November 28 Part 2 - Wilband Creek Park

 We travelled from Mill Lake Park to this location, with one stop at a 7-11 for a bathroom stop. Upon arriving at Wilband. I realized I was missing my binoculars. We returned to Mill Lake and then the 7-11, but the binoculars were not found at either location. We carried on with our visit here and I tried to forget about the binoculars. 

In the parking lot at Wilband, we were greeted by a flock of House Finches.

House Finch - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

The next bird was much more exciting, one of my favourites, a Merlin.

Merlin - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Fortunately, it landed on a tree nearby.

Merlin - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Willband is quite large and was a good walk. We made a quick stop at a large pond and saw this duck, probably my favourite Merganser.

Common Merganser - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

We walked the loop through the park and saw a good variety of birds:

Great Blue Heron - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Great Blue Heron - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Trumpeter Swan - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

On a much smaller scale were these Bushtits, part of a flock.

Bushtit - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Bushtit - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Here's an odd couple of Americans, a coot and a Wigeon.

American Coot and American Wigeon (F) - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

By this time were were on the large viewing platform overlooking a large body of water. There were hundreds, if not thousands of birds on the water.

I concentrated on individual birds that were close or I didn't have many shots of in 2020.

Pied-billed Grebe - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Common Merganser - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Common Merganser - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Here's some Canada Geese leaving the scene.

Canada Geese - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

Just like at Mill Lake Park, this Cormorant seems to enjoy the company of ducks. 

Double-crested Cormorant, Bufflehead, American Wigeon and Mallards.

This is a nice clear shot of a male Ring-necked Duck. You can kind of see the faint purple ring on the neck.

Ring-necked Duck - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

The Trumpeter Swans decided to join the fray, creating havoc with the smaller birds.

Trumpeter Swan - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

As we left the park, the light was getting low and there were some beautiful reflections on the water wit a lone female Bufflehead.

Bufflehead (F)  - Wilband Creek Park, Abbotsford BC

This was the end of a great day of birding, marred by the loss of my binoculars. But they were getting older. This will allow me to buy a better pair that I can use going forward.