Downy Woodpeckers are pretty small and obliging - a male and female were seen in Queen Elizabeth park.
If there is water, American Wigeon seem to be wherever you go and usually scratching around in the undergrowth - Dark-eyed juncos!
For the afternoon, it was off to the Reifel nature reserve, north of Vancouver. This was pretty strong on wildfowl but there were plenty of other birds there too!
Wood Duck are incredible birds, Green-winged Teal and Bufflehead were the local specialities. Scaup and Pintail reminded me of home (not sure when I've seen quite so many Scaup though!) Think I know where I'd rather be right now!
Er, how about another American Wigeon - plenty of them here too!
How many birders drove the length and breadth of England to see a White-crowned Sparrow? I remember the Cley bird well - they were constantly underfoot here, with youngsters as well for comparison.
Golden-crowned Sparrow were pretty cute too - the other guy is a Song Sparrow...
Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon was distant views of a 3000+ strong flock of Snow Geese. I waited patiently but didn't get the mass take off - just a few individuals moving around
Or maybe a Great-horned Owl? Neck aching stuff trying to get a picture of this bird, difficult to see from any other angle other than directly below!
Spotted Towhee and Red-winged Blackbird to follow and a Red-tailed Hawk (so reminiscent of a Common Buzzard), patiently waiting...
Two common local birds to finish off with - American Coot (Ok it is slightly different to ours) and Black-capped Chickadee (no alarm call needed with these calling outside my bedroom window!).
Back to alpine plants now until next Tuesday - see what Vancouver Island has to offer..... New Birthday birds: Hairy Woodpecker Pine Siskin Mew Gull Ring-billed Gull Song Sparrow Common Raven Anna’s Hummingbird Common Merganser Double-crested Cormorant Golden-crowned Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Snow Goose Trumpeter Swan Brown creeper Great-horned Owl Northern Shoveler Gadwall American Coot Greater Scaup Marsh Wren Red-tailed Hawk Brewers Blackbird House Sparrow Wood Duck Bush Tit
