{"id":1285,"date":"2011-09-03T22:43:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-04T05:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crazym.ca\/?p=1285"},"modified":"2011-12-05T23:13:22","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T07:13:22","slug":"a-buffy-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/?p=1285","title":{"rendered":"A Buffy Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Later this afternoon I headed out Boundary Bay. I knew the tide was going to be low, but was hoping to find some of the regulars along the beach. I started off at 104 St. and headed west to 96 St. without seeing anything. At 96 St. I headed down from the dyke and out on to the beach, waiting and watching. It was not too long before I noticed a small group come in settle on the beach.<\/p>\n

\"Semipalmated
Semipalmated Plover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a small group of Semipalmated Plovers.<\/p>\n

\"Semipalmated
Semipalmated Plover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These are probably the smallest plovers seen around here, about 18 cm in length.<\/p>\n

\"Semipalmated
Semipalmated Plover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It took a little time before I got these shots.<\/p>\n

\"Semipalmated
Semipalmated Plover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I took my time allowing the group to be comfortable with me there.<\/p>\n

\"Semipalmated
Semipalmated Plover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is probably the closest I have gotten to these tiny plovers.<\/p>\n

\"Least
Least Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next up were some Least Sandpipers.<\/p>\n

\"Least
Least Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They are not very big either, only about 15 cm in length,<\/p>\n

\"Least
Least Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

… but a couple came in fairly close.<\/p>\n

\"Least
Least Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For size comparison to the next bird of the day, here is Least Sandpiper with a Baird`s Sandpiper in the background.<\/p>\n

\"Baird's
Baird's Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Baird`s Sandpiper is a little larger at 19 cm in length.<\/p>\n

\"Baird's
Baird's Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I ended up only about 7-8 m from this group.<\/p>\n

\"Baird's
Baird's Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While some in this group were busy foraging,<\/p>\n

\"Baird's
Baird's Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

… others like the one in the background were content to rest.<\/p>\n

\"Baird's
Baird's Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Being so close to all these birds I probably spent more time just watching and enjoying than photographing.<\/p>\n

It was now just after 6:30 pm and I decided to start back toward 104 St. Still checking out the regulars along my way, something different caught my attention as I approached the old pilings.<\/p>\n

\"Buff-breasted
Buff-breasted Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lone Buff-breasted Sandpiper.<\/p>\n

\"Buff-breasted
Buff-breasted Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Definitely the bonus bird for the day, and as I have been discussing size of the others, the largest at 21 cm in length.<\/p>\n

\"Buff-breasted
Buff-breasted Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While I had only come out for, and was quite happy with the regulars,<\/p>\n

\"Buff-breasted
Buff-breasted Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

… locating one of the rarer shore birds seen here each year was great. The Buff-breasted Sandpiper normally migrates south through the interior of Canada, but we will usually get a few sightings each fall here on the west coast.<\/p>\n

\"Buff-breasted
Buff-breasted Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Could not ask for a better finish to a lovely afternoon on Boundary Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Later this afternoon I headed out Boundary Bay. I knew the tide was going to be low, but was hoping to find some of the regulars along the beach. I started off at 104 St. and headed west to 96 St. without seeing anything. At 96 St. I headed down from the dyke and out … Continue reading “A Buffy Day”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[41,46,45,44],"class_list":["post-1285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birding-in-british-columbia","category-boundary-bay","tag-bairds-sandpiper","tag-buff-breasted-sandpiper","tag-least-sandpiper","tag-semipalmated-plover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1285"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1310,"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions\/1310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazym.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}