With spring upon us, we were long overdue for a visit out to Reifel to check on the birds. And with the spring migration in full force, and with it being time for baby birds, we were hopeful that we’d have a good day out. Alex has moved out to Vancouver for the summer for her “summering” at a local law firm, and as she had expressed an interest to come along, she and Matt joined us for a fun day out.

With spring in full bloom, I figured I should share some flower pictures, as it’s mostly birds from here on out…

Apple blossoms - I hope this means our apple trees on the island will still be in bloom when we get back.

There is an amazing wisteria vive along one of the paths to Granville Island. I can only hope that my two tiny vines on the island will one day look like this.

There are a couple of gorgeous pink dogwoods near our usual bus stop.

We had a pretty early start on Saturday, picking up Alex and Matt at Alex’s new apartment downtown. She’s in a nice spot, close to the office and all the action in the core. It should be great for her summer in Vancouver. As it was fairly early, we got a good start and were down to Delta fairly early.

The usual map of our walk around Reifel.

On arrival, we were straight away lucky with some baby geese! So cute when they are little. It’s hard to imagine that they grow up into the nuisance that are Canada Geese. Still they are super cute photo subjects.

I wish I could get better shots away from the feeder, but still, they are quite pretty little birds.

This time of year the swallows are building nests and busy mating. We get lots of different types. I got good photos of tree and barn swallows, and we saw bank swallows out on our walk. The buggers fly way to fast to get them in flight, well for me anyway.

This guy was all for posing, even while the Canada Geese were going crazy, chasing each other all around the path near the front pond.

As we headed up the main path away from the front entrance, Justine was quick to notice some Yellow-rumped Warblers in some of the trees. It was great spotting - I had just walked by! They were a bit far away, but I did get a few good shots.

He was pretty well hidden in all the foliage.

They don’t make a lot of noise, but it looks like he was singing.

As we wandered about, there was lots to see. It was a pretty busy day. And it was hilarious how aggressive the red-wing blackbirds have been getting. Alex and Matt bought a bag of bird seed and had been trying to attract the chickadees. They got some chickadees, but we kept getting dive bombed by the blackbirds!

There was at least one chickadee.

Incoming!

The little buggers are quite bold.

I guess the seed on the hat had something to do with it.

They ceetainly don’t seen too fussed at getting close.

Even when you’re not feeding them, they still want to hang out.

As we explored, there was a mixture of new birds and old friends. We decided to keep to the inside paths, as the wind was pretty strong, and quite cold. As we were walking, we kept hearing a Common Yellowthroat, but we could never see it. It was quite frustrating.

This little gtree swallow seemed trapped in the birdhouse, as we were all a little too close.

We eventually made our way along the path and to the ponds in the center of the sanctuary. And here we found a couple of new birds to add to the life list! It wa a good day for some new ones!

OK this isn’t new - but it was cool to see the geese sitting on their nests.

While this may look like a Canada Goose, it’s actually not. It’s a cackling goose. They are smaller, with shorter necks. It was the first time I had definitively identified them.

The other new one in the pond was this one lone Eurasian Wigeon. Prettier than the more common American Wigeon.

Let’s wrap it up as we started, with more baby geese!

After wrapping up at Reifel, we headed over to Barnside Brewing to have some lunch. It was a nice day, so we sat outside and had a great ending to our day!