Ignoring the Weather Forecast Pays Off!

Oct 20 2014 Boundary Bay/Blackie Spit. Overcast with sunny breaks

It was supposed to be pouring rain all day!

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

I arrived at the base of Delta's 112 St flood tide. Out in the bay thousands of Northern Pintail, Mallard and American Wigeon were feeding. Keeping them company were hundreds of Black-bellied Plovers, a single American Golden Plover, numerous Western Sandpipers, Sanderlings and perhaps two thousand Dunlin.

As the tide rushed in something spooked the flock, most of the sandpipers and plovers flew off. I knew it was time to leave when a beachcomber and dog arrived on the scene. I decided to visit nearby Crescent Beach and Blackie Spit which is a only a ten minute drive away. I had heard there was a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper among the peeps.

A flock of Dunlin and a few Black-bellied Plover are spooked by a Bald Eagle but soon come back to rest.

As the tide rose a dozen Greater Yellowlegs and about 30 Least Sandpipers began to feed quite close to the pathway that leads out to the end of the spit. American and Eurasian Wigeon (possibly hybrids) joined the sandpipers to feed on the submerged grasses.

Dunlin and Least Sandpipers flock together.
Note some of the birds have yellow legs, they are the Least Sandpiper our smallest sandpiper. There is one at the top of the frame as well as a few others.

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

From a distance I thought I had found the Sharp-tailed but as it immersed into the open the speckled breast gave it away as being a pec. Better luck next time.

Marbled Godwit in flight. I'm not too sure what the other bird is, perhaps a Dunlin?

Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)

All in all it was a great day outdoors and had I listened to the weatherman I would have stayed home and missed out on a glorious afternoon. It was just one of those quiet days out in nature, hardly a thought to bother me, oblivious of everything except the birds. Life can be sweet at times!

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon
Langley/Cloverdale

Blackie Spit (Parrots and Hawks)

6.06 a.m. Aug 16th, 2012 Blackie Spit, Crescent Beach, Surrey
The sun had just risen and with the Lower Mainland experiencing a sweltering heat wave the "sweet" morning light is the best and only time for bird photography. It's just way too hot!
The tide was beginning to ebb and twenty or so Caspian terns could be heard laying claim to a newly exposed sandbar. Suddenly out of nowhere, a Cooper's hawk unsuccessfully chases down a very young rabbit. To my left a Savannah sparrow perches on a withered Yarrow stalk and then a very strange call I hadn't heard before. I thought it was a Stella's jay mimicking so when a parrot like bird glides past, its long yellow-green tail and prominent orange beak catch both my and the Cooper's attention. The Cooper's and the parrot both take off in the same direction,  I fear for the parrot but they perch in different trees. Although not too tame, I eventually was able to get close enough to fill the frame (see below)
Either this is a case of global warming or most probably an escapee, but aren't parrots from way down by the equator! I wonder if it had hitched a ride up on the back of one of Vancouver's Brown pelicans! At present the bird is adapting to the freedom that all birds should have, hanging around the many fruit trees that have been planted at entrance to the spit.
Meanwhile I have sent a picture to the Peace Arch News to see if anyone recognizes their pet, catching it will be another matter!
On a recent trip to Richmond Park just out side London, hundreds of Ring-necked parakeets have adapted to the sometimes harsh UK winter and have become somewhat of a nuisance, taking nesting sites from woodpeckers and other cavity nesters.
Perhaps this bird will find a home here but I don't know if I would put money on it! .

The  young Cooper's hawk wonders where the rabbit has gone.

The Blackie Spit parrot (Beautiful plumage)