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Went out birding up in BC yesterday. First stop was along Boundary Bay where a Mountain Bluebird had been seen for several days. It was foggy and still a bit early, so the photo isn’t great, but I saw the bird (lifer number one for the day) Next stop was the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. There two new...

Took a drive down to the Samish Flats to try to spot some Short-eared Owls and it was a big success! Such incredible birds to watch as they fly around the fields.

Saw some snow geese hanging out at the pond this morning.

So cool! Short-eared Owl is on my list for this winter.

Had a nice morning birding out on the spit. Lots of Common Goldeneyes out swimming with the Scoters. I didn’t notice it until I got home, but there was a Barrow’s Goldeneye mixed in with them. There were several Red-breasted Mergansers cruising along the shoreline. A pair of Bald Eagles were...

Went out to the pond this morning. Here’s a few of the birds. Eurasian Wigeon (there were two mixed in with the American Wigeons) The lone Snow Goose is still hanging out Lots of American Coots (right) and also a Hooded Merganser (left) Also a Trumpeter Swan (back) was swimming alongside a...

Went after a Harris Sparrow (rare for around here) that had been seen for the past few days at a local park. Found it without too much trouble. It was with a flock of White-crowned Sparrows. Also some good ducks out on the water (Bufflehead and Surf Scoter)

Great shots! I think the first two are actually black turnstones

I never back in. If they told us that was better in drivers ed, I wasn’t paying attention that day. I also drive a small car, so it never seems to be a problem. But it’s fine if you back in too.

Found a cooperative Ruby-crowned Kinglet this morning at the pond.

Took a long lunch to chase down this snow bunting (a new one for me!) I had trouble finding it, but thankfully I ran into another birder who had seen it and pointed me in the right direction.

There were 100s of them flying by overhead, but this snow goose was happy to just be swimming on the pond

Had to drive down to Seattle today, but made a quick detour in Marysville to see this acorn woodpecker. A new on for me!

Great question. I’m not sure I have a specific top three, but I would like to try and find a short-eared owl this winter. I also still need to see a parasitic jaeger (image already got pomarine and long-tailed) but that will probably have to wait for another pelagic trip next year.

Also, great write up and pics Steve. I’ve seen several of those northward moving species up here in Whatcom county (Black Phoebe, Great Egret, and California Scrub Jay)

I’d love to see another local snowy owl. I missed one last winter by a day, it was around for 3 or 4 days and I should have bailed on work to go see it. I did see the one that was in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood the year before. Such great birds.

Spent the day birding. Here’s a western sandpiper, least sandpiper, and dunlin (from left to right)

Love those little guys

This is good input. I’ve got votes from two other birders that it is just a black-bellied, but I’m waiting on some others to weigh in. If it does turn out to be identifiable as one of the goldens, that would be cool as it would be a new bird for me.

Interesting. I was thinking if it wasn’t a Black-bellied, it would be an American Golden Plover. For context, an American and a Pacific Golden were seen with this flock yesterday (some photos of those individuals here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S120108145). The coloring of the Pacific seems to...