April 26 to 30 - Backyard Birds

As  April ended, I had been working from home for more than a month. Weekend outings were less frequent as many locations were closed. This blog features some shots taken from the balcony looking out into the Apple tree in our back yard. The tree was in full blossom, which made spotting birds harder, but made for some attractive results.

I've guessed at the identify of some of the birds seen, and have not counted them for 2020 if not totally sure.

Only the rear side seen here, but it is clearly a Bushtit.


Bushtit - Backyard, North Delta BC - April 26, 2020

This Downy Woodpecker has been a yard resident for a long time.

Downy Woodpecker - Backyard, North Delta BC - April 26, 2020

This is another rear end shot, but the identity is uncertain. I actually don't even know if this is the rear or front of the bird.

Unknown Bird - Backyard, North Delta BC - April 26, 2020

No problems with this bird, a Pine Siskin. We have an invasion of them every spring as a group of them monopolize our seed feeder.

Pine Siskin  - Backyard, North Delta BC - April 2020

We also have a flock of Bushtits residing on our property. They are primarily insect eaters, so they're not seen at the feeder. But they love the flower buds on the apple tree.

Bushtit - Backyard, North Delta BC - April 2020

Bushtit - Backyard, North Delta BC - April 2020

And yet another mystery bird on the last day of the month. I took nine shots of it. This one was the clearest. I think there's enough there to call it a Yellow Warbler. The reddish streaking on the breast is the mark I'm using for this call.

Yellow Warbler (?) - Backyard, North Delta BC - April 30 2020

2020 Bird #80

That ends April. Normally spring is the best time of the year for birding, but Covid has reduced my outings significantly. We''ll see what May brings.

As mentioned in the last post, it was created with a new version of Blogger. For this post I noticed there was button to switch to the "Classic" version. Production of this post was much easier, and the images are much larger when you click on one.

Easter Monday Walk on Boundary Bay

It was a nice sunny day with blue skies and I decided to head out for Boundary Bay. I wanted to walk a good distance without having to go all the way back to wherever I parked. So Edith agreed to come in our other vehicle. I parked at 104 St and then she drove me over to 96 St and dropped me off there. 

I was hoping to see shorebirds, but I was an hour or more late for high tide. So I just enjoyed the walk and took photos of the more common birds I saw. The first one was this immature Bald Eagle.

    

Bald Eagle (Imm) - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

It was no surprise to see a Great Blue Heron, they are very common along the Bay.

    Great Blue Heron - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

My next sighting was a first for 2020, the mid-sized falcon named the Merlin! 

Merlin - Boundary Bay, Delta BC - 2020 Bird #76

A short while later, I saw this creature crawling over the rocks, something the Merlin would have been interested in. If anyone knows what this is, let me know. I thought maybe a kitten, but the rear legs seem wrong.

Upon receiving my bi-monthly Marsh Notes magazine from the folks at Reifel Bird Sanctuary, I now have a possible ID. I believe this is a Mink, perhaps a young one.  

    Unknown Creature - Boundary Bay, Delta BC

I had reached 104 St and now needed to walk about a kilometre north to my car. As this sign shows, the road had a former name.

I saw a good collection of common birds as I walked to my car. I won't add too many comments on them.

    White-crowned Sparrow, 104 St. Delta BC

Bald Eagle, 104 St. Delta BC

Although they are very common, this was my first Brewer's Blackbird of 2020.

Brewer's Blackbird - 104 St Delta BC - 2020 Bird #77

Here's a couple of more shots of this species. The white eye always gives them a menacing look.

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And here's a female:

    Brewer's Blackbird  (F) - 104 St Delta BC

This American Robin was very colourful.

    American Robin - 104 St Delta BC

I'm pretty sure this is a male House Finch just coming into breeding plumage.

House Finch - 104 St Delta BC

And finally, the most common of birds just as I approached my car.

Northwestern Crow - 104 St Delta BC

That ended this outing. The frequency of getting out would decrease due to the Covid-19 Pandemic over the next month or two.

One final note, if this post looks somewhat different, it's due to a major update by Google of the Blogger product. I'm sure they've added cool functionality, but they've made simple things like uploading images and formatting text more cumbersome. Maybe, i'll get used to it.

April 4 and 5 - Colony Farms Regional Park

With most places shutdown , I decided to try this regional park in Port Coquitlam. There had been reports of Mountain Bluebird here, which is a story in itself. I'll just say that that bird is still missing from my 2020 list as write this in May.

I was there on the Saturday and Sunday on this weekend.

The park is quite large with a network of trails that take you into different areas of the park. It is divided by the Coquitlam River and has a good marsh habitat along one trail. This is where the bluebirds had been spotted.


Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

I made my way to the marsh area where  the bluebirds had been seen. On the way I saw a few birds.


Golden-crowned Sparrow - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

I'm always happy to see a Kestrel. but the local birds are not too pleased.

American Kestrel - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

I've said a lot in my posts about Gadwall being one of my favourite ducks. They were common here and I had to take a few shots.

Gadwall - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

Gadwall - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

And here's a female:

Gadwall  (F) - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

Once I reached the Marsh area, there were a few good photo opportunities.

Bufflehead - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

And in a marsh there are always Blackbirds, especially these ones.

Red-winged Blackbird - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

I checked all the nesting boxes but they were all occupied by Tree Swallows . I was informed by a local expert on my next visit that they Bluebirds don't nest here, they just stop over on their way south.

Tree Swallow - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

The Gadwall liked this small lake.pond in the marsh:

Gadwall - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

Across the lake, someone pointed out some Turtles on the far shore. I was able to get this shot with my my telephoto lens.

Western Painted Turtle - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam BC

One final scenery shot as i left, looking north. This might be Coquitlam Mountain, but I'm open to corrections.

With most places being closed, I'd be back here in subsequent weekends.

Footnote:

One one of these days, while I was being told the Mountain Bluebirds had moved on, there were two people about 100 meters away looking at some. By the time I got there, they were gone.!