August 18, 2020 - Chilliwack Birding at Camp River Wildlife Area and Great Blue Heron Reserve

 It's been a month since I last posted on this blog. Each weekend in between, there was some reason I didn't go birding. This post features a backyard bird first, and then a Saturday trip to Chilliwack to explore a new location with my friend Mary-Jean.

August 14

I finally got a shot of a bird seen and/or heard occasionally in our back yard. The one photo that I took was so poor, that I've substituted a shot taken in 2014 in the front yard.

    Steller's Jay - North Delta BC (2014) - 2020 Bird #104

August 18 -  Camp River Wildlife Area, Chilliwack BC

I finally had a free Saturday morning to go birding in Chilliwack with my friend Mary-Jean. She suggested we visit a new location that she had discovered by accident earlier in the week, the Camp River Wildlife Area. It is located on the north side of Chilliwack on a 21 acre property. It was dedicated as a natural area by the former owners and is now maintained by Nature Chilliwack. 

Here's a view from inside the reserve. Note: there some mowed paths for walking!

At first we were seeing only the more common birds as shown below:

    Black-Capped Chickadee - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

Pine Siskin - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

    American Goldfinch - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

Overhead there was a Turkey Vulture and a Red-tailed Hawk hunting for their respective prey. I didn't get a good shot of the Vulture, but did better with the Hawk.

    Red-tailed Hawk - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

We had seen some Willow Flycatchers initially and later saw and photographed what we thought was another one. But on closer looks at home, we bounced from Olive-sided Flycatcher and landed on Western Wood-Pewee.This was lifer for Mary-Jean and a 2020 first for me.

Western Wood-Pewee - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

2020 Bird #105

Here's one more shot of the Pewee.

We had a very brief encounter with the next bird. It was a Vireo, but I didn't ID it until looking at the photos at home the following day. It was a Red-eyed Vireo, another lifer for Mary-Jean and a year bird for me. It had just chased off a couple of other birds (I think Cedar Waxwings) and still looked threatening in this shot. 

    Red-eyed Vireo - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC - 2020 Bird #106

We've been seeing Cedar Waxwings all summer and this location was no different.

Cedar Waxwing - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

This one looks like a first year bird, with the more mottled feathers.

Cedar Waxwing (Imm) - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

The last bird photograph is a nice one of a common woodpecker.

   Downy Woodpecker - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

Hopefully, this dragonfly survives with all the hungry birds at this location.

   Dragonfly - Camp River Wildlife Area - Chilliwack BC

August 18 -  Great Blue Heron Reserve, Chilliwack BC

We had time to visit here before I left to play golf at the nearby Chilliwack Golf Club. This is a look at the visitor center from one of the paths on the reserve.

There were the usual House Finches at the feeders.

   House Finch (F) - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

This female Wood Duck was out on the pond.

    Wood Duck (F) - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

My last bird of the day was a Pied-billed Grebe. 

Pied-billed Grebe - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

Now it was time to go play a late afternoon round of golf to finish the day.