Reifel Bird Sanctuary
The chickadees are coming out in the open again! I’ve missed them so much!
View northeast-ish of some farms, or maybe the Alaksen Wildlife Area, and beyond them I assume is Richmond.
I honestly don’t know how common this kind of thing is, but my first try at titling this post was “The Liminal Berry.” It’s super odd that half the berries on screen are red, and half are dark, as though two berry bushes were grafted together or something. I honestly don’t know what’s going on.
One of the last cowbird stragglers in the area, I think this is an immature male. The head is too textured, and the colours on its back and wings too dark for a female.
A perfect landing, 10s across the board!
I believe this is called a Variegated Meadowhawk. A female, apparently, though I thought it had mating claspers at the end of its abdomen. I’ve never seen one before!
I really thought this was a Mallard x Eurasian Wigeon hybrid. That head and chest looked way too red! But a more experienced birder suggested that some eclipse Mallard males could be reddish like this, and possibly there was some iron staining.
You know, like Sandhill Cranes do when they’re nesting: they smear iron-rich mud on themselves to turn their greyish feathers a deeper red-brown. It’s pretty good camo!
One single Greater Yellowlegs in a pond, dodging the ducks and the geese. It seemed to be doing pretty well, though I do wonder why it wasn’t hanging with its pals. On the other hand, maybe it’s a big introvert big on discovering new lands!
Centennial Beach
This one isn’t a big introvert, there were a couple others around. Unfortunately, they were a bit too skittish. Even though they were on the other side of the creek, they started to move away when we got opposite them, so I couldn’t get the optimal photos of my dreams. Boo.
But this is a special one! A single Snow Goose hanging out with the Canada Geese!
Wait wait wait. Not a single Snow Goose, I count at least two in this picture! How did I not notice this before?
Wow. Well, I’ll be sure to take more landscape shots in the future, just in case I see more weird stuff.
Hello Mr. or Ms. Killdeer, you still don’t sound like “kill deer”.
Another immature male cowbird? Probably!
One of two Long-billed Curlews way off in the distance. Not quite a lifer, I remember seeing one many many years ago, long before I caught the birding bug. Heh, my camera got me a better photo this time, but I still hungered for more. I wanted to risk going out on the tidal flat to get a little closer, but they immediately took off and landed much further away. No good curlew photos today!
Starlings in flight!
At first I couldn’t peg what this creature was. I sort of vaguely thought it was a crow, in spite of the narrow beak, slightly greenish iridescent wings, and fringey tail. Then I realised I was being very silly, checked it on Merlin, and guess what? It’s a Lewis’ Woodpecker! A rarity in the Lower Mainland, I’ve only seen them once before, at a great distance. This still isn’t a terribly good photo, but at this rate I should be golden by 2040 at the latest.
Hey Jiminy.
The gang of yellowlegs had moved back near the trail by the time we returned, and this one was doing weird little flappy jumps.
A crow flying overhead. I love the complicated play of its feathers as it swims through the air!
