| Photojournal
- 20
July 2004
Back
to the jetty
| On Tuesday
the 20th of July I went back to the Tsawassen Ferry Jetty, having
just been there the Saturday before with my friends Annie and Derrill.
There were reports of some shorebirds there that I'd never seen.
When I arrived, I heard
a birdcall right as I stepped away from the car. It turns out
that there was one of the young Black Oystercatchers right there.
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| That's a
good look at him, to complement the similar shot I got on Saturday
of an adult. It turns out that the whole family was on the jetty
below me. Here's a shot of the above young'un with an adult. |
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Another feature today
was a large group (about 60-80) of Caspian Terns in the lagoon.
Mostly, they would sit or stand around in the lagoon, but every
now and then one of them would take off over the water and do
a little fishing. Here's one in flight.
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And here's a few in
the lagoon. The one in the middle has just landed with a fish
in his mouth, and it seems to have offended one of the guys on
the right.
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Here's one more, which
I caught flying fairly near me.
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Looking around the
lagoon, there wasn't much else, 'cept for the odd gull and Great
Blue Heron. Here's one of the herons, looking a little windblown.
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| I spent
some time walking around the lagoon, checking for the reported shorebirds.
Then I went across the road to the other side of the jetty, and
some birders in a pickup truck stopped and asked if I'd seen anything
good. I told them that I'd just seen the usual, oystercatchers and
Caspian Terns and herons. They asked if I'd seen any Common Terns
(I hadn't) and told me that the Black Turnstones were just around
the corner to my right.
Black Turnstones were
one of the birds I was looking for, so as the others drove off,
I headed up the shore and quickly came across the turnstones.
The dark coloration of the Black Turnstone is a bit unusual for
this type of shorebird. Normally, sandpiper-type shorebirds have
brown or grey coloration, not black. Anyhow, there were five or
six of the birds, and they kept within about a meter or two of
where the water meets the rocks. Here's a picture of two of them.
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The turnstones were
a new bird for me, and it I enjoyed watching them as they made
their way up the "coast" alongside the jetty. Unfortunately,
lunch and work beckoned, so I packed up and headed back.
Your fearless bird-chaser,
Tom
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