2020 Birding Blog: June 27 - Cheam Wetlands Regional Park and Great Blue Heron Reserve

I normally play golf on Saturday mornings and don't have many opportunities to bird-watch on those days. This week, we were not golfing until 2:30 PM and the location was Chilliwack.

I contacted my friend Mary-Jean as she lives near Chilliwack and has become an avid birder. We agreed to meet at Cheam, which she birds frequently. By going early, I had time to enjoy birding for a few hours with a friend and still get to the golf course on time.

Cheam Wetlands Regional Park

My last visit here had been in 2016 and I didn't even remember being here before. Upon arrival I took a couple of IPhone shots to capture the beauty of the location.

The parking lot looks out onto Cheam Lake.

Near the shore Red-winged blackbirds were nesting. I believe this is a female in very sharp plumage.

Red-winged Blackbird (F) - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

Overhead, I took a shot of a Bald Eagle, no doubt patrolling the lake for fish or anything else it could catch.

Bald Eagle - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

We spotted a River otter in the lake and we both attempted to get photos as it surfaced. It was difficult as it was unpredictable where it would come up next. These were my two best efforts.

North American River Otter

Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

I got part of the head on this one. The Otter only surfaces momentarily, and goes down quickly.

North American River Otter - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

We turned our attention to the birds and spotted this Swallow family perched on a branch over our head. I think this is one adult with three young birds.

Tree Swallows - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The next shot is much clearer, a good shot of a Willow Flycatcher. We also heard the fitz-bew call to cement the identification.

Willow Flycatcher - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

About 10 minutes later we saw a Yellow Warbler. It was on the move and my shots were not great. This one is a little fuzzy and the bird is partially obscured.

Yellow Warbler - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

And here's the backside of the bird.

Yellow Warbler - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

That rear end shot started a small streak of similar shots including this chickadee:

Black-capped Chickadee - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

And then a flock of Cedar Waxwings appeared, another read end shot.

Cedar Waxwing - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

These birds as so photogenic, here's a few more samples.

I had been hoping to see an Eastern Kingbird here. Mary-Jean knew where to look for them and pointed this one out to me. Unfortunately, the lighting was poor for my first of 2020 and my 100th species of the year!

Eastern Kingbird - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC - 2020 Bird #100

We saw a couple of more birds before leaving Cheam, first this Hawk flying overhead. This photo was quite dark, I lightened it up in post-processing. The colours may be somewhat off.

Red-tailed Hawk

Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The last bird was quite distant, a Trumpeter Swan. This bird was on the BC Rare Bird Alert, not because it is rare here, but almost all have migrated to breeding grounds in the north by this time.

Trumpeter Swan - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

This was the second location on our itinerary. It would be a short visit for me as I was playing golf at the nearby Chilliwack Golf Course. But we did have time to see a few birds.

The hummingbird feeder had both local species using the feeder. I can't decide if this Rufous is a female or an immature male.

Rufous Hummingbird - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

This next one is a bit of a mystery as well. When I took the shot I thought it was an Anna's, possibly immature. I'll still go with that based on the throat, the head shape and the posture.