Reifel Bird Sanctuary
The Reifel Bird Sanctuary closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They finally reopened in late August with a new reservation system to control the number of people allowed in the sanctuary. I was able to reserve an afternoon slot on this day and invited my friend Mary-Jean to join me. She drove in from Chilliwack and we made our way to Reifel, arriving at 1:00 PM.
After checking at the gift shop, we headed for the Display Pond to check out the shorebirds. There were many Dowitchers, probably all Long-billed. They are more common on the West Coast than Short-billed. These were my first for 2020.
Long-billed Dowitcher - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - 2020 Bird #107
Here's another view. The bird in the back is still in breeding plumage.
Long-billed Dowitcher - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
The next birds seen are easily identified as the common House Sparrow. We don't see them in the Lower Mainland that often, but they were here in numbers.
House Sparrow - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Here's a shot of a male in breeding plumage.
House Sparrow - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Another common bird flew overhead in formation.
Canada Geese - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Chickadees are quite common at the sanctuary, this was the best shot of one for the day.
Black-capped Chickadee - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
The East Dyke trail is tree-lined on both sides and is the Sanctuary's best place to see songbirds. An example is this Yellow-rumped Warbler, possibly returning from the North and making its way south. The colouring indicates that it is a female.
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
There were a few Robins along the path, most seemed to have juvenile plumage.
American Robin - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Surprisingly, the next bird was a first of year for me. The pandemic really reduced my birding options for a good part of the year.
Eurasian Collared Dove - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - 2020 Bird #108
The next sequence of photos shows our most exciting action of the day. This appears to be a juvenile Brown Creeper that was climbing quickly up a tree. It was difficult to keep focus as the bird ascended.
Brown Creeper - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Brown Creeper - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
This was my clearest shot.
Brown Creeper - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
The last bird in this area was a female Wood Duck. The fact that it was on a tree indicates how they get their name.
Wood Duck (F) - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
We made our way down the center trail and visited the Southwest Marsh. While the display pond had featured Dowitchers, this location had good number of Yellowlegs. They appeared to be all Greater Yellowlegs as their bills were much longer than the depth of their heads.
Greater Yellowlegs - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Greater Yellowlegs - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Greater Yellowlegs - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC
Brunswick Point
We made a quick visit to this location which is quite close to Reifel. I haven't had much luck here in recent years, but Mary-Jean had never been here before.
We only saw a few birds, mostly swallows. There were a number of them on the wires overhead and they appeared to be immature Barn Swallows. But is seemed to us that the birds feeding them were Tree Swallows. We were probably wrong about that as the young were definitely Barn Swallows.
Barn Swallow - Brunswick Point, Delta BC
Barn Swallow - Brunswick Point, Delta BC
Here's an adult bringing food, I'm not sure if there was some conflict here.
Barn Swallow - Brunswick Point, Delta BC
And the last bird of the day was an American Goldfinch, possibly a juvenile.
American Goldfinch - Brunswick Point, Delta BC
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