Monday, May 10 with Les: Little Campbell River Area & White Rock Pier

Spent an abfab day with Les (aka Amblesidebirder on the local BC birding forum), meeting up with him at 8 a.m. at Campbell Valley Regional Park, and against the odds, the predicted rainshowers from Washington state remained away from us for the entire day.

Campbell Valley is a designated B.C. Wildlife Watch site, and we were not to be disappointed, as 3½ of my 6½ Lifers for the day were seen here (more on the "½" later). It's an extensive park, and even has an equestrian centre there, including equestrian trails (that we avoided like the plague, think about it: birders are almost always looking up, not down), although we only saw one horse during our four hours spent there.

As I waited at the gate for Les to arrive, my list already included numerous Spotted Towhees, Bushtits, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a Lifer for me. Fussy eaters, though, which I learned when foolishly offering them birdseed purchased at Reifel that turned out to be DUCK food, vs. their preferred sunflower seed diet. I also learned that they're difficult to photograph based on the hight volume of photos I had to trash, comparable to warblers as far as their activity level is concerned. I forgave them this, though, as they're pretty little things and a nice change from the usual Black-capped Chickadees:

These are views of the Shaggy Mane equestrian trail:

 

The next, albeit HALF lifer for the day was a Warbling Vireo (I had an "audio only" on it last year at Carden Alvar), forgive me the sad image quality, it's really only for my records:

 

This is the Listening Bridge in the park:

The wooded area was amazing, at times I expected to see the current film crew for this year's Blair Witch Project, or even stick-men "piles" around the next bend in the trail. Lucky for us, all we found was a Wilson's Warbler (another Lifer), my first Yellow Warbler for the year, and at times, Rufous Hummingbirds flying around us.

 

Our BOTD was the Black-headed Grosbeak, another Lifer, ho hum. This is the male:

This is the female, a bit on the drab side by comparison to the male, but still more colourful than her female Rose-breasted Grosbeak counterpart. We encountered several pairs here, as well as at our next stop:

We continued on to a new early-summer venue for Les, Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club Hatchery, which raises and releases salmon:

In the woods we heard several and managed to even see Western Wood-Pewees, another boring Lifer for me, as well as more Black-headed Grosbeak couples. Then we met Roy, a very gracious and hospitable worker at the hatchery, who shared our enthusiasm for birds, pointing out to us a nesting Red-Tailed Hawk. He then guided us around the woods, and eventually escorted us to a private pond where we enjoyed Mallards, a pair of Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Semipalmated Sandpipers (Lifer, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz), and this Long-Billed Dowitcher:

Several swallows were on the wing, no doubt due to the high insect population because of the hatchery, and I finally scored a photo of this Violet-green Swallow:

Many thanks go to Roy for his hospitality and generosity for spending so much time with Les and I!

A few hours later, we met Les' wife Kate in White Rock, and after scarfing down a quick meal together, we headed out onto the pier where off in the distance we saw Bonaparte's Gulls, White-winged Scoters, and this lone Black-bellied Plover:

Here's something we never see in Ontario waters:

Here's a less fortunate starfish on the boulder in front of the Gull, who I noticed through my binos was being attacked by the gull, but had mercifully stopped by the time I had my camera ready:

All in all an amazing day, my BOTD had to be the Black-headed Grosbeaks, even despite seeing two Trash Birds Bald Eagles, Ann, riding high on thermals north of Crescent Road on King George Highway as I made my way back home. 

My MOTD was this fellow, looking quite pleased with himself for maintaining his reputation as the B.C. Owl-whisperer. Not.

You can follow this link below to Les' blog where more accurate(!) details can be found on our "time-well-spent" day together, thanks so much again, Les!

http://www.birdtrekkerbc.wordpress.com/