and at times it didn’t even feel like summer.
Overall, though, I was pleased with the shots I got, but unknown to me, disaster was waiting in the wings (bird joke): The dial of doom.
Like most cameras, mine has a dial that lets you switch shooting modes. Like most dials, it has notches and requires a little effort to switch modes, so you don’t do so easily and perhaps capriciously. Today, I observed several times that the mode had gone from P to something else, like AV. Looking through the EVF, I spotted nothing amiss. I am unsure how the dial got switched, though did note that my right thumb sits very close to it when I’m holding the camera. I would like to think I’d notice if my thumbs was clicking the dial to a new position, but maybe not! Maybe my thumb is cursed, or evil. Or my camera is. Or everything is.
What it mean is that I took a bunch of photos that were complete, utter garbage, along with even more than were unusable, blurry messes, but in which you could still at least identify objects, like ducks and trees. I ended up losing over 150 photos because of this. I was not pleased.
But I’m also unsure what to do. I’ll adjust my camera, so every mode should give me good shots, but I’m still baffled at how the dial seemed to so easily turn. If I can software lock it to P, I will do that. If I can’t, I’ll just cry into my pillow. Then I’ll just keep checking to insure the dial is set to P.
That is my new mantra: Still on P.
Overall, then, this was a real mixed bag. I did get some good shots, so it wasn’t a complete disaster, but oof, how can I have had probably my worst day of shooting ever over two and a half years after I got my camera? Bleah!
The Shots
The rest Soon™, but here’s an Anna’s hummingbird to get started.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
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:
Waterfowl:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Iona Beach Weather: Sunny, around 18C or warmer
The Outing
With an unusually summer-like day forecast, we headed out mid-morning to Reifel, bedecked in t-shirts and shorts for the first time this year. I also brought sunblock, which proved to be very necessary.
Reifel was full of birds and full of people, many having booked no doubt due to the forecast, but the crowds thinned a bit after we’d been there awhile. The biggest changes we observed were:
After about four hours, we moved on to Iona Beach, where Nic wanted to find the elusive yellow-headed blackbird. We did see one, but did not get good photos (or in my case, any). Nic actually went back the next day on a Moby Dick-like quest and did get some shots. Even though he’s gotten great shots previously, so it’s not like it’s a lifer or anything. Weirdo! Or maybe he is assuming his final form as a Power Birder. First the yellow head, next the 600 mm lens.
We also saw a pile of warblers at Iona Beach. They were everywhere.
After journeying down the trails and past the barges, we agreed to walk across the tidal flats on the way back, as it would be quicker (in theory) and easier( in theory). It was neither!
But I found it strangely hilarious as the fairly firm sand gave way to increasingly mucky stuff, the kind that threatens to pull your shoes right off your feet. We never got our feet fully submerged, so I cal it a win. I also stuck to my plan to only take shots with my camera, and swapped out lenses several times for scenery shots and one poor ex-crab on the beach. A bit inconvenient compared to the phone, but my kit lens has some zoom capability, and it has a wider aspect ration, especially handy for the vast vistas of Iona Beach.
In all, it was a nice way to end the month, getting a nice preview of the warm summer weather to come.
And yes, I got a bit burnt in a few spots I missed with the sunblock. 😛
The Shots
Coming soon™.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl:
Raptors:
Common:
Non-birds:
The day was gray, and the sun only poked out a few times, but it was nice as always to get out among the birds. While the light was not always great, the birds often gave good pose to make up for it.
Here are a few of the photos I took.
And for now, I leave you with two blackbird photos, each weird in its own way.
We went birding to Iona Beach, Terra Nova and Garry Point today (all in the Richmond area) and saw snow geese at each spot, approximately 50 million of them, all honking and flapping and flying and pooping.
Here are just a couple of shots. I may pot more later.
Here are a few photos from Iona Beach. Despite a forecast of rain, it actually stayed dry nearly the entire time we were there. Nearly.
