On Saturday afternoon, we had a bunch of running around to do and visits with some friends planned, all of which took us in the general direction of Delta. So we decided to go to Boundary Bay and go for a walk along the dyke and see what bird life we might find. It was a beautiful, sunny day, if a bit cold.

The views of Mount Baker were pretty spectacular.

Mount Baler was looking fabulous off in the distance across the water.

There were huge flocks of shorebirds that kept wheeling about along the shoreline.

I can’t quite tell what these birds are - smallish, sandpipers of some sort.

We parked in the parking area, and it was surprisingly quiet for such a beautiful day. We headed up to the trail and decided to head off to the left for a change. We’ve typically gone the other way. On the “land” side of the dyke is one of my favourite golf courses - closed at the moment since we still have the remains of snow from the week before. Instead, it was a haven for ducks! There must have been thousands of them!

The walk was not very interesting to look at - just an out and back along the dyke.

Huge flocks of wigeons on the golf course. There’s an eagle up in the tree having a look at everything going.

They seemed to be grazing on the still-green grass, among the snow.

Even the greens were of interest to the ducks.

Looking out across the golf course, there were so many different ducks and geese and other shorebirds.

As we headed down the path, there was a Northern Harrier hunting in the grasses at the edge of the water.

The harrier would scatter the shorebirds, causing them to panic and scatter.

We saw quite a few of these birds over the course of our walk.

I think this might be my best eagle shot ever!

Not long after heading out, we found a lone eagle sitting up in a tree quite close to the path. It gave us an incredible opportunity to observe and get some pictures.

This image is cool - you can see the transparent nictitating membrane that eagles can use to protect their eyes.

There were lots of small songbirds around - the usual collection of sparrows and finches, as well as lots of robins and crows. And of course uncountable shorebirds and waterfowl.

A blue heron along one of the little streams we crossed.

Eagles soaring over the tidal marshes and in front of the mountains.

A little later on down the path we noticed an eagle up in the tree, eating a duck of some description. It was pretty far back in the trees, and hard to see for the branches and how the light was.

Probably my best shot of the day of a Northern Harrier.

As we were walking back towards the truck, we noticed quite a crowd of the “serious” bird photographers hanging out quite near the golf course. We strolled up to a small group and discovered that they had seen a couple of rare sightings - a short-eared owl on patrol, and the exceptional sighting - a mountain bluebird!

The owls I had seen here before, but the bluebird, that was a new one. And one that was not supposed to be in the area. We didn’t see it at first, but eventually, being patient, Justine ended up spotting it flitting about one of the cedar trees on the golf course. We didn’t see it for long, but it was very cool to see!

I don’t normally post photos that are not very good, but in this case, both the owl and bluebird photos are pretty bad. So you’ve been warned. I really do wish I had my better camera with me!

It’s horribly out of focus, but you can see the colours so well.

Again, pretty blurry but the colours are so amazing!

At one point, as the owl was circling about, a harrier either took a bird, or bullied the owl off it’s prey. It then landed quite close to the owl, and the poor little owl looked on. Again the photos are pretty poor quality - but it was quite far away.

A little later on the owl did another little fly-by.

It eventually settled on a birdhouse for a short rest.

I’d say our little bird watching trip had been a success. Lots of cool things to see, and some new and unusual sightings. It was a good start to our afternoon.

As it was still getting into the afternoon, we then headed off, and drove down to White Rock to explore further. In all my years in Vancouver, I had never been to White Rock. White Rock is home to “Canada’s Longest Pier” and the namesake rock on the beach. It’s a cool little beach side community, and while it was a nice late fall afternoon (cold and clear), you could easily imagine how much nicer it would be to hang out along the beach in the summer.

The namesake White Rock, as seen from the pier. Mount Baker rises over the water.

It’s a pretty big rock, but I’m not sure I feel the need to make another trip back to see it again.

We walked out to the end of the pier to enjoy the view as the sun started to set. There was an eagle that landed on one of the light posts on the end of the pier.

Another amazing view of Mount Baker from the pier.

From the pier, there were quite a few water birds about, especially surf scoters. They are one of our favourite birds, as they have such a huge, cool beak.