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

Dabbling with Ducks Plus Hawks and Finches

Monday  Nov 25 2013. Blackie Spit, Crescent Beach Surrey, B.C. British Columbia.

I have to admit that I have not had the opportunity to study the difference between American and Eurasian Widgeon until today. I had seen them through bins but now I had a mixed flock in right in front of me and within camera range. The flock not only had the two aforementioned species but also a number of hybrids.
I am posting these pictures to see if anyone is actually reading this blog as there is no better way to monitor blog readership than to misidentify a species. Your feedback is appreciated if I have mislabeled any of these beautiful dabbling ducks.

 Male American Wigeon (Anas americana)

American and Eurasian hybrid.
Note: I have been told this actually an Eurasian not hybrid. I'm learning too, thanks to Mike Tabak for the identification.

Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope)

After photographing the ducks on the spit I took a walk into the wooded area east of the car park. There I saw the silhouette of a bird of prey. It turned out to be a Cooper's hawk.

Cooper's Hawk (Accipter cooperii)

The Cooper's swoops down into the undergrowth but was unsuccessful.

 It suddenly flew down from a tree, crashing into the undergrowth, the bird re-appeared sans prey and continued hunting.

The bird was originally perched in a tree and then went diving and hunting in dense bushes.

I managed to grab a few perched shots and then it flew off, even with a high shutter speed the wings are blurred. The most vital part of flight shots is using at least 1/1000 or faster shutter speed to capture a sharp eye, slower speeds can create a blur which spoils the final image.

The weather was cool but sunny so I decided to take a wander to the other end of the conservation area close to the railway line. There are a number of Pacific crab apple and hawthorn trees which are still laden with berries. There I found Downy Woodpeckers, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Northern Flicker, Raven, North-western Crows, Great blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Double crested Cormorants and Purple Finches.

Purple Finch (Carpo purpureus)

A male Purple Finch gorges on Pacific crab apples at Blackie Spit.

Good birding to you all
John Gordon

A Blackie Spit Morning

Blackie Spit, Surrey B.C. April 17th 2013. Sunny but below seasonal average temperatures.
One of my favourite spots for photographing birds is

 BlackieSpit

Blackie Spit is nearby to my home so mercifully I don't have to fight the notoriously congested Lower Mainland traffic to get there. Living so close to Boundary Bay, which the spit is part of is an added bonus, especially as the annual Spring migration begins to take hold.
As you can read from the link above, Blackie Spit offers the birdwatcher an opportunity to view a wide diversity of species. I had gone out early before the joggers and dog walkers to hopefully photograph shore birds on the flood tide.

Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)

Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)

 The birds never came too close so after the tide ebbed and on my way back to the car I walked through a small copse where I noticed several North-western crows harassing what turned out to be a immature Red-tailed hawk. I was devouring a rodent it had caught moments before. I am not too sure how long it took to catch the critter but it needed only two or three minutes to finish the meal. The hawk made several other dives into the undergrowth but without success. What was unusual that Red-tails are usually quite skittish but this one paid no attention to me or passersby, perhaps hunger outweighed any percieved danger.

Immature Red-tailed Hawk (buteo jamaicensis) with prey

On the lookout for more prey, the young hawk was comfortable with my presence.

Blackie Spit Part 2 (No Parrots)

After the parrot show I then took a walk along the path by the allotments and came up with a Solitary sandpiper which makes it a "Lifer" for me. I was able to spend fifteen minutes with the bird before it was frightened off by joggers.
By 9 a.m it was to hot to be lugging around gear so what with the Cooper's hawk and the parrot (or whatever it turns out to be) I managed to come up with a few more birds to share. These are not definitive shots but rather than storing them away on a hard drive here they are.

Solitary sandpiper

Yellow warbler

Greater yellowlegs

Black-capped chickee

Western tanager 

White-crowned sparrow

Goldfinch

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)

Searching for the rare Pink Fawn lily

With my fast approaching Flower Photography workshop April 14th 2012  I thought I might take the short drive over to Hi-Knoll Park on the Langley/Surrey border to see whether any colour was showing. It has been a cold few weeks here in British Columbia's Lower Mainland so the wild flowers are a week or two behind.

Not only is High Knoll home to barred owls and other forest dwelling birds it also has a few rare pink fawn lilies. The white lilies are easily found throughout the forest but I could only find one of the pink variety. Here are the results of my short walk in the park on Easter Sunday. I used a very shallow depth of field to remove distracting backgrounds.

To find out more about 

Easter and Lilies

White fawn lily

Pink fawn lily

Wild blackcurrent