June 29 - Brunswick Point

After leaving Point Roberts, I decided to check out Brunswick Point in South Delta. The point is located just after the Westham Island turnoff at the west end of River Road in Ladner. There is a trail along the Fraser River that takes you into some good habitat.

After parking, the first bird I saw was an American Goldfinch.


American Goldfinch - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

This Cliff Swallow was taking a bath in a small puddle along the way. I was a bit surprised to see this species here.

Cliff Swallow - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

I took this shot with Nikon Coolpix, quite a different background.

A more common bird appeared on top of a bush:


Spotted Towhee - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

Another Goldfinch appeared, this one in a more scenic setting.


American Goldfinch - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

These next two shots area another "American" Bird, in this case a Robin having lunch.


American Robin - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

I then heard a bird I'd been missing so far this year, a Common Yellowthroat. They're much easier to hear than see, but this one popped up for a good photo op.

Common Yellowthroat - Brunswick Point, Delta BC - 2019 Bird #160

This was the highlight of this outing, to get this bird in the open like this.

On my way back to the car I saw this butterfly. It's quite common and is called a Painted Lady.

Painted Lady Butterfly - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

This was it for this day. Tomorrow I'd visit Reifel Bird Sanctuary to finish off June.

June 2019 Point Roberts Collection

June was a quiet month for birding, with most of my weekend outings starting at Point Roberts. I've summarized the Point Roberts new sightings and interesting photos into this one post.

June 9

Nothing too exciting on this day, the feature bird was this immature Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle (Imm) - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

I don't see too many Great Blue Herons here, but there was one flying over today.

Great Blue Heron - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

As mentioned in previous posts, this is one the best places to see Pelagic Cormorants. This shot shows the thin bill, the red under the eye and the white patches on the rump. With the raised crest, this bird might still be in breeding plumage.

Pelagic Cormorant - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

These are pelagics as well, minus the crest.

And here's the three birds together.

Pelagic Cormorant - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

June 23 Lifer

There was only one bird of note on this visit, a Marbled Murrelet fairly close to shore. Not only was it a first for 2019, it was my first ever! An unexpected lifer.

Marbled Murrelet- Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Life Bird #435 - 2019 Bird #158

This is the same bird, different photo taken in portrait format.

June 29

My last visit to the Point in June. Once again, I saw a Marbled Murrelet.

Also present was another Alcid, a Rhinoceros Auklet. This wa not a lifer, but my first sighting of this species in 2019.

 

Rhinoceros Auklet - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA - 2019 Bird #159

In Breeding plumage, it has a white "horn" on top of the beak. It can be seen in the photo below. The Auklet was quite far out, so these shots were taken with my IPhone through my spotting scope.

This is a heavy crop, but it does show the "Rhino" horn.

Farther out to sea was this Cruiser. I assume it belongs to the US Navy.

That's it for this post, there's a couple of more to finish up June.