Hope Airpark and Cheam Lake Wetlands

I had this Monday off as I was playing golf in Abbotsford in the afternoon. I contacted my friend Mary-Jean, who lives in the Chilliwack area, and we agreed to do some early morning birding. There had been reports of Kingbirds at the Hope Airpark, so that was our first stop.

The Hope Airpark is just west of Hope in a somewhat secluded area just off Highway 1. The airpark has grass runways and is used by hobbyists. It is not unusual to see planes towing gliders into higher altitudes.

Although Eastern Kingbirds were featured in the reports, the first and only sighting we had was a Western Kingbird. The early morning light fooled my camera, but with a bit of post-processing the results were very rewarding.


Western Kingbird - Hope Airpark, Hope BC

Here's a photo my friend Mary-Jean took at about the same time.

Western Kingbird - Hope Airpark, Hope BC by Mary-Jean Payeur

The other bird we saw in the area was a Savannah Sparrow.

Savannah Sparrow - Hope Airpark, Hope BC 

Other than these two birds, the rest of the area was quiet. We headed back west towards the Cheam Lake Wetlands. We had a bit of a problem finding the correct route and Google maps only confused the situation. However, human memory kicked in and we found our way. 

Cheam Wetlands is a beautifully scenic area just off Highway 9 on the way to Agassiz from Highway 1. The side panels of this blog were shot at Cheam Wetlands.

Our first sighting was a male Belted Kingfisher far off in the distance.I'd left my scope in the car, so I had to hope for a decent exposure with the camera. It's a bit fuzzy.

Belted Kingfisher - Cheam Wetlands Regional Park, near Popkum BC

Mary-Jean saw a bird out on the lake and I identified it as a Pied-billed Grebe. It helped that I had already heard the unmistakeable call of this species.

Pied-billed Grebe - Cheam Wetlands Regional Park, near Popkum BC

We soon realized that the adult Grebe was not alone, it had a number of young chicks swimming around nearby. You can see them in the border photo and also in the one below.

Pied-billed Grebe - Cheam Wetlands Regional Park, near Popkum BC

We spent quite a bi of time watching the antics of the family. I was really kicking myself  for leaving the scope in the trunk of the car (but was too lazy to go get it).

Nearby our lookout was a singing Song Sparrow. It appeared briefly for this photo.

Song Sparrow - Cheam Wetlands Regional Park, near Popkum BC

The last bird we saw was this Great Blue Heron. Although common on the coast, sometimes they present nice photo opportunities.

We had planned to finish at Island 22 in Chilliwack, but had burned all our time in Hope and Bridal Falls. Mary-Jean did get there and found a beautiful male Lazuli Bunting. Here's her photo:

Lazuli Bunting - Island 22 Regional Park, Chilliwack BC by Mary-Jean Payeur

This was too much for me to resist and we made a date for July 1 (Canada Day) to explore this site in Chilliwack.

Sunday Morning at Point Roberts

This is the first summer post for what was previously called the 2016 Spring birding blog. The URL was too good to waste, so I've updated the title as seen above. This blog covers my birding activities in the Lower Mainland area, including Point Roberts across the border. There may be another blog created for our July trip to Calgary and other points east.

When I arrived this morning, I was not too optimistic. The sea was choppy so I did not expect to see many ducks or sea-birds, and if I did it would be challenging to photograph them. I did not see any ducks and I was right about the challenges. Bur there was plenty of bird action for a brief period.

The first birds I saw were three Pelagic Cormorants darting north towards the pilings by the boat launch.


Pelagic Cormorant - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

I then saw a few small birds quite far out. When I got my scope on them, I got excited. They were Rhinoceros Auklets, a smallish sea-bird that seldom comes close to shore. I had barely seen one on a pelagic cruise in September 2015, so it was not a lifer.

At first I tried to get a digiscope photo with my phone, but results were not great. Suddenly, a sea lion, which I had briefly seen, caught something big underwater. Here it is with a digiscope video capture just before it dove.

Sea Lion - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

As blood and guts rose to the surface, a mob scene ensued. There were Glaucous-winged Gulls, Cormorants, and Auklets fighting for the spoils.


Glaucous-winged Gulls and Pelagic Cormorant-Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Now the Auklets were close enough for my camera.

Glaucous-winged Gull and Rhinoceros Auklet - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

In the photo you see the little horn sticking up, hence the name.


Rhinoceros Auklet - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

I saw a few other species at this location including Belted Kingfisher and Purple Martin, but only got one worthwhile photo.


Purple Martin - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

As I was leaving a White-crowned Sparrow presented a much better photo opportunity.


White-crowned Sparrow - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

I made a quick stop at Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen on my way home. I only saw a few sparrows, but when I downloaded my photos I realized I had been lucky and seen my first Lincoln's Sparrow for the year (and so far the only one).


Lincoln's Sparrow - Centennial Beach, Boundary Bay Regional Park, Delta BC

This bird is closely related to the Song Sparrow, but is identified by the buffy colour on the belly and fine streaks on the breast. It is grayer and lighter coloured than its cousin.

Columbia Valley and Ryder Lake Ramble

This is the last spring post of the 2016 Birding Blog. I will be updating my Okanagan Birding Blog with some posts from my early June Golf and Birding trip. These will appear here: 2016 Okanagan Golf and Birding Vacation .

On this day, I travelled from North Delta to Cultus Lake where I met up with my friend Mary-Jean. We set off for the Columbia Valley, a rural area south of Cultus Lake. In fact it butts up against the US border. It is a mountainous area with no legal border crossings. We've had good luck with birds here in previous years, but it was a bit scarce on this day.

We did see some of the more common birds, starting off with a few Cedar Waxwings on the roadside.


Cedar Wasxing - Columbia Valley near Cultus Lake BC

We usually scan for interesting birds on the wires. We stopped for a Savannah Sparrow. This was my first photo of this species for 2016.


Savannah Sparrow - Columbia Valley near Cultus Lake BC

I caught this Spotted Towhee munching on some greenery.


Spotted Towhee - Columbia Valley near Cultus Lake BC

Once again, a solitary male Rufous Hummingbird put in an appearance.

Rufous Hummingbird - Columbia Valley near Cultus Lake BC

Another common bird is the White-crowned Sparrow, singing it's song on a wire.

White-crowned Sparrow - Columbia Valley near Cultus Lake BC

The last bird on the Columbia Valley tour was this colourful male House Finch.

House Finch - Columbia Valley near Cultus Lake BC

We left Columbia Valley and headed for Ryder Lake, an upland community east of Chilliwack. Each year a dozen or so property owners allow visitors to tour their properties. After a brief stop at the Ryder Lake Hall for registration and lunch, we set out for Oversky. This is an English country garden where we'd had some luck with birds in previous years.

One my favourite features of the garden is the cookware planters.

This year there were no Warbling Vireos, Grosbeaks or Jays. But there was a good collection of Rufous Hummingbirds at the various feeders. After mating, the male Rufous leaves and may mate with other females. It is up to the female to build the nest and raise the young. For this reason, they remain near feeders more than the males.

Here's a nice photo of a female approaching a feeder.


Rufous Hummingbird (F) - Ryder Lake near Chilliwack BC

With all the flower varieties in the garden, I always see bees here. As far as I can tell this is a Black and Gold Bumblebee.


Black and Gold Bumblebee - Ryder Lake near Chilliwack BC

The next site was a Christmas tree farm, a large property with a beautiful house. Once again we saw some female and immature Rufous Hummingbirds.


Rufous Hummingbird (F) - Ryder Lake near Chilliwack BC

That was it for me, and that's it for the spring blog. I may produce a summer blog if I see enough birds to warrant one. Summer is usually the quietest birding season.