Blackie Spit Bird Count Dec 18th 2014

Dec 18 2014 Blackie Spit, Crescent Beach Surrey BC

On Thursday I joined small group of birders at Blackie Spit. Despite the wind and rain there were plenty of birds. Gareth Pugh leads a trip to the South Surrey spit every Thursday at 1p.m.
The ad hoc group meets at the small pier near the parking lot. Newcomers are always welcome, just bring a cheerful disposition.
I add Gareth's bird list here out of interest for readers who may or may not have visited Blackie Spit Park Nature Trails or who are just interested in which winter species occur there. Spring and Fall birding can be realy good with numerous species of warblers passing through. Occasionally a Solitary Sandpiper can be found or a Horned Lark in the short grasses of the spit. In November I photographed three Snow Buntings and recently a single Bohemian Waxwing was spotted. One bird I had hoped to see on this visit was the Surfbird after one had been spotted on last weeks walk. I was in luck.

Full frame handheld shot with Nikon D7100 and Tamron 150mm-600mm zoom.
I cropped in to see more detail (Below) to confirm indentification. Photographed in the Farm slough at high tide.

The walk for me was a special one as I added a surfbird to my life list. Surfbirds are usually found near rocks so it surprised quite a few of us that it could after a few weeks still be found in the marsh habitat. Thumbs up to White Rock birder Leona Breckenridge who first spotted the bird few weeks ago. She and her crew hope it will still be around for the White Rock CBC Dec 28th.

Surfbird (Aphriza virgata)
This is good enough for ID purposes but I wouldn't want to print it. However when blogging you can get away with anything! 

Anyway I am glad I braved the wind and rain and joined the group at the spit. As for photography logistics the Tamron stayed in a sling bag for all but ten minutes of the two hour walk, only coming out to grab this shot from about 60 metres away. The Canon SX50HS or 60 would have had a greater reach but the image quality would have been much, much less.

 Below is the list Gareth submitted to ebird.

Marbled Murrelet	0
Pigeon Guillemot	0
Canada Goose	0
Brant	0
Mute Swan	0
Wood Duck	0
Gadwall	0
Eurasian Wigeon	14
American Wigeon	400
Mallard	54
Northern Shoveler	0
Northern Pintail	250
Green-winged Teal	92
Canvasback	0
Greater Scaup	0
Lesser Scaup	0
Ruddy Duck	1
Surf Scoter	1
White-winged Scoter	0
Black Scoter	0
Long-tailed Duck	3
Bufflehead	3
Common Goldeneye	4
Barrow's Goldeneye	0
Hooded Merganser	0
Red-breasted Merganser	7
Common Merganser	0
Pacific Loon	4
Red-throated Loon	1
Common Loon	9
Horned Grebe	4
Red-necked Grebe	2
Western Grebe	0
Double-crested Cormorant	14
Great Blue Heron	2
Northern Harrier	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0
Cooper's Hawk	0
Bald Eagle	4
Red-tailed Hawk	0
Osprey	0
Black-bellied Plover	0
Killdeer	0
Greater Yellowlegs	17
Lesser Yellowlegs	0
Whimbrel	0
Long-billed Curlew	1
Marbled Godwit	5
Red Knot	0
Dunlin	0
Sanderling	0
Western Sandpiper	0
Least Sandpiper	0
Pectoral Sandpiper	0
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper	0
Spotted Sandpiper	0
Short-billed Dowitcher	0
Long-billed Dowitcher	0
Wilson's Snipe	0
Surfbird	1
Red-necked Phalarope	0
Mew Gull	1
Franklin's Gull	0
Ring-billed Gull	75
Glaucous-winged Gull	8
Western Gull	0
Bonaparte's Gull	0
Parasitic Jaeger	0
Arctic Tern	0
Caspian Tern	0
Rock Pigeon	20
Band-tailed Pigeon	0
Eurasian Collared Dove	2
Mourning Dove	0
Anna's Hummingbird	0
Rufous Hummingbird	0
Belted Kingfisher	2
Downy Woodpecker	0
Northern Flicker	2
Pileated Woodpecker	0
Merlin	0
Peregrine falcon	0
Northern Shrike	1
Steller's Jay	2
Western Scrub Jay	0
Northwestern Crow	10
Horned Lark	0
Western Wood Pewee	0
Pacific Slope Flycatcher	0
Willow Flycatcher	0
Tree Swallow	0
Violet-green Swallow	0
Barn Swallow	0
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	0
Cliff Swallow	0
Purple Martin	0
Black-capped Chickadee	2
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	0
Bushtit	0
Bewick's Wren	0
Pacific Wren	1
Golden-crowned Kinglet	4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	0
Hermit Thrush	0
Swainson's Thrush	0
American Robin	3
Varied Thrush	0
European Starling	30
Cedar Waxwing	0
Bohemian Waxwing	0
Lapland Longspur	0
American Pipit	0
Snow bunting	0
Common Yellowthroat	0
Yellow-rumped Warbler	0
Wilson's Warbler	0
Yellow Warbler	0
Orange-crowned Warbler	0
Spotted Towhee	1
Savannah Sparrow	0
Fox Sparrow	1
Song Sparrow	4
Swamp Sparrow	0
Lincoln's Sparrow	0
White-crowned Sparrow	0
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1
American Tree Sparrow	0
Chipping Sparrow	0
Dark-eyed Junco	6
Red-winged Blackbird	20
Western Meadowlark	0
Brown-headed Cowbird	0
Western Tanager	0
Purple Finch	0
House Finch	17
Pine Siskin	0
American Goldfinch	0
House Sparrow	1
Black-headed Grosbeak	0
Total species	46	0	0

It's never too late to start birding

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale