May 31 - Blackie Spit and Serpentine Fen

I visited a couple of Surrey locations on this Sunday morning.

Blackie Spit at Crescent Beach

My target bird here was a  reported Great Egret seen from the end of the spit.  This bird had been reported for quite some time on the BC Rare Bird Alert for Vancouver and the Fraser Valley

As my luck would have it, there was no Egret to be seen, but there was an annoying man who was trying to tell me where to go see Eagles and dropping names like Bill Vander Zalm and telling me about the birds around his place. He eventually left and some nicer people came along, an older couple.

The lady said she thought she saw a Bonaparte's Gull on a sandbar. I put my scope on it and confirmed her sighting. I took a couple of photos and then the bird flew. I continued to take photos and the flight shots turned out better than the stills on the sandbar.

Bonaparte's Gull - Blackie Spit at Crescent Beach, Surrey BC - 2020 Bird #97

Here's the best of the flight shots. This appears to be an adult still in winter plumage. It should be molting into Breeding plumage soon.

Bonaparte's Gull - Blackie Spit at Crescent Beach, Surrey BC

There was nothing else to see at the spit, so I decided to try another location, also in Surrey.

Serpentine Fen

I mentioned the annoying guy, when he was telling me to go to Vander Zalm's place, he actually meant in behind Art Knapp's Plant Land, which is adjacent to Serpentine Fen. 

Upon entering the area, I was welcomed by a family of Geese. There were two adults and five  goslings.

.Canada Geese - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

One last look as they passed my by, the rearmost gosling seems to be curious about something.


Canada Geese - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

As I walked the trail in the Fen, I did see a few birds, but they were all Song Sparrows. They were willing to pose and I took a few shots of the individuals as I went along.This one appears to have caught a butterfly or moth.

Song Sparrow  - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

Song Sparrow  - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

Song Sparrow  - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

I saved the  best Song Sparrow shot for last.

I reached the south end of the Fen Boundary and was on the gravel road (44th Ave) along side the Fen.I came upon two Swallows on the telephone wires.

I recognized the one on the left as a Violet-green Swallow, but wasn't sure about the one on the right. Was it an immature Violet-green Swallow? It seemed bigger, so that was unlikely. 

After looking in bird books at home, I realized it was an adult Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

2020 Bird #98

I took quite a few photos of the two birds. I really like the look of the Violet-green Swallow.

Violet-green Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Violet-green Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Violet-green Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

And one more look at the other swallow.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Across the road from the Swallows were a pair of American Goldfinches in the bushes.

American Goldfinch - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Close by was a female Goldfinch

American Goldfinch  (F) - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

American Goldfinch  (F) - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

On my way back to the Fen parking lot I saw two more birds:

Northern Shoveler - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

And one last Song Sparrow...

Song Sparrow - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

That was it for this Sunday, the Bonaparte's Gull and the two swallows were the definite highlights for me.

May 30 - Saturday Morning at Iona Regional Park

The weather forecast for this day was poor, but it was quite pleasant early in the morning. I decided to try to beat the rain and headed out for Iona Regional Park in Richmond.I arrived around 8:30 AM and the weather was cloudy but dry.

I figured my best approach was to go directly to the main parking lot and do a tour around the Outer ponds. I could use the birder's gate at the the treatment plant to do a quick check there as well.

The first birds seen were all of the common variety.


Red-winged Blackbird - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC


American Robin - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

This pose is quite unique, I did not tilt the camera to take this.


Red-winged Blackbird - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

This looks like a young Tree Swallow to me, it seemed unfazed by my presence.

Tree Swallow (Imm) - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

And another bird in the grass, which is more expected for its species.


Spotted Towhee - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

And just before I entered the sewage treatment grounds, a nice look at a less common bird.


Cedar Waxwing - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

I ventured through the gate into the area called the inner ponds. Only two of the four ponds had any water. As was the case with my last visit a few weeks ago, there were some Teal and Mallards in the pond.


Mallard (F), Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

I went back out through the gate and heard a familiar call from a bird in a tree. The call I heard was fitz-bew (or something like that) making the bird a Willow Flycatcher.

Willow Flycatcher- Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC - 2020 Bird #94

I had time for only one photo as the bird was chased off by a Rufous Hummingbird.

Rufous Hummingbird- Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

I was now getting close to the the Northern Edge of the park, which looks out onto the Fraser River.

There were some Swallow boxes here and they appeared to be mostly occupied.

Tree Swallow- Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

There was some feeding activity at a different box.

Tree Swallow- Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

It looks like the parents were taking turns hunting.

Tree Swallow- Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

A much bigger nesting box was close by. I don't know if it was in use or not.

And there was a third type of boxes in use near the river for the Swallows bigger cousins, the Purple Martins.

Purple Martins- Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC - 2020 Bird #95

I wonder if these Martins know they have the best box.

Purple Martins- Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

I took some time to shoot a couple of other bird species before returning to the Martins.

American Goldfinch                                          Great Blue Heron

I was getting away from the river a bit walking alongside some trees. The Purple Martins decided to come and see me. This is my closest look ever at these birds.

Purple Martin - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

This guy has a military posture here.

He was getting ready to  grab a snack.

And I got one close-up of a female as well.

Purple Martin (F) - Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC

Later That Day

I was back at home and in the evening I saw a flash or Orange and Black outside in our back yard. I ran for my camera and then had trouble relocating it. I got only this very poor shot of my first Black-headed Grosbeak for 2020.

Black-headed Grosbeak - Backyard, North Delta BC - 2020 Bird #96

Here's a better shot of one taken on Grouse Mountain back in 2014.

That ends this post, the next one features Serpentine Fen in Surrey.

May 22 - Return of the Rufous Hummingbirds

After missing these birds last year, they are back. It may have been our trip to Italy in March/April 2019 and the resulting empty feeders that caused them to be absent. This year a a pair have come to our feeder.

The Anna's had temporarily disappeared, but have re-established their presence since I composed this post.

May 22, 2020

Here's photos and videos of both a male and female Rufous Hummingbird.

Rufous Hummingbird (F) - May 22, 2020 - 2020 Bird #86

And her video

Here's the male.

Rufous Hummingbird - May 22, 2020

And his video:

May 24, 2020

On this day a male Anna's Hummingbird was seen at the feeder. I assume this is the male from the pair that have been here all winter.

Anna's  Hummingbird - May 24, 2020

May 18, 2020 - Surrey Lake Park

I decided to try something different on this Holiday Monday and visit Surrey Lake Park. My last visit was over 3 years ago in February 2017. This visit lasted about 70 minutes and produced a good variety of birds, some of them firsts for 2020.

Upon entering the park the first area I encountered was a marshy wetland. There were the usual species expected in that habitat.

Common Yellowthroat - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

Here's a shot of the same bird in landscape format.

Common Yellowthroat - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

Another marsh resident is the appropriately named Marsh Wren.

Marsh Wren - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

Somehow I caught the bird with its eyes closed, the advantage of a 5 frames per second with a SLR camera.

Marsh Wren - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

I reached a fork in the trail where one path took you up a relatively steep hill (for Surrey) and the other was flat. I decided to make the climb and was rewarded just past the peak of the hill. A bird was singing high up in the trees. It took me a good number of shots to get a few good ones, and I was able to identify the bird as a Warbling Vireo. It certainly was living up to its name, it was singing up a storm.

Warbling Vireo - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC 

2020 Bird #91

 The bird was tricky to photograph as it was probably 60 feet above me and moving constantly in the foliage. I was really pleased with the way some of the shots turned out.

Warbling Vireo - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC 

Usually I post two photos for any bird, this one was worth three.


Warbling Vireo - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC 

The loop trail dropped back down to the level of the lake, and just before I hit the fork in the trail, i saw some birds in a clearing in front of me. The two species here were unmistakable and both firsts for 2020.

Western Tanager - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC 

2020 Bird #92

Western Tanager - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

And one more, I suspect this is an immature male, not a female.


Western Tanager - Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

And then some Cedar Waxwings showed up to complete the day.

Cedar Waxwing -  Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC - 2020 Bird #93

Cedar Waxwing -  Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

Cedar Waxwing and Western Tanager -  Surrey Lake Park, Surrey BC

That ended my day here, I won't wait another three years before visiting again.