Aloquette Christmas Bird Count

Dec 17 2016 Alouette Christmas Bird Count
(South of the Fraser River Portion)

Tynehead Regional Park/ Barnston Island /Big Bend Regional Park and surrounding area.

A  hungry coyote hunts in the snow at Tynehead Park. Nikon P900 at 2000mm

More about coyotes

At the feeder a dark-eyed Junco. P900 at 2000mm

The P900 with its 24mm-2000mm zom was of great use on the bird count. A long distant shot of a Cooper's hawk allowed us to ID a bird at leisure and to take shots like the one above at makeshift feeders around the park.

Fox Sparrow P900,

I overexposed this shot in the snow so as to bring out the details. Note the intricate chevrons on the bird's breast.

Purple finch P900 at 2000mm

Wim and Carlo look for signs of life at Tynehead Park.

More about Tynehead Park

More about Barnston Island

Below is a count of the birds south of the Fraser River that included Surrey's Tynehead Park, Big Bend Regional Park, Barnston Island and surrounding area. It does not include the count on the Maple Ridge side of the river.

ALOUETTE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
Date: December 17th, 2016
Area 5		Sub-areas
	Species	1/2/3/13	7	6	10a	10b	5/11	Total
SPECIES					Hwy	S. Bend
Geese, Swans, Ducks
Greater White-fronted Goose								0
Snow Goose								0
Brant								0
Cackling Goose	1	3						3
Canada Goose	1	589						589
Tundra Swan								0
Trumpeter Swan								0
Swan Species								0
Wood Duck	1		7					7
Gadwall								0
Eurasian Wigeon								0
American Wigeon	1		1					1
Mallard	1	26	7	4		5		42
Cinnamon Teal								0
Northern Shoveller								0
Northern Pintail								0
Green-winged Teal	1	161				7		168
Canvasback								0
Redhead								0
Ring-necked Duck	1		3					3
Greater Scaup	1	1						1
Lesser Scaup								0
Scaup Species	1					1		1
Harlequin Duck								0
Surf Scoter								0
White-winged Scoter								0
Black Scoter								0
Long-tailed Duck								0
Bufflehead								0
Common Goldeneye								0
Barrow's Goldeneye								0
Hooded Merganser								0
Common Merganser	1	29				4		33
Red-breasted Merganser	1					1		1
Merganser Species								0
Ruddy Duck								0
Duck Species								0
Ring-necked Pheasant	1	3						3
Ruffed Grouse								0
Loons and Grebes
Red-throated Loon								0
Pacific Loon								0
Common Loon								0
Yellow-billed Loon								0
Loon Species								0
Pied-bill Grebe	1	2						2
Horned Grebe								0
Red-necked Grebe								0
Eared Grebe								0
Western Grebe								0
Cormorants
Brandt's Cormorant								0
Double-crested Cormorant								0
Pelagic Cormorant								0
Cormorant Species								0
Herons
American Bittern								0
Great Blue Heron	1	4						4
Green Heron								0
Eagles and Hawks
Bald Eagle	1	9	1	5		2		17
Northern Harrier	1	2						2
Sharp-shinned Hawk								0
Cooper's Hawk	1			1				1
Northern Goshawk								0
Accipiter Species								0
Red-tailed Hawk	1	8	4	1		2		15
Rough-legged Hawk								0
Rails, Coot and Crane
Virginia Rail								0
American Coot								0
Sandhill Crane								0
Shorebirds
Black-bellied Plover								0
Killdeer								0
Greater Yellowlegs								0
Whimbrel								0
Long-billed Curlew								0
Marbled Godwit								0
Black Turnstone								0
Sanderling								0
Western Sandpiper								0
Dunlin								0
Long-billed Dowitcher								0
Wilson's Snipe								0
Shorebird Species								0
Gulls
Bonaparte's Gull								0
Mew Gull	1	34						34
Ring-billed Gull								0
Western Gull								0
California Gull								0
Herring Gull								0
Thayer's Gull								0
Glaucous-winged Gull	1	89		3				92
Glaucous Gull								0
Gull Species								0
Alcids
Common Murre								0
Pigeon Guillemot								0
Marbled Murrelet								0
Alcid Species								0
Pigeons and Doves
Rock Pigeon	1	23	1					24
Band-tailed Pigeon								0
Eurasian Collared-dove	1	1						1
Mourning Dove								0
Owls
Common Barn Owl								0
Western Screech-owl								0
Great Horned Owl								0
Snowy Owl								0
Barred Owl								0
Long-eared Owl								0
Short-eared Owl								0
Northern Saw-whet Owl								0
Hummingbird/Kingfisher
Anna's Hummingbird	1		1					1
Belted Kingfisher								0
Woodpeckers
Red-breasted Sapsucker	1	2	1	1		1		5
Downy Woodpecker	1	4		5		6		15
Hairy Woodpecker	1			1		1		2
Northern Flicker	1	5		8		2		15
Pileated Woodpecker	1			1				1
Falcons
American Kestrel	1	1						1
Merlin	1		1					1
Gyrfalcon								0
Peregrine Falcon								0
Falcon Species								0
Shrikes and Vireos
Northern Shrike								0
Hutton's Vireo								0
Jays and Crows
Steller's Jay	1		2	1				3
Northwestern Crow	1	42	13	5		6		66
Common Raven	1	6		1		2		9
Chickadees and Allies
Black-capped Chickadee	1	27	15	23		12		77
Mountain Chickadee								0
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	1		5	5				10
Bushtit								0
Nuthatch/Creeper/Wrens
Red-breasted Nuthatch								0
Brown Creeper	1	2		3		3		8
Pacific Wren	1	2		9		4		15
Marsh Wren								0
Bewick's Wren	1	2		2		1		5
Kinglets and Thrushes
Golden-crowned Kinglet	1	4		15		10		29
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1			1				1
Townsend's Solitaire								0
Hermit Thrush								0
American Robin	1		31	35		7		73
Varied Thrush	1	1		12		14		27
Starling, Pipit, Waxwings
European Starling	1	62	8	2		6		78
American Pipit								0
Bohemian Waxwing								0
Cedar Waxwing								0
Buntings
Snow Bunting								0
Warblers
Orange Crowned Warbler	1		1					1
Yellow-rumped Warbler								0
Sparrows
Spotted Towhee	1	58	7	17		5		87
American Tree Sparrow								0
Savannah Sparrow								0
Fox Sparrow	1	12	3	9		1		25
Song Sparrow	1	75	15	22		8		120
Lincoln's Sparrow								0
Swamp Sparrow								0
White-crowned Sparrow	1	10						10
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1	52		11				63
Dark eyed Junco	1	70	85	25		5		185
Blackbirds
Red-winged Blackbird								0
Western Meadowlark								0
Brewer's Blackbird	1	22						22
Brown Headed Cowbird								0
Finches and Passerines
Purple Finch	1			12		5		17
House Finch	1	7		5				12
Red Crossbill								0
White-winged Crossbill								0
Common Redpoll								0
Pine Siskin	1			1				1
American Goldfinch								0
Evening Grosbeak								0
House Sparrow	1	10						10
Rare Birds
White-throated Sparrow	1	1						1
								0
								0
SPECIES COUNT	56	39	21	31	0	26	0	56
BIRD COUNT		1461	212	246	0	121	0	2040
TEAM MEMBERS
Gareth Pugh
Leona Breckenridge
Tom Wildeboer
Michael Klotz
John Gordon
Wim Vesseur
Jesse Garbe
Tia Deyette
Carlo Giovanella
Al Schulze

Nikon P900/A Cold Blast

Dec15/16 Blackie Spit Park, Crescent Beach BC Canada.

A week ago an icy arctic outflow blanketed British Columbia's Lower Mainland. Normally winters here are wet and warm. I can't tell you how many time I have tried to explain to my relatives that Vancouver's weather is something akin to Devon and Cornwall rather than the Shetland or Orkney Islands. As I write this, the snow has finally melted and we are enjoying a balmy 8c, not quite t-shirt weather but an improvement.

Visitor signage. 

Size comparison. A western sandpiper (left) and two dunlin feed on the beach at Blackie Spit.

Anyway to cut a long story short, it was bloody freezing! It was Minus -5c and down to -10c at nights but even with frigid temperatures the male Anna's hummingbird that frequents our feeder survived. The upside was that we had sunny days and cobalt blue skies, Great for birding and beachcombing

Dunlin.

With that in mind I decided to leave my DSLR at home and shoot some video with my Nikon P900 and if possible snag a few stills for the blog. I used a Manfrotto BeFree Live video tripod for both video and stills.

There has been an increase in the numbers of black oystercatchers at the spit with at least five on the day I visited. The spit is also a good place see Eurasian wigeon, marbled goodwill and long-billed curlew. The past few months have also produced a Lapland longspur, five snow buntings and a northern shrike. There is an informal bird walk every Thursday starting at 1pm. Headed by Gareth Pugh, the group meets at the small pier just south of the spit and across from the main parking lot.

Black Oystercatcher

My most read blogs are about the Nikon P900, a popular bridge camera with a 24-2000 optical zoom. It also has a digital zoom from 2000mm-8000mm which isn't of much use except for extreme scoping. I use the camera instead of a scope to ID birds. As you can see it takes a decent picture for the blog or up to 8x10 but it doesn't replace a proper DSLR. I does however make a perfect camera for those not interested in making huge enlargements or photographing birds in flight etc.

If I were a birder and just looking to record birds to study later this type of bridge camera is perfect. That said, the P900 also shoots 1080p video ideal for You Tube but less ideal for large room presentations. Recently I showed a four minute presentation about Brydon Lagoon. no one mentioned anything about the quality but I could see that 4K is going to have to be my route as I venture more and more into video. Only time will tell.

  

"Its never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale 

BC Canada

A Rare Sighting

Dec 7 2016 Nicomen Slough 

BC Canada

Nicomen Slough Nikon P900

Birding in the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley can be so good at times it draws in birders from far and wide. The autumn of 2016 has been particularly kind with a myriad of rare species too long to list. The Lucy's warbler in Kelowna was perhaps one of the best, the field sparrow in Victoria another. The slated-backed gull was a lifer for many and that is just to name a few. Add to the list a majestic golden eagle and you just know that for birders Christmas had arrived early. This week I braved -10c windshield to photograph a golden eagle that has been feeding on dead and dying salmon on one of the sloughs that drain into the Fraser River above Mission.

A rare sight inter Lower Mainland. A golden eagle hunts along Nicomen Slough, a windswept waterway that drains into the Fraser River.

The sandbanks of the slough are at times littered with dead salmon providing plenty of valuable nutrients for the eagles gulls, crows and ducks that winter there.

A golden eagle and bald eagle fight over a salmon.

A golden eagle forces a bald eagle off a chum salmon. Unlike Atlantic salmon, all five species of pacific salmon die after returning to the river they were spawned in.

Once all competitors are seen off the golden floats in for a feast.

The golden is an opportunist as well as a fearsome hunter.

This is the third Golden Eagle I have seen. The first an adult on Sumas Prairie and in 2014/5 a first year bird in Delta.

I can honestly tell you that before I began birding, the very idea of seeing one of these magnificent birds was just a pipe dream. I thought I might have to visit Scotland or the Pyrenees to see one. Little did I know they could be found so close to home.

All images unless stated are taken with a Nikon D500 and Nikon 500mm F4

"It's really never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley Cloverdale

BC Canada

Pictures at the Point Taken

Dec 6 2016 Ladner, Boundary Bay.

I hadn't seen an American tree sparrow for close on a year. So with hopes high I headed out in search of one to add to my year list. I've begun to really like listing, if it were not for ebird I would most probably have lost track of my life list by now. I think it's the best thing since HP Sauce, PVR's and chip butties!

American tree sparrow.

This frame shows the telltale dark spot on the breast and bi-coloured beak.

I spotted this northern shrike feeding on pacific crabapples but before I could get that shot it had hopped onto another branch. I suppose birds will feed on anything when they are hungry.

Short-eared owls battle it out in the sky or are they performing avian ballet ?

A short-eared owl glides toward me as I hide in the bushes.

A backlit shot short-eared owl and a dry patch of foreshore with a plentiful supply of yarrow plant seeds, the preferred habitat for voles. 

All images taken handheld with a D500 and Nikon 200m-500mm F5.6




Gyrfalcon
I totally messed up this shot by using a too slow a shutter speed. I had put my camera away when this gyr flew around from the back of a cedar tree and chased away a red-tailed hawk. I include it here as I may not ever see it again.****

While I spent two hours photographing birds and enjoying the fresh air my other half spent her time devoting herself to the fine art of "retail therapy" in close-by Ladner. I really could have done with another hour or so, two hours just wasn't enough time, despite that I am very happy with the resulting images.

Anyway, we both got out of the house for a few hours and if that keeps the peace so be it. 

I had some lasting memories which I shared here and she some good finds. The awesome snow suit she found for me at the hospital thrift shop for $10 will be put to good use when I go golden eagle birding at windswept Nikon Slough tomorrow.

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale 

BC Canada

Afternoon Birding

Dec 4 2016  Boundary Bay Bay Various Locations.

I hadn't planned to go birding. It was just one of those days when the rain and wind just wouldn't stop. I had decided to sit by the bay window, listen to the patter of rain and read a few chapters of Trevor Herriot's latest book, The Road is How. Between chapters I made myself a coffee and watched birds at the feeder. Over the years we have had thirty-six species visit us.
A break in the clouds offered up the possibility of a few hours birding on the bay. 

 I was mid-afternoon when I arrived at the dyke, the wind had died down the clouds had parted. The only remaining question being, was there going to be some "sweet light" later in the day?
 I was only feet from the parking lot when a mixed flock including a yellow-rumped warbler caught my attention. I had hardly time to set-up my camera. Recently I have been shooting at high ISO's and have been forgetting to set it back my standard ISO 400. Anyway, technical particulars aside and after several attempts to get a clear shot, the warbler landed on a perch with a nice clean background.
Yellow-rumped warblers are able to survive our wet and cold winters by switching from an insectivore diet to a seed based food supply.

Yellow-rumped warbler.

In the distance, silhouetted against the sky six meadowlark were resting on a pacific crabapple tree. I had heard them earlier but they tend to be secretive and hunker down in long grass, hiding away from predators. As I crept closer, four birds flew away, with sun now behind me only two of the flock remained. One was behind a tangle of twigs and wouldn't make a good photo, this one fairly out in the open made for a better composition. Note the wind ruffling the breast feathers. You can see the setting sun as a catchlight.

Western meadowlark

There were four northern harriers hunting over the foreshore, occasionally they all seemed to converge on the same territory, over lapping each others hunting grounds. The resulting acrobatics too fast for this photographer but nevertheless a joy to watch.

Northern Harrier.

Northern harriers never fail to interest me. They're like silver ghosts patrolling the foreshore, deathly hunting machines.

Purple finch.

Purple finches pick out the seeds of the pacific crab apple, leaving the pith to fall to the ground.

Rough-legged hawk.

The rough-legged hawk (above) is one of the most majestic birds to be found on the bay. It can be easily identified from most of our other Lower Mainland hawks by the way it hovers while hunting. If unsuccessful in the hunt it will bank skyward gaining elevation before slowly gliding to almost a stop, when again it will begin the hover looking for unsuspecting prey.

Sharp-shinned hawk.

The sharp-shinned hawk hunts for voles along a log strewn foreshore. 

Sharp-shinned hawk on the move

Once I had acquired a good photograph I just had to wait until it took off, hopefully in my direction. I should have used a faster shutter speed of at least 1/1000 of a second but on the other hand the motion (from too slow a shutter speed) in the wings does imply movement. 

Short-eared owl.

I love to photograph backlit subjects. It's nearly always better to have good light over the shoulder but sometimes our avian friends just won't co-operate. Having photographed short-eared owls many times before it is always a challenge to come up with something a little new. These two images demonstrate how the"feel" of the same bird photographed moments apart can reveal much about the creatures anatomy.

Short-eared owl

As I mentioned before in many of my blogs I feel so lucky to live so close to one of Canada's premier birding hotspots. I hope that over the next two decades, when a million more people are anticipated  move to move to British Columbia that humans and birds can continue co-exist. We as birders have to be diligent and monitor our governments and big business. We will have to, so that future generations will be able to enjoy the unbelievable beauty that is Boundary Bay and other birding areas in BC and Canada.

More about Boundary Bay

Boundary_Bay_Regional_Park-Delta_British_Columbia.html

More of Trevor Herriot
Trevor's book

Nature conservancy and Trevor Herriot

Trevor Herriot /Nature Conservancy



"It's never too late to start birding:

John Gordon
Lanhley'Cloverdle
BC Canada

Bohemian Rhapsody

Dec 3 2016 Grant Narrows BC

A large flock of bohemian waxwings had been around Grant Narrows all week, the question was, would they find enough food to keep them in the area or would they have moved on before we had a chance to visit. Both Raymond and I were eager to see them.
One advantage about birding on the weekend is that there is usually a lot of birders out and the news quickly spreads when a good bird is located.
On our way we spotted the prairie falcon (another year bird) on Sharpe Rd, numerous red-tailed Hawks, a cooper's hawk, a northern shrike and two meadowlarks. The wind was blowing and the rain was beginning to spot when I rolled down the car window and photographed this meadowlark with my point and shoot superzoom the 24mm-2000mm Nikon P900.

Western Meadowlark Nikon P900

Eventually we arrive at the Grant Narrows parking lot. I walked the nature trail by the canoe rentals while Raymond checked the boat launch area. Within five minutes I could hear the waxwings chatter overhead. Looking up I watched one flock fly over, then another thirty birds, soon they were all gone. Back at the parking lot we met up with other birders. As is the norm when birders gather, the inevitable birding yarns are exchanged. We didn't have to wait long. A large flock landed on a distant cottonwood, way too high to photograph but their high pitch trill was unmistakable.
Suddenly the whole flock descended and landed on a row of bushes close to the river. I had just put my camera away but had just enough time to fire off a few shots before the flock moved on. Another year bird, the second of the day but more than that, a successful conclusion to the day. Close-by at Addington Marsh I hear the sound of shotguns, a hunting of a different kind is taking place. The rain began to get too heavy to photograph and was time to make our way across the Golden Ears Bridge and home

Bohemian Waxwings

"Its never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

BC Canada