September 6, 2020 - Chilliwack Birding Part 1

 It It was the Labour day long weekend so I figured that Sunday would be the best day to travel to Chilliwack for some birding with my friend Mary-Jean. I was right about the traffic, it was moderate in the morning and the return trip in the afternoon was not too bad.

Our first stop was here:

 

From the parking lot we saw our first birds of the day, there was quite a size discrepancy between them.

Wood Duck and Great Blue Heron - Cheam Lake Wetlands, Chilliwack BC

A trio of birds flew from behind the lake and I snapped a couple of quick photos for later (mis)identification. Upon seeing the shots at home, I was quite sure they were Roseate Spoonbills based on the shape of the bill and a bit of pink colouring on the underside. When I got home, I sent them to our local E-Bird administrator and she corrected the ID for me, they were Northern Shovelers, a common local species. I'd never seen the underside of the bill on these ducks before.

Northern Shovelers - Cheam Lake Wetlands, Chilliwack BC

This was a cropped close-up of the bottom two ducks. You can see the bill shape with this shot.

We took the longer loop trail which took us close to the lake. Herons and Wood Ducks were the common birds of the day.

Mary-Jean spotted a small bird in a tree along this path and I got a pretty good shot of it. I believe it was a Willow Flycatcher.

Willow Flycatcher - Cheam Lake Wetlands, Chilliwack BC

As well as birds, there are amphibians to be seen, including this frog. Unfortunately, I don't know the species. 

Frog - Cheam Lake Wetlands, Chilliwack BC

I was able to identify the next species, a Belted Kingfisher. I'm pretty sure it's a male (which are the drabber of the two sexes with this species).

Belted Kingfisher - Cheam Lake Wetlands, Chilliwack BC

Continued in Part 2