October 9 - Elgin Heritage Park and Blackie's Spit

This was my first local outing after returning from the San Francisco area. I saw in the BC rare bird alert that there had been an American Avocet seen at Elgin Park which is located in Surrey on Crescent Beach Road.

It's a nice area with some boardwalks along the Nikomekl River, but all I saw on this Sunday morning was a Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow - Elgin Heritage Park, Surrey BC

I continued west to Blackie's Spit, hoping to see a Eurasian Wigeon, a bird I wanted for my 2017 list. I met up with some birders from the Delta Naturalists and looked for birds together. They were looking for a Long-billed Curlew, a frequent winter resident on the spit.

I had my spotting scope and was able to locate the Curlew in with a bunch of ducks. One of those ducks happened to be a Eurasian Wigeon. This was the best I could manage for the Wigeon, it's the bird with the reddish head in the background. The Curlew is in the foreground.

Long-billed Curlew (Left) and Eurasian Wigeon (2017 Bird #209) - Blackie Spit, Surrey BC

As we were watching a Bald Eagle flew overhead and caused all the birds on the shore to scatter. I captured a shot of the Curlew as it flew overhead.


Long-billed Curlew - Blackie Spit, Surrey BC

The Curlew landed near the end of the spit:




It was visible and alert for a short while allowing me to get this zoomed closeup.



Eventually it resumed sleeping, while remaining alert for any disturbance.

This was not the most prolific outing, but I love the shot of the Curlew in flight.