That was a good start to the day, and I was psyched as I loaded my gear and clambered into my car. Off I went, crossing the Queensborough and then the Alex Fraser bridges. Somewhere around there I decided to head for Blackie Spit...I thought of calling my friend Ilya, to see if he was out there, but I didn't have his phone number with me. Oh, well...it looked like I would have to spot and identify the birds by myself.

I pulled into the end of the parking lot nearest the tip of the spit around 11:00. Right in front of me were two young Bald Eagles perched on piles. One of them flew off just before I got out of the car, but the other stayed around long enough for me to get a few distant shots.

I was hand-holding my camera. I looked around, and instinctively started photographing some ducks until I realized that they were Mallards. When I returned to the eagle, he had flown off, causing a small evacuation of dabblers from his flight path. He settled on the shore of a marsh across the way with three other eagles.

There were a bunch of wigeon around, and I was still without a Eurasian Wigeon for my life list, so I decided to take some time and see if I could find one. I went back to my car and pulled out my spotting telescope and tripod. As I was starting to scan the wigeon, I heard an unfamiliar but insistent call. I traced it and found a male Northern Flicker, who promptly flew over to a log directly in front of me, still calling. He hopped in and about the log for a good five minutes.

That's not something I observed in the field, though. I discovered it when sifting through my photos.

After the flicker departed, I turned my attention back to my scope, and starting looking through the ducks gathered at the water's edge. The ducks seemed to be a mix of Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, and American Wigeon. So there were ducks with a buffy crown-stripe (American Wigeon) and ducks with a reddish head (Green-winged Teal). After a few minutes, I found one with both features--a reddish head and a buffy crown-stripe--a Eurasian Wigeon. I watched him through the telescope for a while, double-checked my guide book, and then pointed the camera at him.

I didn't get any good, close photos. Even getting my teleconverter and (another) tripod didn't help, as he floated further away when I went back to the car for the second tripod. Anyhow, I did get a few photos that clearly show he's Eurasian; here's a composite of two of them.

As I tried to circle around to get a less-obstructed shot, he took off and flew away. I had sorta figured that would happen. I reached one of the endpoints of the triangular path, near a line of piles that probably used to support a pier or bridge. There I found quite a few more ducks. I took a few shots of them, including this fresh-looking Northern Pintail.

My appearance at the fence had unsettled some of the ducks, and soon several of them took off, like these female pintails.

I watched an American Wigeon as he splashed some water over himself...

...and then did a bit of air-drying.

This time, the eagle allowed me to approach the tree. In fact, he let me get as close as I possibly could get while still remaining on the ground. Here's a shot from that location; this would not be something that you'd want to see if you were a small animal.

The eagle and I bonded and spent a lot of quality time together, with about two hundred touching photographic moments. We parted as the best of friends.

Afterwards, back at the corner of the triangle, I found a huddle of shorebirds. I didn't get any good photos, but they were grey and dowitcher-sized.

As I walked along the path, the next thing that I noticed was a pair of Double-crested Cormorants out doing their morning Tai Chi on a couple of piles.

There were bunches of them around. Much more than I remember seeing at Blackie Spit before. They were everywhere, it seemed. Some were on the ground, and some gathered in the trees. Bunches of crows.

Thinking better of the situation, I dropped the binoculars and raised the camera. Yellow at this time of year must be good for photos. I started clicking away.

I followed my bird as it dropped over the side of the fence into the vegetation near the channel. I got a few more shots of its head before it flew off with a companion. By this time, my brain had shaken off the dust and informed me that this is a Western Meadowlark, and it was a lifer for me. (Well, I knew that big and yellow meant lifer already.) This had been an unexpected treat! I'll have to return to try to get better photos, but I was pretty happy at even seeing this new guy.

I headed over towards the Dunsmuir Gardens, taking a few shots of teals and wigeons as I proceeded. Here's a lovely pair of American Wigeons.

Before reaching the gardens I turned fickle, and headed back to my car. Along the way I encountered more Song Sparrows and a finch that I couldn't place. I asked my birding pals and they are unanimous that it's a Purple Finch. I was confused by the rufous (red-brown) appearance of the wing.

On the way back, I saw lots of crows. Lots and lots of crows.

In the car, I decided to head for the foot of 72nd Street to see if I could find the Bohemian Waxwing that people keep reporting from there. I got there and searched the trees near the golf course to no avail. Worse yet, someone had recently spread some rather fragrant fertilizer in the area.

So I headed up to the dyke and encountered a birder whom I had met a week or so before at Beach Grove Park. He said he had just seen a Snowy Owl, but when he was moving to get a better look, the owl took off with a couple of others. He headed off and I went west a bit to check the trees near the dyke for the waxwing.

Well, there was no waxwing about, but there were a few House Finches enjoying the berries.

I looked up to see two Bald Eagles passing by me, heading inland. They interacted quite a bit as they flew, so I took some time to watch and photograph their leucocephalus precision flying team. Unfortunately, they were heading away from me at quite a clip, so they ended up quite small (and blurry) in the photos.

As I got back to the gate by 72nd street, a trio of birders was on the dyke, with a scope pointed at a Snowy Owl. The Snowy hadn't been there earlier. The three were quite happy at seeing the owl. For perhaps obvious reasons, this reminded me of the day before, when I had gone to Maplewood in search of a Northern Pygmy-Owl.

One of the trio offered me a view through their scope, but I declined, deciding instead to go back to my car for my teleconverter and tripod. I got the equipment, and then I spent the rest of the day (or at least the rest of the daylight) photographing the owl.

Here he is, looking forlorn, out on the foreshore.

Later, after he got a lttle more acquainted with me, he showed me his best polar bear imitation.

There was enough light for another 15 minutes of sunset photography, and I could've stayed there and done that, as I always have a spare battery handy. But it was cold and I considered the empty battery a message from the universe that it was time to go. Thus ended my birding on the first day of winter.

Still thinking about chai tea,
Tom