Boundary Bay Birds # 250

August 30 2017 Boundary Bay Regional Park 104-88 St.

Delta, British Columbia

Sunny 84°F/28°C

Black-bellied Plover can be difficult to approach and are easily flushed.

I seemed the only birder on the bay, at least I couldn't see anyone else. The tides weren't good but that meant less people birding. Anyway, the most sensible would have stayed home with a cold beer but not me. The breeze off Boundary Bay was a welcome respite. There wasn't a bird in sight at 104 so I made my way to 96 where most of the migrating shorebirds have been reported. As I approached 96 I spotted the dreaded by-law officer ticketing a car. By the time I got there the birders/occupants had gone. Best park at 104 or 72. A ticket can cost $160

My goal was to find the three types of godwits had been reported for the past three weeks as well as a number of other species including Black-bellied Plover and various sandpipers, perhaps even get really lucky and find a Red Knot or Buff-breasted Sandpiper. All good birds to add to a year list.

Sanderling.

Around 6pm the sun began to loose some of its harshness and in front of me were a thousand or more ducks, a good selection of terns, gulls and sandpipers just waiting to test my identification skills or lack thereof. Sanderlings no problem, Western Sandpipers no problem but what about the dowitchers, were they long or short billed? The terns were Caspian, easily identified by their size and raucous calls. As it turned out I bumped into two young birders Logan and Liron who were able to ID the dowitchers for me, the nicest and most knowledgeable youngsters you'll ever want to meet.

Finally after an hour I found the first of the two rarer BC Godwits, the Hudsonian. The Marbled was nearby but in bad light for a decent photograph.

Juvenile Hudsonian Godwit.

Finally I caught up with one of the three godwits I had been adding to my year list. This is my 249 BC species for 2017.

Western Sandpiper

Sweet Light

 Moments before the sunset I found this small flock of Short-billed Dowitchers. It was a great way to end the day.

Short-billed Dowitcher

  All images taken handheld with the Nikon D500 and Nikon 200-500 5.6 zoom


Sept 2/17

As I write this I have just returned from Boundary Bay where I had a scope views of the Bar-tailed Godwit, my two hundred and fiftieth BC bird of the year. No photos but I had a fine time chatting with birder friends who I hadn't seen for a long time. 

"It's never too late to start birding"
John Gordon
Langley/Cloverdale
BC Canada