June 27 - Cheam Wetlands Regional Park and Great Blue Heron Reserve

I normally play golf on Saturday mornings and don't have many opportunities to bird-watch on those days. This week, we were not golfing until 2:30 PM and the location was Chilliwack.

I contacted my friend Mary-Jean as she lives near Chilliwack and has become an avid birder. We agreed to meet at Cheam, which she birds frequently. By going early, I had time to enjoy birding for a few hours with a friend and still get to the golf course on time.

Cheam Wetlands Regional Park

My last visit here had been in 2016 and I didn't even remember being here before. Upon arrival I took a couple of IPhone shots to capture the beauty of the location.

The parking lot looks out onto Cheam Lake.

Near the shore Red-winged blackbirds were nesting. I believe this is a female in very sharp plumage.


Red-winged Blackbird (F) - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

Overhead, I took a shot of a Bald Eagle, no doubt patrolling the lake for fish or anything else it could catch.


Bald Eagle - Cheam Lake Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

We spotted a River otter in the lake and we both attempted to get photos as it surfaced. It was difficult as it was unpredictable where it would come up next. These were my two best efforts.

North American River Otter

Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

I got part of the head on this one. The Otter only surfaces momentarily, and goes down quickly.

North American River Otter - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

We turned our attention to the birds and spotted this Swallow family perched on a branch over our head. I think this is one adult with three young birds. 

Tree Swallows - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The next shot is much clearer, a good shot of a Willow Flycatcher. We also heard the fitz-bew call to cement the identification.

Willow Flycatcher - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

About 10 minutes later we saw a Yellow Warbler. It was on the move and my shots were not great. This one is a little fuzzy and the bird is partially obscured.

Yellow Warbler - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

And here's the backside of the bird.

Yellow Warbler - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

That rear end shot started a small streak of similar shots including this chickadee:

Black-capped Chickadee  - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC 

And then a flock of Cedar Waxwings appeared, another read end shot.

Cedar Waxwing  - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC 

These birds as so photogenic, here's a few more samples.

I had been hoping to see an Eastern Kingbird here. Mary-Jean knew where to look for them and  pointed this one out to me. Unfortunately, the lighting was poor for my first of 2020 and my 100th species of the year!

Eastern Kingbird  - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC  - 2020 Bird #100

We saw a couple of more birds before leaving Cheam, first this Hawk flying overhead. This photo was quite dark, I lightened it up in post-processing. The colours may be somewhat off.

Red-tailed Hawk

Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

The last bird was quite distant, a Trumpeter Swan. This bird was on the BC Rare Bird Alert, not because it is rare here, but almost all have migrated to breeding grounds in the north by this time.

Trumpeter Swan  - Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, Chilliwack BC

Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

This was the second location on our itinerary. It would be a short visit for me as I was playing golf at the nearby Chilliwack Golf Course. But we did have time to see a few birds.

The hummingbird feeder had both local species using the feeder. I can't decide if this Rufous is a female or an immature male.

Rufous Hummingbird - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

This next one is a bit of a mystery as well. When I took the shot I thought it was an Anna's, possibly immature. I'll still go with that based on the throat, the head shape and the posture.

Anna's Hummingbird (Imm?) - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

Although I'd seen one in my backyard about three weeks earlier, this was my first photo of a Black-headed Grosbeak for 2020.

Black-headed Grosbeak (F)

Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

A new bird for 2020 was the parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird. Happy to get it on the list. i'm glad it wasn't #100 for the year.

Brown-headed Cowbird - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC - 2020 Bird # 101

The final shot of the day was the title bird for the Reserve.

   Great Blue Heron - Great Blue Heron Reserve - Chilliwack BC

June 7 - Surrey Bend Regional Park

I had never visited this Metro Vancouver Regional Park before. It is located just north of Highway 1 on Highway 17. It is named for the bend that the Fraser River takes thanks to Barnston Island.

This map shows the park on the left.

Surrey Bend Regional Park, Surrey BC


I was hoping to see a reported Yellow-breasted Chat, a large Warbler that is rare in the Lower Mainland. It had been reported on one of trails in the park. Only one problem, the trail was flooded and difficult to access.

I did not succeed in seeing the Chat on this day. Here's a photo of one that I took in June 2016 at Vaseux Lake in the Okanagan.


Yellow-breasted Chat - Vaseux Lake, BC - June 2016

I did see a few birds, including my second Willow Flycatcher for 2020.The first photo is good for ID and not much else.


Willow Flycatcher - Surrey Bend Regional Park, Surrey BC

I like the next photo better as the Flycatcher ascends to the heavens, or up to the next branch.  It's overexposed but produces and interesting effect.


Willow Flycatcher - Surrey Bend Regional Park, Surrey BC

There were some Cedar Waxwings in the park, and as usual they were posing nearby. This is one of the most photogenic of species.

Cedar Waxwing - Surrey Bend Regional Park, Surrey BC

Another creature that makes for good photos are these colourful butterflies.

Swallowtail Butterfly - Surrey Bend Regional Park, Surrey BC

I did not succeed in seeing the Chat. It is still on the BC Rare Bird alert with last sighting on June 24.

June 6 to 26 - Backyard Birds

This post contains a selection of birds seen from our back porch in June. Most are Hummingbird shots, but there are a few exceptions.

June 6

Only one shot here of a Rufous Hummingbird. We have Anna's year round, but the Rufous only show up in late spring and early summer. This was the last Rufous recorded in the yard at the time this post was composed.

Rufous Hummingbird - Back Porch, North Delta BC

June 16

This next shot shows an Anna's male with its Nictitating Membrane closed over the eye. It is used to protect the bird from dust or liquid. I'm not sure why it was closed in this situation. This and subsequent shots were taken in our backyard Apple tree.

Anna's Hummingbird - Backyard, North Delta BC

Less than a second later:

Anna's Hummingbird - Backyard, North Delta BC

June 19

Here's a male Anna's doing some contortions while preening.

Anna's Hummingbird - Backyard, North Delta BC

All done and ready to go.

June 23

There's more variety on this day.

Black-capped Chickadee - Backyard, North Delta BC

Here's an Anna's male without light reflecting off the gorget.

Anna's Hummingbird - Backyard, North Delta BC

We have both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers in our backyard. I think this is an adult Downy.

Downy Woodpecker - Backyard, North Delta BC

And this one might be a recently fledged Downy. There's no red on the head of this one.

Downy Woodpecker (Imm?) - Backyard, North Delta BC

Next are a couple of Goldfinch shots. This might be a recently fledged bird as well, or maybe an adult in molt.

American Goldfinch (Imm?) - Backyard, North Delta BC

American Goldfinch (Imm?) - Backyard, North Delta BC

June 26

One more shot for this post, a House Finch in an interesting position. It's on the roof of our neighbor's brand new backyard work shop.

House Finch - Neighbour's Backyard, North Delta BC

That's all for June except for a separate post for a visit to Cheam Wetlands Regional Park on June 27. It will be posted soon.

May 31 - Blackie Spit and Serpentine Fen

I visited a couple of Surrey locations on this Sunday morning.

Blackie Spit at Crescent Beach

My target bird here was a  reported Great Egret seen from the end of the spit.  This bird had been reported for quite some time on the BC Rare Bird Alert for Vancouver and the Fraser Valley

As my luck would have it, there was no Egret to be seen, but there was an annoying man who was trying to tell me where to go see Eagles and dropping names like Bill Vander Zalm and telling me about the birds around his place. He eventually left and some nicer people came along, an older couple.

The lady said she thought she saw a Bonaparte's Gull on a sandbar. I put my scope on it and confirmed her sighting. I took a couple of photos and then the bird flew. I continued to take photos and the flight shots turned out better than the stills on the sandbar.

Bonaparte's Gull - Blackie Spit at Crescent Beach, Surrey BC - 2020 Bird #97

Here's the best of the flight shots. This appears to be an adult still in winter plumage. It should be molting into Breeding plumage soon.

Bonaparte's Gull - Blackie Spit at Crescent Beach, Surrey BC

There was nothing else to see at the spit, so I decided to try another location, also in Surrey.

Serpentine Fen

I mentioned the annoying guy, when he was telling me to go to Vander Zalm's place, he actually meant in behind Art Knapp's Plant Land, which is adjacent to Serpentine Fen. 

Upon entering the area, I was welcomed by a family of Geese. There were two adults and five  goslings.

.Canada Geese - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

One last look as they passed my by, the rearmost gosling seems to be curious about something.


Canada Geese - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

As I walked the trail in the Fen, I did see a few birds, but they were all Song Sparrows. They were willing to pose and I took a few shots of the individuals as I went along.This one appears to have caught a butterfly or moth.

Song Sparrow  - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

Song Sparrow  - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

Song Sparrow  - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

I saved the  best Song Sparrow shot for last.

I reached the south end of the Fen Boundary and was on the gravel road (44th Ave) along side the Fen.I came upon two Swallows on the telephone wires.

I recognized the one on the left as a Violet-green Swallow, but wasn't sure about the one on the right. Was it an immature Violet-green Swallow? It seemed bigger, so that was unlikely. 

After looking in bird books at home, I realized it was an adult Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

2020 Bird #98

I took quite a few photos of the two birds. I really like the look of the Violet-green Swallow.

Violet-green Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Violet-green Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Violet-green Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

And one more look at the other swallow.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Across the road from the Swallows were a pair of American Goldfinches in the bushes.

American Goldfinch - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

Close by was a female Goldfinch

American Goldfinch  (F) - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

American Goldfinch  (F) - 44 Ave. Surrey BC

On my way back to the Fen parking lot I saw two more birds:

Northern Shoveler - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

And one last Song Sparrow...

Song Sparrow - Serpentine Fen, Surrey BC

That was it for this Sunday, the Bonaparte's Gull and the two swallows were the definite highlights for me.