Chapter 9: September

September is the peak of southbound migration in Vancouver and there were still lots of reasonably easy targets, at least at the Metro Vancouver scale, that I still needed for my SemiPen year list. Blackie Spit seemed like the place with the best potential for most of these, as well as anything unexpected, so I focused my birding there for most of the month, visiting it twenty times. 

Things started off hot with a Lark Sparrow found by CVWE on the 2^nd, which was seen by many including me. There were now two Stilt Sandpipers at Blackie Spit on the 2^nd and 3^rd. On the morning of the 10^th, there was a Red-necked Phalarope and two Baird’s Sandpipers, just my second sighting of each this year. However, the real highlight was a Palm Warbler present briefly in the northeast corner of the Saveneye area before launching itself northeast over the Nicomekl estuary. There was a good morning flight of warblers that day, all of which passed through the Saveneye area in quick succession and onward to the northeast (in the opposite direction of the prevailing southbound migration). Migration was so good that morning that I returned in the evening to see if anything else had touched down and stayed. I found a Horned Lark on the spit and a couple Chipping Sparrows near the entrance to the Saveneye area. The lark stayed for several days and was eventually joined by a second bird. 

Lark Sparrow at Blackie Spit (Sep 2, 2024)

Palm Warbler at Blackie Spit (Sep 10, 2024)

Chipping Sparrow at Blackie Spit (Sep 10, 2024)

By mid-September variable sized Black-bellied Plover flocks started coming over from Boundary Bay during very high tides. On the 14^th there was a golden plover with them, but I only saw it in flight so could not identify it to species. That same flock contained a couple Sanderling, which were an overdue year bird. On the 16^th the plover flock brought with it two Red Knots but no golden plovers. On the 17^th there was a Mourning Dove, just my second for the year, and another on the 29^th. I also saw my first Lapland Longspur of the year on the 17^th, then again on the 18^th, 20^th, and 21^st. Also On the 20^th the Willet appeared for the first time this fall and a Common Nighthawk flew over at dusk. The next day I finally saw a Vaux’s Swift and the day after a flock of twenty; just as I was beginning to worry about missing this species. Another Red-necked Phalarope and my first Pectoral Sandpipers of the year, a flock of ten, were also present on the 22^nd. But the best bird that day was an American Redstart, again, in the Saveneye area and another SemiPen first for me. A week later three California Scrub-Jays, along with many Steller’s Jays, were flying back and forth between Blackie Spit and the Crescent Beach neighbourhood on the 27^th. A flock of five Pectoral Sandpipers that day were just my second and last sighting of that species this year. 

American Redstart at Blackie Spit (Sep 22, 2024)

California Scrub Jays at Blackie Spit (Sep 27, 2024)

On the 29^th, I finally saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk, which was my 200^th year bird. I was starting to worry about this one too, since mid to late September represents their peak migration on the north shore mountains, where it is not unusual to see upwards of twenty in a single day. Such raptor migration does not occur on the Semiahmoo Peninsula, so encounters with Sharpies are chance events, unless one is stalking your bird feeder.  Large numbers of Cackling Geese started to gather in Mud Bay, usually loafing on the mudflats at dawn than flying northeast to the fields within a couple hours of sunrise. They numbered in the hundreds by the middle of the month and in the thousands by its end. On the 29^th, I picked out two Greater White-fronted Geese from this flock in flight while at Elgin Heritage Park. I saw my first White-throated Sparrow of the year there that day as well.

A frustrating miss in September was an ibis, which was seen flying over the spit by PHWR and DEHL on the 19^th. Perhaps that was for the best since temptation to count it as White-faced Ibis would have been very great. If one is strict, most juvenile ibises cannot be identified to species in flight, or perched for that matter, although the odds here are heavily weighted (like 99.9%) towards White-faced Ibis.