July 18 - Flycatcher morning at Cheam Wetlands

I had a late golf game again at Chilliwack and met up with my friend Mary-Jean early to do some bird-watching. The highlights of the day were flycatchers. I managed some reasonably good photos of a few species.

As usual, Cheam Lake was beautiful in the early morning light.

The first creature of the day was not a bird, but a mammal. There are a number of Rabbits roaming the park.

But the title of the post hints at Flycatchers and it didn't take long for us to spot and photograph the common Willow Flycatcher. 

    Willow Flycatcher - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The best way to identify this species is by its call, a two-syllable fitz-bew. The white throat and the bill colours (Orange underneath and Black on top) are also good field marks.

I  don't normally associate American Goldfinches with water, but this one seems to have an affinity for H2O.

   American Goldfinch - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

A commonly seen bird at Cheam is the Cedar Waxwing. If you see one, you know there am many more around the park.

   Cedar Waxwing - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

As always, there were Mallards on the lake, this female looks somewhat bedraggled, perhaps from raising a brood of ducklings recently.

   Mallard (F) - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

When we arrived at the end of the Western Loop trail, i was able to use my telephoto lens and get a reasonably good shot of the resident Trumpeter Swan. It was still on the rare bird alert as the only member of its species who had not gone north for breeding.

   Trumpeter Swan - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

Our next sighting was a larger flycatcher, the somewhat misnamed Eastern Kingbird. Although the Western Kingbird is restricted to the West, the Eastern can be seen in the Lower Mainland of BC on occasion. We always see at least one here at Cheam, about 100 km east of Vancouver.

  Eastern Kingbird - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The next photo is a common bird in an unusual pose.

                            American Robin - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The next two shots feature on of my favourite birds, a Belted Kingfisher darting over the lake.

Belted Kingfisher - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

Next are a couple of more shots of Cedar Waxwings, a truly photogenic bird.The second bird looks like a recently fledged juvenile.

   Cedar Waxwing - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

   Cedar Waxwing (Imm) - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

We encountered a couple more flycatchers, these one both appear to be Willows'.

    Willow Flycatcher - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

I took the next shot without really knowing what i was shooting. it appears to be a Marsh Wren taking a dust bath, probably to remove parasites.

    Marsh Wren - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

This next shot of a turtle swimming is one I quite like.

    Western Painted Turtle - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

As we were walking the South loop trail, we noticed a flycatcher high above moving around in the upper part of a large tree.It did not appear to be a Willow flycatcher, as the call was wrong. After looking at the photos, i believe this was a Hammond's Flycatcher.

    Hammond's Flycatcher - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

    Hammond's Flycatcher - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

If my ID is correct, this is species #118 for 2020 for me.I suspect it's a lifer for Mary-Jean.

I'm always on alert for Butterflies and got this shot of a Cabbage White along the same trail.

    Cabbage White Butterfly - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

Near the end of the trail, Mary-jean spotted  a possible Swainson's Thrush, a nemesis bird for me. I took a shot of a very murky shape in the bus, followed by this clear shot of a bird. I've concluded this is a juvenile Spotted Towhee, but there may have also been a Thrush in the area that eluded me.

   Spotted Towhee (Imm) - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The last shot of the day was another Cedar Waxwing, possible an immature bird.

   Cedar Waxwing (Imm) - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

It was now time for me to head for the golf course, I have not been back to Cheam again as I write this on August 7th, maybe next weekend i can get back there.