September 2019 - Backyard Birds and Critters

Since it's now early November, I'm doing something different with my September posts. Most of the month's photos are from our backyard, Point Roberts and Reifel Bird Sanctuary. So I'll do one post for each of those and one for a visit to Iona Regional Park in Richmond.

First, the highlights from our backyard in North Delta. We live on top of a bluff that looks out onto Burns Bog. We don't really have a backyard, we have a forest.

September 4, 2019

The highlight of the month was a bird never seen before in our yard, a Warbling Vireo. It may have been migrating from the north and thought our yard looked like a good rest stop. It was just a fluke that I spotted the bird from our small deck. I quickly fetched a camera and took two shots, this one the best. I'd seen one of these in Idaho in May, so it was not a first for the year.


Warbling Vireo - Backyard, North Delta BC

About 8 minutes later I took this shot of more common visitor to our yard.

Anna's Hummingbird - Backyard, North Delta BC

September 10, 2019

We have squirrels in our backyard, they are long term residents. This is the first time I've seen one having a drink at the bird bath.

Black squirrel - Backyard, North Delta BC

Another resident in the yard is the Bewick's Wren. They're more often heard than seen. Wrens have exceptionally loud calls and songs.  I was lucky to get this shot of one out in the open. The birds don't sit still for long, so getting focus is difficult.

Bewick's Wren - Backyard, North Delta BC

September 11, 2019

Another mammal was seen the next day. I don't know if this rabbit is wild or an escaped pet. I haven't seen it since. This might be a Mountain Cottontail.

Rabbit - Backyard, North Delta BC

Also on this day is another Anna's Hummingbird, this time a female.

Anna's Hummingbird (F) - Backyard, North Delta BC

September 24, 2019

One of the more more frequently seen residents in our yard is the Downy Woodpecker. It likes both the seed and suet feeders. The red patch on the nape of the neck identifies it as a male. We also see a female, probably a mate to this one.

Downy Woodpecker -  - Backyard, North Delta BC

That's it for the backyard for this month. I'll do another post towards the end of the year if warranted.

September 2019 - Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Similar to other posts for September, this is a collection of all my visits to Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta. September marks the start of shorebird migration season and Reifel is an excellent place to visit at this time of year.

September 8

It was a bit early still for fall migration, so I concentrated on collecting some good shots of the common birds at the sanctuary. One such bird is the Eurasian Collared Dove, which seems to have displaced our native Mourning Dove. I suspect the Eurasian qualifier will be dropped eventually.

Collared Dove - Reifel Bird Sanctuary - September 2019

Although the migrants haven't arrived, there's plenty of shorebirds at the sanctuary. They are primarily Dowitchers and Yellowlegs.

I believe the next two shots are of Greater Yellowlegs. The bill seems much longer than the head and the chest markings are distinct.

Greater Yellowlegs - Reifel Bird Sanctuary - September 2019

Greater Yellowlegs - Reifel Bird Sanctuary - September 2019

No mistaking this bird, even though it's not quite in full Alternate plumage yet.

Mallard - Reifel Bird Sanctuary - September 2019

The last shot of the day shows a collection of resident dowitchers and yellowlegs. Pretty well all of the Dowitchers seen here are Long-billed. The Short-billed are only identifiable by the experts as the differences are very subtle. I think all the Yellowlegs in the photo are Greater.

Dowitchers and Yellowlegs - Reifel Bird Sanctuary - September 2019

September 28

The sanctuary is located on Westham Island, one of the most scenic locations in Delta.

After crossing the bridge I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk on a powerline. There was no traffic behind me so I was able to take a couple of shots out the window. It's always good to have a camera handy inside the car.

Red-tailed Hawk - Westham Island, Delta BC

I kept the camera ready and got it taking off from the power line.

I checked in at the Sanctuary and discovered that a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper had been seen the previous day in the west field. There was a good chance of seeing it today, and all the who's who of the birdwatching community would likely be onsite. 

The downside was that high tide was when the bird would show up and that was around 4:00 PM. I arrived at about 1:45. 

I made a slow tour of the sanctuary and saw a few birds of interest, including a flock of Bushtits.

Bushtit - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - September 2019

I took this photo of a female Scaup, I believe it is a Greater Scaup based on the head shape. This was my first of this species for 2019.

Greater Scaup (F) - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - September 2019 - 2019 Bird #174

I'd killed some time and had reached the West Field. I ran into Monica, a birder I'd gotten to know when we were both on a guided birding tour in the Okanagan. We killed the time chatting about what we'd done in birding recently. A goose flew over and Monica called out Greater White-fronted. I quickly snapped a couple of shots and was able to confirm her call (not that there was any doubt).

Greater White-fronted Goose- Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - September 2019

2019 Bird #175

We started to head down to the West Field as it was getting closer to high tide time. I took this shot of a Dowitcher on the way. This photo was taken at 3:12 PM.

Long-billed Dowitcher - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - September 2019

Another hour passed when eventually a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was spotted. In fact there were 2 or 3 of them. This bird is smaller than the Dowitchers and Yellowlegs and it took me a while to locate it in the crowd of birds. It's in the center left foreground in this shot.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Delta BC - September 2019 - 2019 Bird #176

Here it is in isolation:

It had been a long afternoon at Reifel, but a rewarding one.

September 2019 - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

I visit Point Roberts for gas most weekends, sometimes on both Saturday and Sunday as we have two vehicles. I always make a visit to Lighthouse Marine Park, a beautiful location on the southwest section of the Point.

Unlike the quiet shores around Boundary Bay in Delta, this park is on the open ocean and has a rocky shoreline with a steep drop-off. The difference between low and high tides is about 30 - 40 feet of shoreline. Quite often there are birds that like deep water quite close to shore.

September 8

Only a few photos for this Sunday visit. The first is a pair of common gulls, an adult and juvenile.


Glaucous-winged Gulls - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

There's some good open habitat around the park which attracts this predator looking for songbirds and small mammals.


American Kestrel - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

This shot is a bit fuzzy, but I like the colours.

September 14

I was back again the following Saturday. The shot below shows the pilings to the north of the parking area. It's a good roosting spot for Cormorants (Pelagic and Double-crested) and Gulls. I've also seen a Belted Kingfisher resting here occasionally.

It's not unusual to see a Steller Sea Lion lurking in the water offshore. They can submerge for a very long time, which makes it a guessing game for photography. I was somewhat lucky on this day.

Steller Sea Lion - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

The last highlight of the day was my first Caspian Tern of the year. Interestingly, my next stop for the day was the Iona Jetty in Richmond where I saw many more. That visit is described in a subsequent post.

Caspian Tern - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA - 2019 Bird #171

September 22

There was good variety on this Sunday morning visit. The rocky beach here attracts certain kinds of small shorebirds such as Turnstones, Sanderlings and (occasionally) Surfbirds. 

Today, Black Turnstones were on view.

Black Turnstone - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

When these birds are in flight, their appearance changes from the look above.

Farther out from shore I spotted a Pigeon Guillemot. It was transitioning from alternate (Breeding) plumage to basic plumage.

Pigeon Guillemot - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Out on the water, a young gull was wrestling with a Sculpin it had caught. The Sculpin seem to be numerous here.

Glaucous-winged Gull - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Fall and winter are good seasons to see Loons at this location. The most frequently seen are Common Loons (hence the name). At this time they have begun transitioning to basic plumage. I was happy to get a few shots of them in this state.

Common Loon - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

September 28

This was my last visit of the month. There was a good variety of birds on the day, including an unusual visitor.

I don't take too many Crow photos, but these two were interesting. Since I was using my 400 mm telephoto lens, the depth of field is very shallow.

Northwestern Crows - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Here's the unusual sighting. I don't recall seeing a Great Blue Heron here before. The rocky shoreline is not what the bird is adapted for. It was there again the following week and then not seen again. Hopefully it found more suitable habitat.

Great Blue Heron - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

My next sighting was a good one. The Pacific Loon is a beautiful bird. It was quite far from shore and I only got two shots. The picture quality is poor but good enough for positive ID.

Pacific Loon - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA - 2019 Bird # 173

And finally for September, a group of Sanderling. First in flight and then at rest.

Sanderling - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

Sanderling - Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts WA

The October posts for Point Roberts will probably be in the same format as this one, a collection for the month.