The other major location was Iona Regional Park near the airport in Richmond where I had a couple of good days in mid month.
I also visited the Richmond Nature Park for the first time, a good place for the common seed eating birds.
#120 Purple Finch Date - Apr 12. Location: Richmond Nature Park, Richmond BC.
Status: Abundant
Another member of the seed-eating finches seen this month. The photo below of a female was taken through a pub window in Bay Bulls Newfoundland in July.
#121 Sanderling Date - Apr 12. Location: Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC
Status: Abundant
My next stop was Iona in Richmond. There were a good number of shorebirds on the sandy beach that morning. They were mostly Dunlin but there were a couple of Sanderling mixed in. They are the two birds with lighter colouring in the background. I usually get a closer view of them sometime in the year, but this is the only sighting as this is written in late December.
#122 Common Yellowthroat Date - Apr 12. Location: Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC
Status: Abundant
This is a small warbler that is seen in cat-tail marshes. it is more often heard than seen, but will usually pop up briefly to investigate someone pishing (calling with pis, pish, pish). This photo was taken on the Western Brook Pond trail in Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland. Even this one is a bit obscured by vegetation.
#123 Barn Swallow Date - Apr 12. Location: Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC
Status: Abundant
This is probably my favourite Swallow to photograph, They tend to sit still longer than the other Swallow species and their colouring is wonderful. The first photo was taken at Colony Farms Regional Park in Coquitlam in May.
This photo was taken from a blind at Frank Lake near High River Alberta in July.
#124 Greater Yellowlegs Date - Apr 19. Location: Maplewood Conservation Area, North Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
There was a report of a Vesper Sparrow here the previous day, so I visited this location in North Van the next day. No luck with the Vesper, but I did see my first Yellowlegs of the year here.
This photo was taken at Reifel Bird Sanctuary in late September.
#125 Caspian Tern Date - Apr 19. Location: Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC
Status: Abundant
On my way back from North Vancouver, I diverted to Richmond. There had been reports of Lapland Longspurs on the South Jetty. I'd have to wait a couple of days for that species, but did see some Caspian Terns overhead was I walked the Jetty. This photo is the same location, but taken two days later. It shows the start of a head first dive in an attempt to catch a fish.
#126 Savannah Sparrow Date - Apr 21. Location: Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC
Status: Abundant
I took this Tuesday morning off from work as the Longspurs were still being reported. It was a beautiful clear day and I arrived before the gates were opened, so I had to park some distance away and walk in. I noticed immediately that it was a very birdy day, there were Savannah Sparrows everywhere. They are easily identified by the yellow lores, the feathers above the eye.
The first photo shows a sparrow on a rock on the south jetty on this day.
The second photo was taken at Blackie's Spit in Surrey in May. I also saw many of these birds in Newfoundland in tundra-like areas.
#127 Lapland Longspur Date - Apr 21. Location: Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC
Status: Abundant
After missing these birds two days earlier, I was fortunate to see them on this day. They were about 1.5 Km out on the 4 Km South Jetty. These are northern birds that stop over during northward migration in early spring.
The first photo shows the male, the second is the female.
#128 Bonaparte's Gull Date - Apr 21. Location: Iona Regional Park, Richmond BC
Status: Abundant
The last bird seen on this morning was this one, a small gull that features a black head when in breeding plumage. The bird is named for a French ornithologist, the nephew of the famous Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. This group was my only sighting for the year.
#129 Townsend's Solitaire Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
As mentioned at the top of this post, the spring songbird migration results in fallouts of large numbers of birds at this park. It is probably due to the elevation of the park, and also the large variety of trees, shrubs and bushes available. On this Sunday morning it brought out the who's who in Vancouver birding, which helped us lesser birders find more birds as well.
One of my first sightings early in the morning was this member of the thrush family, high up in a tree. This was my only sighting for the year.
#130 Orange-crowned Warbler Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
A group of us decided to follow young birder Liron Gertsman around. Although only in his mid-teens, he is recognized as one of the best up and coming birders. He also lives close to the park and knows every nook and cranny.
I got some great shots of this colourful warbler. The Western subspecies of this bird shows much more yellow than the Eastern. The Orange patch on the crown is usually hidden.
#131 Hutton's Vireo Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
I have seen this Vireo once before in Arizona, but it was a very quick look and I relied on other birders ID, so it was a cheap lifer back in 2008. This time, I got close looks and great photos. Although unrelated, the Hutton's Vireo is easily confused with the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The key differences are behaviour and voice. The photo below is the real thing.
#132 Hammond's Flycatcher Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
Speaking of questionable lifers, this bird was seen and identified by a number of birders. I got one look at it with binoculars but was unable to get a photo. The photo below is lifted from Wikipedia. This was lifer #399.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
#133 Hermit Thrush Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
By this time we had been joined by more young birders, all with excellent vision and identification abilities. Someone called out Hermit Thrush deep in a large tree. I managed a couple of mediocre photos as the bird was sitting still. This demonstrates why I had trouble with the Hammond in the same area as it was constantly moving.
#134 Townsend's Warbler Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
Another bird named after American ornithologist John Kirk Townsend. I was back over by the tennis courts at Queen E by this time and there were hundreds of warblers in the trees, all constantly on the move. Although I saw a couple of this species, I did not get a photo. The one below was taken at Manning Park in June 2014.
#135 Black-throated Gray Warbler Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
This warbler was also in the same area. I did manage to capture this one sitting still for a moment.
#136 Chipping Sparrow Date - Apr 26. Location: Garfield Dr, North Delta BC
Status: Abundant
Although some people saw this sparrow at Queen E park, I missed it there. They are uncommon on the west coast, but are abundant farther east in the province. I noticed some birds on the driveway across the street from my house and took a quick look with my binoculars. They had reddish brown heads. I grabbed my camera and walked over. The birds ignored me and I took this photo from within 10 ft. I did see some at Queen Elizabeth a couple of days later.
#137 Wilson's Warbler Date - Apr 28. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
I had already planned a vacation day for this Tuesday to play golf in Bellingham in the afternoon. I had time to return to Queen E for a short time before heading south. There were still good numbers of warblers and other songbirds at the park. The Wilson's is another elusive warbler, but I did take some partially obscured photos this day.
This much better photo was taken in Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland in July.
#138 Brown-headed Cowbird Date - Apr 26. Location: Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
Status: Abundant
It's not surprising to see this species hanging around where songbirds congregate.They are nest parasites looking to sneak their eggs into other birds' nests. The photo was taken at Manning Park in May.
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