Young Birders Shorebird Night In Delta

Western Sandpiper in Delta - Photo: Lory Cantin

We had a fun young birder shorebird night at Boundary Bay last night. We met at 3pm and unfortunately quite a few of the youth were on holiday and out of town. Heather who is on the island sent me photos of a Long-billed Curlew she found and Clay sent me photos of a family of Spruce Grouse he saw on his adventures in the Cariboo. Evan and Lukas are on the island, Raymond was in Sechelt and Bentley is having a blast picking up lifers in Nova Scotia. Cameron is at Long Point in Ont where Josh just came back from and he had fun telling us all about his week there. You can read about Josh's adventures in Long Point HERE. We still ended up with 8 youth (2 had to leave before I remembered to take the photo!).

Young Birders at Boundary Bay - Photo: Melissa Hafting

We started off checking out the foot of 104th St where we found a flock of at least 1000 Black-bellied Plovers and a breeding plumaged Red Knot. It was a lifer for most in the group. We bumped into Chris McVittie who chatted about heat shields he will be adding to the Delta Nats Barn Owl boxes which is what I and the city of Richmond will be doing with Tree Swallows this winter. Let's hope it works... unfortunately these mitigation methods are now necessary with the ever warming climate.

Black-bellied Plovers in flight - Photo: Paul J.

Black-bellied Plover in Delta - Photo: Daniel Graca

Then we walked down towards the pilings and met Kevin Louth who had seen a Ruddy Turnstone, Pacific Golden-Plover and Surfbird down by 96th St. They had all flown so we spent time enjoying the large Western Sandpiper flocks (at least 5600) and I was able to pick out a few Semipalmated Sandpipers which were lifers for many of the youth. We also found a good size flock of Semipalmated Plovers anoter lifer for a few and many Baird's Sandpipers. It seems to be a good Baird's year so maybe this means we will get some Buff Breasteds! The youth had fun picking up grasshoppers for iNaturalist. I was surprised to see how knowledgeable they were about the different species of insects we saw during the night.

Westerns at Boundary Bay with Mt. Baker in the background - Photo: Paul J.

Western Sandpiper at Boundary Bay - Photo: Daniel Poon

Peeps at Boundary Bay - Photo: Josh Yiu

Semipalmated Sandpiper in Delta - Photo: Daniel Graca

Red Knot in the middle between two plovers - Photo: Daniel Graca

Baird's Sandpiper in Delta - Photo: Josh Yiu

We walked all the way down to 96th and by this time the tide was pretty much in. I picked this tide since it was a good tide where we could bird it till dark coming in and going out. After spending some time here admiring the large flock murmurations we started to head back towards 104th St. Here we watched both a Merlin and Peregrine Falcon try to hunt some sandpipers. These falcons are the bane of shorebirders (and the shorebirds) but it is quite beautiful to watch, as they make the flocks pick up in panic creating spectacles with their murmurations.

Western Sandpipers at Boundary Bay - Photos: Daniel Poon 

When we got past the pilings near to 104th St, I spotted the Pacific Golden-Plover. It had been found the night before by Sabine Decamp. This was a lifer for most of the youth except for the 3 who had been to Hawaii where they are almost a dirt bird. The youth could really see the size difference between the Golden and the Black-bellieds and I explained the key id features between this and an American Golden-Plover. There was quite a few Short-billed Dowitchers out with the Black-bellieds too.

Pacific Golden-Plover at Boundary Bay - Photo: Melissa Hafting

Caspian Tern in Delta - Photo: Paul J.

Short-billed Dowitcher with Black-bellieds and Westerns - Photo: Daniel Graca

Next we kept on walking towards 104th St. Here we found a Surfbird which was a lifer for all the youth. In the past few years there have been up to 3 Surfbirds visiting the bay. It is always strange to see Surfbirds and Black Turnstones on the mud but I have seen Rock Sandpipers out there too which is even stranger. After the Surfbird excitement (which really was a lot!) we kept scanning the Black-bellied Plover flocks. It was so peaceful to stand with everyone (a few of the youth were lying in the mud photographing the shorebirds), watching these birds come closer and closer to us just going about their little lives feeding. The birds did not mind any of the respectful youths presence and were almost at the dyke. It was a beautiful sight. At the end many of the parents who came to pick up the youth stayed an extra hour with me just watching the birds with the youth. It is nice to see such supportive parents.

Surfbird at Boundary Bay - Photo: Daniel Graca

On the way out, I spotted a Great Horned Owl in a tree, which was a lifer for a couple of the youth and seeing an owl is always special.

Great Horned Owl in Delta - Photo: Daniel Poon

It was a great night with great people and we even had one young boy name Lory who was visiting from Quebec, which was so nice.

Till the next time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Dowitcher Identification

Image
Birders notoriously find it difficult to tell Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers apart. I have got a request to do an identification explanation on them so here goes, I hope it will be helpful. Short-billed Dowitchers and Long-billed look so similar. Using their habitat is helpful but not diagnostic. Short-billed Dowitchers tend to prefer Salt water and brackish water and Long-billed Dowitchers tend to prefer fresh water. However, I have OFTEN seen Short-billeds in freshwater and Long-billeds in brackish and salt water. Therefore, DO NOT rely on habitat. Another feature many people will tell you to rely on is spotting on the side of the flanks of Short-billeds and barring on the side of Long-billeds. Usually this is a mark that you can use but it is not always as distinct as you like. I have seen Short-billeds with a barred appearance to the flanks. It is only at the side of the breast where you have to look for this diagnostic feature for the spots on a Short-billed and t...
Read more

Hawk Identification Tips from every angle (Sharpie vs Cooper and Red-tailed Subspecies)

Image
I get several questions about the difference between accipiters. The most common ones are between Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks and between Cooper's Hawks vs Northern Goshawks (to a lesser degree). Next, I get many questions dealing with a certain race of buteos the Western Red-tailed Hawk and Harlan's. So I thought I would do a post on these to help answer those questions. I will deal with Cooper's and Sharpies and not Goshawks because they are much more common here and look much more alike. My friend John Reynolds inspired me to write this up. COOPER'S AND SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS EYE COLOUR - YELLOW OR ORANGE? RED? Normally a juvenile Cooper's hawk has a bright yellow eye and a Juvie Sharpie has a orange eye but some cooper's can have a dull yellow eye that looks a bit orangish. Cooper's Hawks usually only transition to the orange eye colour when they are sub adults, so in good light, it's a very very reliable feature. However you ...
Read more

STINT IDENTIFICATION

Image
As per request, here are some tips that I hope will be helpful in identifying and differentiating Red-necked Stint from Little Stint. I will also do a brief intro on Long-toed and Temminck's Stint... if you build it they will come right?😉 Red-necked and Little Stints look very much alike in worn breeding plumage. The amount of Red on the face, throat and breast in Red-necked Stint is vary variable). They look even more alike in non-breeding plumage, that is why it is essential to learn structural differences to separate the two. They are similar to Semipalmated Sandpipers as well as Sanderlings. Both species are often confused for Red-necked Stints. Little Stints rarely get confused with Sanderling because they have a hind toe which helps differentiate it from this species. Sanderlings in breeding or worn breeding are usually confused with Red-necked Stints but they are much larger than Red-necked Stints. Let's first start with Bills in this complicated ID proces...
Read more

*Updated - The most famous Red-tailed Hawk is eating fish on the ground just like a Bald Eagle!

Image
Update - There are plans in the works to make a documentary film on this young Red-tailed Hawk who thinks he's an Eagle. You can read the latest news about that on CBC HERE . Watch this incredible footage of the little Red-tailed Hawk who grew up in a family of three Eaglets and 2 Bald Eagle Parents. He is imprinted now on Bald Eagles. He looks and acts just like one, as you can see here in the video below. He is standing over a large salmon carcass, just like a Bald Eagle would and he's eating the decaying flesh. Red-tailed Hawks like to eat voles and rabbits etc. not fish! Imprinting is usually irreversible according to raptor expert David Bird. However, I hope it's reversible so that he doesn't attempt to mate with a Bald Eagle, as the Eagle would kill him because it would view him as a Hawk. Eagle expert David Hancock said that the bird will likely starve and get killed by an eagle. He said this possibly can be prevented if someone grabs it and takes it to O...
Read more

1 year since I lost my father

Image
My dad and I whom I miss terribly. One year on since I lost him. Today would have been my mother's bday. Her name was Valerie and it is also the first year anniversary of the death of my beloved father, Arne. There is not a day that goes by where I don't think of them. Now for ever more the day of his death will be connected to her birthday, a very sad day but in a way that connection is beautiful to tie them together. My beautiful family before we lost both parents. I put flowers down at their grave to celebrate them both today. I hate that it is one year since I told him I loved him and hugged him. I miss him so very much. I miss his voice, his love and guidance and support. The ground for me feels shakier without his guidance and safety. I hate I will never see him again or talk to him again. Can't believe how quick time passes. This is why it is so important we treasure every single day to the fullest and tell those we love them. I will never forget the day he passed aw...
Read more