2020 Birding Blog: 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

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.