2020 Birding Blog: May 18, 2020

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.