One of the things I appreciate about living in the Lower Mainland of BC is that you can see a good variety of birds, any month of the year, if you take the time to look. September is a good month to encounter migrating birds. I particularly enjoy spotting and trying to identify shorebirds……….a difficult challenge, particularly as many of the species are only encountered during migration. The following is a sampling of bird photos taken this month.
Clark’s nutcracker. A boreal bird of higher elevations. Taken in Manning Park.The Canada Jay. Previously called the Gray Jay. Commonly known as the “Whisky Jack”. Also a boreal bird, taken in Manning Park.Greater yellowlegs on the left, short-billed dowitcher on the right. I had to get expert advice to identify the dowitcher. To me, the long-billed and short-billed dowitchers are virtually indistinguishable from each other. Taken at Blackie Spit.Long-billed dowitchers. Taken at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.Sharp-tailed sandpiper. This is an interesting bird to spot in the Lower Mainland. The species breeds in Siberia, and migrates south to Australia in the winter of the Northern Hemisphere. However, a very small number of juveniles, move eastward, through southern Alaska and into the Yukon and British Columbia. Certainly a rarity in this part of the world. Again, I depended on experts to spot and identify this bird. (There were there or four present at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.Pectoral sandpiper. The sharp-tailed sandpipers were associated with the more common pectoral sandpipers. Taken at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.Sandhill crane “colt”. At the Reifel Bird Sanctuary, there has been a resident pair of sandhill cranes for several years. This is one of the two cranes that hatched this year.One of the resident sandhill crane parents at Reifel.Great blue heron. These birds are resident in our area year round. I keep reminding myself not to take any more pictures of them, but every so often I cannot resist as one poses in front of me, or flies by with its most unusual call.Ring-necked duck (drake). The ducks are transitioning from eclipse to breeding plumage and are being seen in ever increasing numbers in the region as we enter Autumn. Taken at Reifel.
