NAWA and More

March 1-6 Waterfront Park

Metro Vancouver District BC Canada.

I returned from sunny Mexico to snow. I know this sounds crazy but it was a relief. The scorching temperatures and 80% humidity of Southern Mexico was something else, the birding however was simply amazing. I hope to cobble together a few words and pix later.
Back home the number one priority was finding the Nashville Warbler (NAWA) that had been located at Waterfront Park adjacent to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. I had only ever seen one NAWA in Metro Vancouver and that was at Brydon Lagoon so a second sighting would be a treat and a really good year bird. I am not too sure who originally found the bird but it always amazes me how such rarities are found, either by design or accident. I'll put it down to enterprise and good birding.

The previous evening a cunning plan to find the NAWA was hatched with my neighbour and esteemed birding companion Carlo G. To help save the planet we would carpool. An added bonus was the chance to add a few more birds from nearby Lonsdale Quay to bolster my Metro Vancouver year list. 

Arriving at the park Carlo heard the chip, chip of the Nashville and bingo, there it was sitting atop the flowers of a Mahonia or Berberry. The plant is native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North and Central America and flowers early in the year. The NAWA was beautifully perched and I took seven frames while it fed on the protein rich nectar of the yellow flowers. The Japanese garden offers plenty of flowing plants at his time of year as well shelter from the elements.

Nashville Warbler

We spent all of ten minutes enjoying the bird before walking over to the quay. The target birds for the year list were Pigeon Guillemot and Pelagic Cormorant. Both were present.

Pelagic Cormorants

A Few Days Later

On our first visit we had missed the Orange-crowned Warbler that had been keeping the Nashville company all winter. This time we waited less than a few minutes before the Orange-crowned Warbler appeared on the very same flowerhead. 

Our second visit was combined with a visit to Maplewood Flats and Klootchman Park. We needed scopes to view a Surfbird and pair of Ancient Murrelets.

Klootchman Park

Orange-crowned Warbler.

So many birding opportunities lie ahead especially as the days warm and the soon to arrive migrants flood in through the valleys, shorelines and forests. I can't wait!

"It's never too late
 to
 start birding"

John Gordon
Langley/Cloverdale

BC Canada

Metro Vancouver January Birding

January Birding

 Metro Vancouver

One bird that led me a merry chase during 2016 was the Whimbrel. I must have been down to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal at least five times without the slightest bit of luck.

Eventually, one cold January morning I eventually found one foraging along the cobble strewn shoreline. Accompanying it was a small flock of Black Turnstones. I can now relax and concentrate on ticking the other 200 plus Metro Vancouver species.

Whimbrel

Recently I ventured down to Boundary Bay to look for owls. There are less this year but the ones which are there are sure putting on a show. I had a visitor from France so I took him to see the what we could find. He had never seen so many eagles in one place. We were especially fortunate to photograph this Barn Owl hunting in the daytime, neither had he ever seen Northern Harriers approach so closely and when 'Barnie' flew past he was speechless. It was almost dark before I could drag him away and get him back to his hotel.

Barn Owl carrying a Townsend's Vole

This winter there has been an eruption of northern species including plenty of Common Redpolls and White-winged Crossbills. We have even had Gray-crowned Rosy Finches in downtown Vancouver.

Common Redpoll

I went to photograph the Blue Jay a few weeks ago. Blue Jays in Vancouver are few and far between, probably ten in the last decade. When I arrived the bird was behind a chain-linked fence so I had to shoot through the mesh. To be successful the aperture has to be wide open so the fence won't show up. This means and depending on the lens shooting at F2.8 or F4 or on the Nikon 200-500 F5.6.

Note the out of focus background or 

Bokeh

Blue Jay

What's not to love about the Wood Duck? This one at Reifel has become so bold it will eat grain out of the hand. The visitors love it and what an introduction to all the young children who visit the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

Wood-Duck

Wood Duck

My patch or local birding spot is Brydon Lagoon in the City of Langley. Most days the pond and forest area gives up the usual suspects. Mallards, Pied Grebe's, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great-blue Herons can all be found on most visits. Some birds stop off for just a few hours, some stay for a few days or more. The Canvasback stayed for a few days. A Green Heron has stayed throughout the winter, drawing birders from Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Canvasback (female)

The Yellow-headed Blackbird can be found throughout the province and across Canada. The Metro Vancouver area birds breed in just a few spots. The most reliable location is Iona-beach-regional-park

Several birds return in April to breed around the outer ponds.

To find one in January is a bonus. The bird below was photographed high up in a tree at Westham Island Bridge and was hanging around with a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

A few Fridays back I had an hour to kill so I visited Blackie Spit. 

As usual for the spit there were the Long-billed Curlew and a few Marbled Godwits. There were  a good number of Eurasian wigeon and a lone Sanderling. 

What caught my eye mostly were a small flock of Black Oystercatchers. They were dancing around , picking up objects and dropping them in front of each other. It looked like a courtship ritual. I wish now I had spent more time with the birds but the light was terrible and the rain unbearable. The next morning the birds were gone. 

Black Oystercatcher
Nikon P900

I know that the European Starling is a most unwelcome pest, occupying nest holes of native species. Introduced to New York in 1890-91 the starling has spread across the continent. Despite all the negatives, when caught in the right light, the iridescent plumage is quite spectacular. I have tried a number of times to capture the colours but until this shot I had always fallen short. As the bird is often found in urban environments I have no problem with the barbed wire, the background is the ocean. I photographed it while waiting for the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches to fly back to the shoreline in downtown Vancouver.

European opportunityStarling

The Hutton's Vireo is the kind of bird that can be easily overlooked. A secretive bird and easily confused by the neophyte birder for a kinglet. I would never have had the opportunity to photograph this bird had it not been for the fine-tuned ears of my birding buddy and neighbour Carlo G. who made me aware of the bird's presence.

Hutton's Vireo

Thank you for taking a look. I hope to see you all in the field.

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

BC Canada

Some Winter Birds

Winter 

Metro Vancouver.

Dec 2017

West-coast birders are so fortunate to live and bird around the Vancouver area.

The mountains, the rivers, the farmland, forests and of course the ocean are all magnets for wintering birds.  We are really blessed with phenomenal birding year round, winter birding unparalleled in Canada.

 I have been making the most of my time, getting out and around, sometimes with camera, sometimes with just a scope and bins. One Wednesday an arctic outflow enveloped the Fraser Valley resulting in cobalt blue skies and mountaintops dusted in fresh snow. It also meant the falcons were back in Pitt Meadows staking out their winter territory and terrorizing wintering flocks of ducks.

After several hours of searching I was lucky enough to find this Prairie Falcon flying across its territory on Sharp and Old Dewdney Trunk Rd in Pitt Meadows. 

Prairie Falcon

Eventually I had a four falcon morning with a Gyrfalcon, Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel and Prairie Falcon, my only miss was the Merlin.

*****

Boundary Bay still has few areas left where owls can hunt. The development of cranberry and blueberry farms has shrunk their traditional hunting grounds. The image looks like I've used stealth and expertise to make this photograph, however this owl has become so habituated to humans that it frequently hunts close to the dyke pathway putting on a show to all who are present. I had been drawn to the spot by accident when coming back from fruitless search for American Tree Sparrows. The bird is a regular visitor to the same fence line where it catches numerous Townsend's vole, stashing its catch for later consumption. I'll never take an easier shot.

Short-eared Owl with a Townsend's vole.

It was a foggy day on the bay and I intended looking for the Willet. I had no idea that the the fog was so thick. Looking for a single Willet amongst two thousand Dunlin and Black-bellied Plover would have been a fruitless endeavour. Rather than return home I began looking along the dyke hedgerows, within seconds my eye was draw to a bright object, it turned out to be a long-eared owl sitting out in the open, not a branch in the way and with its eyes wide open. I took five shots, two vertical and three horizontal and left. 

Long-eared Owl.

Since I took this picture a few weeks ago the word has got out and many photographers, have descended on the location. Many are not even birders, while drawn by the owls presence they may not understand or simply ignore that their behavoir, the waving of hands, stomping of feet, approaching too closely or the tossing of sticks to may endanger birds well being. When I intervened I was met will a volley of abuse, sadly there was no conservation officer around. It was time to leave.

Below is a guide to ethical birding.

Mindful Birding

Pine Grosbeak (female)

Another species I was hoping to add to my Metro Vancouver year list was a Pine Grosbeak. This bird was part of a flock of five that have been visiting Burnaby Mountain since early December. Eventually and on my third visit and a three hour wait my patience was finally rewarded. The birds were feeding on cherry buds, a piece of which can be seen falling from the bird's bill.

Another elusive species is the White-winged Crossbill. A really difficult bird to find. When a flock were seen and photographed at Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary I went next day. I was never really close enough for a quality image and the flock were always against an ugly grey sky, the best I could do was the shot below.

White-winged Crossbill

What better way to round out 2017 than with a rarity. On December 23 a Blue Jay was found in Richmond during the annual Christmas Bird Count. A Metro Vancouver rarity, the species has been seen only dozen times in as many years. It was a welcome addition to many birders Metro Vancouver  list. 

Blue Jay

As the year closes I like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and birdy 2018. Hopefully we'll see each other in the field

Cheers

"It's never to late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale 

BC Canada

Fall Birding in Metro Vancouver

Oct 21-Nov12 2017 Various Locations/Lower Mainland

After returning from my visit to the UK I was eager to go birding again.

Apparently I hadn't missed too many birds for my year list, only the American Avocet stands out as a complete loss as it was long gone by my return.

All that remained was to catch up with the odd vagrant and newly arriving winter species. 

Iona South Jetty

The Horned Lark, was a recent arrival at Iona south jetty.

I used my iPhone for this aerial view of Iona's south jetty as I left for the UK. The Horned Lark and Snow Buntings were found halfway along the jetty on the day of my return in mid-Oct.

This Merlin had just captured an American Goldfinch.

A pair of Snow Buntings feed on seeds halfway along the south jetty. The jet lag was completely forgotten as I concentrated on trying to get two birds in one frame. Does it really matter that the one in the background is out of focus, I don't think so. Even with F8 there isn't enough depth of field, besides selective focus is a technique I use often in flower photography. The lack of focus  forces the viewer to alternate between foreground and background.

A flock of snow geese rest in the shallows at Iona. The standout was of course the adult blue morph snow goose in the top centre in the photo.

Reifel

A few days later I headed to Reifel to search for the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, I dipped. Just as I was leaving I watched a Sora scuttle across the shallow water. I saw it again but was too slow for a picture, besides the light wasn't great and I already have a good number of pix of the secretive rail so why not just, just sit back and enjoy the moment. Taking pictures mindlessly is like going to a concert and videotaping the show with your iPhone, really pointless in my opinion.

While chatting with birders in the UK they mentioned how they admired the majesty of the Bald Eagle. When I mentioned that one recent winter afternoon we have had over one thousand at Boundary Bay they were speechless. 
                                                           Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

           The Cedar Waxwing chomps on a Pacific Crabapple. 

                             

Boundary Bay

I originally saw this Northern Shrike eating berries and then lost track of it when suddenly it popped up right in front of me. I find sitting down on the dyke, rather than standing and keeping a low profile often pays dividends.

Moments after photographing the shrike a pair of Western Meadowlarks landed on the foreshore.

They were quite a distance away so one bird on its own would have looked very small so I incorporated the two birds forcing the viewer to move the eye around the frame and back the bird in the foreground.
As much as one thinks other people are interested in your photographic exploits the simple fact is that unless there is some really compelling storytelling going on then the most we can expect others to look at an image is about three-seconds. Not a lot of time to make an impression.

A Barn Owl flies past me just as the sun sets. Maybe not the best technically executed of images but for me one of my favourite bird shots this year. I'm photographing a little less these days, especially birds that I already have stock images of. On my last two outings my camera stayed in my bag. I even shelled out for a small scope to view distance specks bobbing out on the ocean. I am even having fun twitching. I've expanded my repertoire and enjoying every moment of it.

Brydon Lagoon

Another Good Bird

Close my home is Brydon Lagoon. On Nov 3 2017 Langley birder Cos van Vermerskerken* found a Clay-coloured Sparrow.  Although I have seen many in the BC Interior this was the first I had seen in the Lower Mainland. 

I waited two hours for the bird to appear. I sat and looked in vain for ages when I heard a rustling right behind me. I very slowly turned around and there it was perched on a stem of grass about two metres away.

A passerby flushed the bird into a bush which gave me the opportunity of another angle and neutral background. In a perfect world the bird would have turned toward me a little but I am happy enough to get a second yet different angle.

  This time I lay on the ground to get yet another angle, different light and different effect.

 Richmond

American Goldfinch
I saw this bird coming to a feeder. It landed on a few different perches. I liked this one in particular because it looked pleasing to the eye. The colours of the bird, the leaves and background created a pleasant colour co-ordinated palette. 

 White Rock Pier

Red-necked Grebe

Photographing down from White Rock Pier for most part creates an unnatural angle but occasionally the birds co-operate and provide something interesting. I think the grebe must have been spooked by a predator above or some distracting movement on the pier.

Brunswick Point

Hermit Thrush

I went to Brunswick Point looking for the Harris and Swamp Sparrow. I managed looks at both. I have a so so photo of the Harris hidden in a bush against a bright sky, not a bad shot but it's not really going advance the world of avian photography anytime so why show it.

Ladner/Delta

Mountain Chickadee
As luck would have Mountain Chickadees have been showing up in the Lower Mainland, normally one would have to climb to higher elevations so I and scores of other birders have been flocking to a house in Ladner where the owners (birders themselves) have set up feeders where not one but two of the 'eyebrowed ones' have been posing for all and sundry. 

 Crescent Beach South Surrey

Three Western Bluebirds/A Mega Sighting(So I'm told)

Male Western Bluebird
Western Bluebirds are just not found in the Metro Vancouver area, it was so rare a sighting it drew some of the areas most experienced birders.  Many had been birding two, three or more decades and had never seen the species in the area.

Female Western Bluebirds (Above and below)

Grant Narrows

Catbird Slough and mountain background

Harlan's Red-tail Hawk
This Harlann's may be the same that one that took up residence last year in a tall Popular on Rannier and Ladner in Pitt Meadows. Take a few shots from a distance as it is easily spooked before approaching more closely. When I arrived a Cooper's Hawk sat in an adjacent tree.


I continued to Catbird Slough looking any signs of redpolls and grosbeaks but none were around. The scenery was stunning that morning. I'm glad I took a few shots when I had the chance as later the blue skies were replaced by grey billowing clouds. 

Varied Thrush
My last bird of the day was a Varied Thrush, one of my favourite forest birds. At first I didn't see it but could hear a rustling in the bushes. I sat on the ground and waited for the bird to emerge where I watched it dine on worms beetles and slugs.

This may be my last blog for a while as I am suffering from some kind of brain fog. Too much copper has been one diagnosis which can be traced to drinking water or maybe something altogether different.
Finally if I find something to say I will try to get in down somehow, meanwhile good birding and I hope to see you all in the field.


Al images D500 and 200mm-500mm F5.6 
except scenic of Catbird Slough Nikon P900
 and Iona aerial iphone 5s

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

BC Canada

Now Trending Nikon 200mm-500mm

Aug 29 2017

One of my most popular blogs is now trending. 

I still love this lens and with the D500 I have found the perfect travel combo.

http://thecanadianwarbler.blogspot.com/2015/10/birding-with-nikon-200mm-500mm.html

Jackman Wetland Aldergrove

June 23 2017 

Jackman Wetlands

 Aldergrove BC.

I can't believe I worked in Langley for well over twenty years and never birded Jackman Wetlands. I've birded Point Pelee, took a train to bird Churchill Manitoba and drove and ferried to St Mary's Ecological Reserve Newfoundland but never Langley's Jackman Wetlands.

Back in the day when I was actively employed by the Langley Times I covered a story about methane gas extraction from the old garbage dump that now makes up part of the Jackman site. On this visit the same machinery lay toppled over and rusting in the bushes. There was little evidence of the thousands of tonnes of garbage that was once dumped there. Presumably the methane and assorted garbage is still percolating underground. Meanwhile my erstwhile birding companion Carlo G pointed out the singing House Wren way up in a tree, I would have probably missed the bird had I birded on my own. Thanks Carlo.

House Wren

The path to Jackman Wetlands was quite birdy but the best action was at the gravel pit ponds where a May and Damsel Fly hatch was in full swing, an important event for the many fledging barn swallows and cedar waxwings eagerly awaiting to be fed.

Barn Swallows

Family Gathering

Jackman Wetlands, Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, CA

Jun 23, 2017 10:42 AM - 11:13 AM

Protocol: Stationary

21 species

Canada Goose  9

Mallard  1

Pied-billed Grebe  1

Sora  1

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Willow Flycatcher  2

Northwestern Crow  5

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  6

Tree Swallow  10

Violet-green Swallow  3

Barn Swallow  10

Swainson's Thrush  2

American Robin  2

Cedar Waxwing  30

Common Yellowthroat  4

Yellow Warbler  1

Savannah Sparrow  1

Song Sparrow  1

Black-headed Grosbeak  2

Red-winged Blackbird  6

House Finch  1

Cedar Waxwing drops a dragonfly.

O Ave  272 St

Afterwards we popped down to nearby 0 Ave and 274, the most southern edge of Aldergrove Regional Park where we found a good selection of birds including Willow Flycatchers, American Goldfinch, Common Yellowthroats, Eurasian-Collared Doves and a marauding Cooper's Hawk.

Cooper's Hawk

Willow Flycatcher

                     By noon it was just too hot to bird and time for an afternoon siesta, who knows what the evening might bring

"It never too late to stop birding"

John Gordon

Langley Cloverdale

BC Canada