This is my first post-retirement blog post. I'm still working part-time, but am trying to take 2 or 3 days per week off for activities like bird-watching and golf.
My former co-worker and bird-watching friend Margaret contacted me suggesting we do an outing to Reifel. She had a friend (Susan) from Toronto visiting and wanted to show her some of the local bird life. We agreed to go on Friday Sept 10 for a half day visit to Reifel.
It was our lucky day as a rare bird had appeared at Reifel the day before, a Black-necked Stilt. We see these birds in Fall migration when they are making their way south from up north.
We checked in at the Sanctuary and Margaret and Susan bought some bird seed to attract the birds along the paths.
It doesn't take long to start seeing birds as there are ponds along the entry way. This is a good spot to see ducks, herons and shorebirds.
The first birds seen were this group of Yellowlegs. I think these are Lesser, but I'm always a little dubious about ID between Greater and Lesser.
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| Lesser Yellowlegs - Reifel Bird Sanctuary Another common bird along this path is the Great Blue Heron  This is also a favourite place for the Wood Ducks, as they really like the bird seed that gets scattered by the visitors.   Wood Ducks - Male in molt above, Female below. It didn't take too long for Margaret to attract a customer for some bird seed, in this case a fairly scruffy looking chickadee, possibly a first year bird.  We reached the North East corner and checked out the view from the Ewan Slough Blinds. The only birds spotted were a Song Sparrow and a House Finch. 
We were now approaching the West Field where the Stilt had been spotted. However, we saw some other birds along the way.
We made it to the West Field and caught sight of the Black-necked Stilt. It's hard to miss with the black and white body and the long pink legs.
The bird gradually crept closer and I got some better photos.  Here's a shot of the stilt beside a Yellowlegs, a Lesser I believe.  I also got this shot of a Yellowlegs with a Long-billed Dowitcher (on the left behind the Yellowlegs).  And one last shot of the Stilt:  On the way back to the parking lot we saw one more familiar bird.  And lastly, this long distance shot of a hawk overhead, probably a Red-tailed.  That ended our day, it was a very nice outing and it was good to see Margaret again and meet Susan. |
