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.