CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography
Birding in British Columbia, Canada
An interesting find out on Boundary Bay this afternoon, a Little Stint. I headed out that way and on arrival learned they had lost track of the bird. I came prepared and had my boots on and decided to walk the beach while I was there. After walking close to the dyke, I checked out the groups of shore birds moving around way out on the tidal flats.
There were lots of Western Sandpipers,
… and Black-bellied Plovers on the move.
Unfortunately I had no luck in relocating the Stint.
While it was a little brighter at Boundary Bay today, which is good from the photography perspective, it was still fairly quiet on the birding front.
At first I could only locate a handful of Pectoral Sandpipers.
They were foraging close to the dyke along the high water mark.
In the tidal pools around the pilings,
… was this lone Greater Yellowlegs.
It was quite cooperative providing a few good photo opportunities.
As the afternoon progressed I noticed there were several more Pectoral Sandpipers tucked away amongst the clumps of eelgrass a little further out. Still no Sharp-tailed Sandpiper though.
On my way back I managed to get fairly close to this Black-bellied Plover which was on its own on the periphery of the main flock.
This larger flock had Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin, Sanderling and Western Sandpipers.
It was overcast with a chance of showers in the forecast, but that was not going to keep indoors. Might as well enjoy it now before it does get miserable weather wise. On starting my walk at Boundary Bay I noticed a small group of Plovers that appeared to be resting about 300m straight out from 104 St. I usually find Black-bellied Plovers in large groups are next to impossible to get close to and usually don’t even try. A small sedate group such as this you can usually fair a little better, providing you do so slowly and down low when close.
They did let me get fairly close, too bad it was such a grey day. Of the four birds in this group, three were Black-bellied Plovers,
… the fourth an American Golden-Plover. They were comfortable with me there only for a short while before wondering off to join another half dozen Black-bellies not to far off. From here I made my toward the pilings.
Just before reaching them I located a small flock of about twenty Pectoral Sandpipers. I gave them all a good look, but still no Sharp-tailed. On scanning the beach beyond the pilings I could make out a few more large shore birds. On getting closer they turned out to be more Black-bellied Plovers and another American Golden-Plover. On talking to some other birders in the area watching the larger Plover flock, they also saw an American Golden-Plover. So there are at least two, possibly three in the area right now. Just no Pacific Golden-Plovers spotted yet. So while not a great day for photos, it never hurts being out there to see what is around and hope for better conditions tomorrow.