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.