November 28 - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

Recently I've been birding with my friend Mary-Jean quite a lot. She lives at Cultus Lake near Chilliwack while I'm in North Delta. We've been taking turns on birding locations, this week we were close to her home turf in Abbotsford.

We started at Mill Lake Park. It was my second visit here, the first was to see the rare Cape May Warbler in January 2019.

That visit is detailed here: 2019 Birding Blog . We did not see anything as rare as the Cape May Warbler, but had a productive day.

The main feature of the park is the lake, and more of these photos show water birds, starting with the most common species.

Mallard - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

A common duck in Fall and Winter is the Bufflehead. Here's  two males in breeding plumage.

Bufflehead - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

And a couple more shots of the male:

And here he is taking off:

Bufflehead - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

Here's a pair of Mallards, I assume they are a mated pair.

Mallards - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

Mixed in with the ducks was a single Cormorant. I don't believe it was any threat to the ducks, it was likely a good spot for diving for fish.

Double-crested Cormorant - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

Back to the Bullheads, here is a female:

Bufflehead (F) - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

And this is what the water looked like seconds later after she dove.

Another common bird was the American Coot. It's not related to ducks, it's more closely related to Rails and Herons.

American Coot - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

I quite like this shot of a female Mallard having a stretch:

Mallard (F) - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

One last duck before we reached an area where the shoreline was not accessible.

Ring-necked Duck (F) - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

As we circled we came across a couple of Monkey Puzzle Trees, quite a unique looking tree.

It seems like I can't go birding anywhere without seeing Ruby-crowned Kinglets, not that I mind.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

It looks spooky in this shot.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

Also present were the irruptive Pine Siskins. They will show up in numbers wherever there is suitable food to eat.

Pine Siskin - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

They're quite comfortable eating upside down.

We were back to the open lake and I got some good shots of Northern Shovelers. This shot of a female shows the straining behaviour they use for feeding.

Northern Shoveler (F) - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC

And here she is employing the technique.

By this time a second Cormorant was present. I took this shot just before left for our next Abbotsford destination.

Double-crested Cormorant - Mill Lake Park, Abbotsford BC