A quick jaunt to our usual Surrey destinations, followed by our usual wind-down destinations.
Serpentine Fen
Sadly, no interesting birds in Serpentine River, not even a heron or a fishing gull like last time. Very pretty scenery, though, as always! It’s surprisingly easy to forget how this triangular-ish piece of land is bound by two major highways (99 on the SW side, King George Hwy on the east).
There was a Yellow-rumped Warbler in some bushes (possibly more than one, but I couldn’t tell for sure), though it was too fast to take a properly good photo. Or maybe I just yearn for a nice yellow-rump shot since it feels I haven’t taken one in ages.
In the fall and winter, the river would be home to wigeons, goldeneyes and Green-winged Teals, all having a nice time in the calm waters, but these travelers aren’t here yet, leaving us bereft.
However! one little corner of a pond near the trail gave us a veritable bounty of shorebirds, in three different species: the relatively common Long-billed Dowitchers, the equally common Greater Yellowlegs, and the much less common Pectoral Sandpipers — only seen those a couple times before!
Also, spiders!
Yes, more than one spider. The first one we ran into was partway through a grasshopper (I think), and the second was busy repairing her web. I was absolutely fascinated by her weird acrobatics, and marvelled at how web-building behaviour evolved over the eons. It’s really complicated! I noticed most of the strands have to be kept taut as they’re placed down, which makes sense since they’re supposed to vibrate when bugs get trapped. That didn’t seem to be an absolute rule, though. Some strands were more slack, and I assume those are maybe for the overall structure? Or maybe it was just the first step in getting them all nice and stretched out?
I also got some nice shots of her butt web things — sorry, I mean “spinnerets.” Two of them were squirting out the silk, it looks like, and then woven together. Apparently there are multiple spinnerets, allowing for different mixes and silk of many different properties. Weird and awesome creatures!
Blackie Spit
Few birds around — have the Savannah Sparrows all gone for the season? — but there were a couple of Greater Yellowlegs foraging in the little creek leading up the the pumphouse. Handsome little guys!
Piper Spit
While doing my best to ignore the criminals and miscreants feeding the birds, I shot the small group of Killdeer foraging around. They are super cute!
ƛ̓éxətəm (Tlahutum) Park
As per usual, lots of birbs hanging around the community gardens and not really giving us any good photo ops. But, I did manage to shoot a Golden-crowned Sparrow, one of a first handful settling in. They are fall + winter migrants here, and this will be an excellent spot to spend the colder seasons. They love their greens, these little birbs, and I know the veggies and herbs in the gardens will keep them well fed.
The photos
