Thursday, September 28, 2017

Sept 26 to 28 - Backyard and Chilliwack

This is the second to last post for September 2017. Here's a couple of photos taken from the back porch at home. We get some Golden Crowned Sparrows in the yard, this one looks like an adult in winter plumage.


Golden-crowned Sparrow - Backyard, North Delta BC

A sign that winter is coming is the reappearance of Juncos. We'll have them in good numbers for the next 6 months as long as we keep the feeders filled.


Dark-eyed Junco - Backyard, North Delta BC

We'll have a few finches hang around for the winter, this female house finch might be one of them.

House Finch (F) - Backyard, North Delta BC


September 28th - Chilliwack

I had the day off from work and was playing golf in the afternoon in Langley. I decided to travel out to Chilliwack in the morning. There'd been a report of Cackling Geese arriving at Sardis Park, where they'll likely stay for the winter.

My first stop was the Great Blue Heron Reserve in Greendale, a community to the west of Sardis.


I've visited here frequently but really only had one good outing. Today it was scarce again but I did get a photo of a common sparrow. The dark head indicates a juvenile bird.

White-crowned Sparrow (Imm) - Great Blue Heron Reserve, Chilliwack BC

My next stop was Sardis Park where I hoped to see the Cackling Geese. They are similar to Canada Geese, but are much smaller. They have a distinctive call which you can here in the video below.

When the Geese arrive at the park they do so in large numbers. This is a mix of Canada Geese (Large) and Cackling Geese (small). They were all classified as Canada Geese before 2004 when Cackling Goose was split into a separate species 

Cackling Geese - Sardis Park, Chilliwack BC

Here's a close up of one, you can see the size difference and the shorter beak. I'd seen one of them in April in the Okanagan but this is the first good photo.

Cackling Goose - Sardis Park, Chilliwack BC

The noise that all the geese made was very loud as you can hear in the video below:


I took this photo of the bird below, I'm not sure if this is a goose or a duck. The all white condition is called leucism meaning the bird cant' produce coloured pigment for its feathers. It is not an Albino bird.



It was time to leave for my golf game in east Langley. Little did I know that there had been a massive accident on Highway 1 and I'd be sitting in traffic for an extra 45 minutes. I just made in time and did see one bird on the golf course.

Pied-billed Grebe - Pagoda Ridge Golf Course, Langley BC

The Geese made the day worthwhile in spite of the traffic problems. The golf was fun too.

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