Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
It was our first visit to Reifel in over four months! Yes, the last time I walked these hallowed trails was November 29th of last year. Since then they’ve had to deal with floods and damaged trails, and then in mid-January, just as the sanctuary was about to reopen, some barge or other hit and damaged the Westham Island Bridge — the only route connecting the island to the mainland.
(Which, yes, was kind of annoying for birders, but had to be bad news for Westham Island residents.)
Still, the bridge officially reopened on March 28th, and Reifel itself reopened the following Tuesday. When I drove into the parking lot I could swear I saw a Killdeer out of the corner of my eye. Couldn’t quite believe it: I’d heard them flying around the outer marshes a couple times, but to see them walking around so close to people?
It turns out that while the parking lot had been sitting so empty, a Killdeer couple chose one corner of it to set up their nest. Well, I say “nest”. What Killdeer do is, they just lay their eggs on the open ground, usually around rocky beaches, and rely on the eggs’ natural camouflage plus various tricks by the parents to deter or distract potential predators. Apparently a gravelly parking lot will do just as well.
Now that bit is roped off, completely empty except for these adorable weirdos sitting on their eggs. Oh, plus a couple Canada Geese hanging around nearby, close to the little creek. They might be scoping out their own nesting spots, or maybe the Killdeer hired them as security.
The staff says this is an odd little pickle they’d never encountered before, but everyone is doing their best to accommodate them. They don’t want to move the eggs, and estimate they should hatch within 2 weeks. Hatchlings are able to walk around within a day or two, at which point they’ll be led by their parents to safer feeding territories.
Meanwhile, the parents seem to be tolerating all the humans hanging around pretty well. And me, I was able to take my best Killdeer photos ever!
And the Tree Swallows are back! It’s easier to shoot them in flight when you can anticipate where they’ll land. I’ll keep experimenting!
Of course we still have a bunch of ducks giving me glamour shots.
We do see turtles on these logs on a regular basis, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one walking!
This golden-crown still has its immature colours. I’m actually surprised to see them so clearly, most of its friends are in the middle of transitioning, but I’m sure that won’t last!
Okay back to the ducks!
And this cute red-eyed birb!
The Purple Martin nest condos, looking northwest-ish from the North Dike Trail. Actual Purple Martins yet to appear.
With some of the trails still closed, I think I’m seeing a dearth of chickadees. Most of today’s chickadee shots were kind of boring, but I like this pose!
Relatedly, I haven’t seen many Fox Sparrows this season!
Glamour shot of a female Red-winged Blackbird!
Zooming in on the actual waterline, way off in the distance..
A Song Sparrow looking down on us for some reason.
One of the first pollinators of the season: some kind of tiny little bee, crawling around a dandelion! Super cute.
A handsome Ring-necked Duck!
Oh look, the turtle from earlier has transformed into a cormorant airing its wings! I love it when that happens.
One last look at the Killdeer family. This time the parent is fully covering the eggs. Every detail about these birds is gorgeous, from the dark stripes to the huge dark soulful eyes, to the delicate feather structure on the wings.
And this sassy junco, close by, to see me off.
ƛ̓éxətəm (Tlahutum) Regional Park
We came to ƛ̓éxətəm to look for Mountain Bluebirds, since we’d heard a bunch had been seen around the place. Near the parking lot we got more specific directions on where they’d be, and advice on what to really look for. I’d heard it before, but it bears repeating: when looking for tiny little birds, you don’t look for the birds themselves, you look for the birders with the great big lenses. And so we did. And we found the bluebirds.
But first, we found Coquitlam River again. It’s always interesting to check the water level. Here it looks super shallow!
Sadly, the bluebirds were a bit too far away for easy photos. Though, after a bit of cropping and cleaning up, you can see some pretty good details, plus the lovely shades of blue on the males!
And look, more blue! Not a bad capture of a Tree Swallow, if I do say so myself!
Piper Spit
We start off with a beautiful and shiny Wood Duck drake at the north end of the creek.
Bit of a weird crop, I’ll admit, but I like how it brings out the Mallard’s iridescent speculum feathers.
Oh, and this guy!
And here’s a Green-winged Teal doing the same thing as the Bufflehead above. Ducks (and, I guess, birds in general) can’t suck up water with their rigid beaks, so they have to scoop up a mouthful of water, then lean back to swallow.
Which may be what this gal is doing? I admit I don’t take nearly enough photos of pintail females, so here’s one to balance things out.
Looking east from the pier, towards the towers around Lougheed Town Centre. I like how they also frame the mountains!
Sploosh
Okay so bear with me: this is a Green-winged Teal, and part of its speculum seems to be kind of coloured teal (with the front bit being the more usual vibrant green). Is there a relation between the colour and the duck family?
Yes, sort of: according to Wikipedia, the name comes from Eurasian Teals, which look very similar to Green-winged Teals, except they don’t have that white bar on their shoulders, and their head stripes are a darker teal-ish green. So there we go.
And here’s a female Green-winged Teal, the most non-teal Teal you can get. I never noticed their cute marbly grey bills before!
It’s the season for the Canada Geese to go crazy, getting up in each other’s grill or just randomly yelling at the world.
A Wood Duck resting next to the pier, his magnificent multicoloured mullet catching the light so perfectly.
And another standing on a log sticking out of the water, as is their way.
Off-centre Song Sparrow.
Okay back to the Bufflehead, because I just cannot get enough of his cute iridescent face!
And a Spotted Towhee to cap it all off. Yet another experimental artsy off-centre photo, just cos I felt like it.
One reply on “Sitting on the next generation”
My favorite part is the Tree Swallows landing. The colors of the birds and the action of the landing were beautifully captured. As a photographer myself, I know how difficult it is to get shots like these.