Hope for Birds

Nov 5/15 Hope Airport Fraser Valley BC Mixed clouds and sun 8c

The original plan was to search for Ptarmigan on local mountains east of Hope but the snow was just too thick to make any headway. We decided to return to Hope where the sun was out and the ground dry. We first checked out the sewage lagoon and creek that runs into the Fraser River just east of the airport. Our first sightings were a distant American Dipper, a Peregrine Falcon, a Red-tailed Hawk and numerous Bald Eagles.
Walking around with the Nikon 200mm-500mm allows me to shoot much like a street photographer unencumbered by a tripod. I love the freedom to shoot record shots like the ones you'll find in this blog. These are the views that birders might see on their excursions.

American Dipper.

American Kestrel patrols the airport.

This Mountain Bluebird found just west of Airport Road caught plenty of large grubs from a farmers field. Check the fence poles where it has been leaving its mark.

A pleasant surprise, a Nashville Warbler. Not what  I expected to find but a welcome addition to my goal of 300 Canadian species for 2015.

A tricky customer which wouldn't sit still. I also photographed a Palm Warbler in the same bush but didn't realize it until I sifted through my files when I returned home.

A flock of Pine Siskins feast on Alder seeds.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

Cheam Wetlands

I cannot believe I had never visited Cheam Wetlands just East of Chilliwack. We only had an hour of decent light in which time the thirty or so Trumpeter Swans already on the lake were joined by a further 120, quite an evening as the sun peeked out for one last time from behind the only cloud in the sky.

A newly arrived family of Trumpeter Swans

Sunset and Trumpeter Swans.

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

BC Canada