American Pipit

While I managed to find some time to head out to Boundary Bay this afternoon, the shore birds seemed to have found other places to spend the day. I walked from 104 St. to the mansion and only saw about a dozen Pectoral Sandpipers along the tidal flats. The tide was way out as was the plover flock along the water line off 96 St. I had noticed a few American Pipit were still around earlier. Not near the numbers that were being seen in previous weeks, but decided to try for them on my way back.

Near the pilings I did find one Pipit that was resting on the rocks and willing to cooperate. So the day was not a total loss photo wise.

Pecs, Least & Pipits

It was still fairly windy when I left home for my walk this afternoon, but no where near like the gusts we were getting last night and this morning. On arriving at Boundary Bay the breeze had pretty much subsided and it was quite pleasant. So while the conditions were great, once again it was fairly uneventful on the birding front.

There were a pair of Pectoral Sandpipers,

… accompanied by a Least Sandpiper.

They eventually hunkered down together for a rest.

There were still several American Pipits around the pilings and along the shoreline. The odd man out this afternoon,

… was this pumpkin way out on the tidal flats. Not sure how it got there, perhaps an omen Halloween is on its way.

Peeps, Plovers & Pecs

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, shore birds have been the theme for a while now. With the migration still ongoing and the chance of locating the odd rarity, it was back out to Boundary Bay around noon to catch the rising tide. As usual my walk started from 104 St. and headed west from there.

First up this afternoon,

… was this lone Western Sandpiper.

While it is more common to find them in groups or with other birds,

… every once in a while there will be the odd man out. Not long after leaving this little fellow, another reason for coming back today.

The American Golden-Plovers were still present.

This one tucked away resting,

… and then getting up and doing a nice stretch. Notice no black armpit like the Black-bellied Plover.

The last outing where I managed some distant, but decent shots, was far too short.

Today I was able to get much closer,

… and spend more time with not one, but two birds. While photographing these birds I noticed a couple of other groups further along the beach that I decided to check out.

The first was a pair of Baird’s Sandpipers,

… that were also quite cooperative. Up next,

… was about six Pectoral Sandpipers. I wanted to check this group out for possible Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, but no such luck today.

In with them was a Least Sandpiper. While it was initially resting and facing away from me,

… it started foraging and passed by right in front of me. Then I made my way back,

… locating the American Golden-Plovers pretty much where I had left them. At this point another photographer was making his way towards me. Having had some good quality time with them already, I slowly backed out so as to not flush the birds and pointed them out to him. John thanked me for the gesture and was appreciative of the opportunity to photograph these birds. Being such wonderful day I stuck around a while longer after the high tide.