Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
The last batch of Barn Swallows are growing up fast and continually running laps around the main pond. They have to be in top shape for their imminent journey down south! This gave me plenty of targets for what may be my last chance to get reasonably close photos of swallows in flight for the season.
I should say, “plenty of zippy, unpredictable targets.” Clearly I need a lot more practise! When I got tired of attempting to track these little speed demons, I shot some that rested in nearby trees. It felt like cheating but I didn’t care.
Still, at the end I think I got a pretty nice haul of photos!
The chickadees are getting more visible! It wasn’t quite clear at first what kind of num-num this chickadee was eating. When I posted the photo to a Discord of other queer bird lovers with a caption of “Crunchy!”, another member pointed out that it’s an orb weaver spider, and thus wouldn’t be crunchy but “more like boba.” And now I am craving boba.
Boundary Bay
Our original plan was Centennial Beach, but the parking lot was absolutely 100% full. Is this normal for the August long weekend? So instead we tried Boundary Bay, starting from the very western end near Beach Grove Park. That tend to be a bit more hit and miss as far as birbs go, I’ll admit. A Cedar Waxwing was a welcome sight, but the trail and nearby bushes gave us a plethora of interesting bugs. A very pale and ragged Anise Swallowtail was the star for me — no doubt an elder butterfly who’s survived uncounted weeks of bleaching from the sun and near-miss attacks from predators.
And of course the scenery was stunning.
The photos
