British Columbia – Ripple Effects

Anna’s Hummingbird: A Lesson in Smallness

Earlier this week I spent a few days in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Richmond Nature Park was high on my agenda since I ‘discovered’ the place last time I visited and found it to be a haven for hummingbirds. This time, I’m not disappointed as I’ve seen many albeit it’s hard to take a good photo of them, for they are small and ultra fast.

Every hummingbird is a miracle in itself. They are the smallest of birds, most species measuring 3-5 inches (7.6 -10 cm) in length and about 0.1 oz. (3 – 4 grams) in weight. The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world, only 2 inches (5 cm) in length and weighs 0.07 oz (1.95 gram).

According to World of Hummingbird, depending on their activity, hummingbirds’ wing beats can range from 70 to 200 times per second (when diving). And they can dive! Up to 60 miles per hour. Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly forward, backward, hover and stay still in the air, fly sideway, and even upside down.

During migration, the Rufous Hummingbird fly from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska to breed, that’s nearly 4,000 miles. These small but powerful flyers can travel as much as 23 miles in one day. As they cross the Gulf of Mexico they may cover up to 500 miles at a time. Their average speed in direct flight is in the range of 20-30 mph (32 – 48 km/hr), and up to three times that fast during courtship dives. Interesting info. here.

There are numerous fascinating facts to be found online, but nothing beats the actual experience of watching these tiny birds flapping their wings to stay still in the air like a motorized flapping cross, or see their iridescent feathers shimmering in the morning light. They are just too fast for me to take photos, especially when darting in midair. I could only capture some while they were sipping nectar from a feeder, or perching on a branch.

When I visited Richmond Nature Park earlier this week, I only found Anna’s Hummingbirds, although the signs indicate Rufous also hang out there. From the info I’ve gathered, Anna’s Hummingbirds now don’t migrate but settle in the Pacific Coast of North America, from California to B.C. in Canada. So there I was, encountering these beautiful, small miracles that morning.

Here’s a male Anna’s Hummingbird staying still:

the female or immature ones are mostly green without the fuchsia red on their head and neck, but their iridescent plumage and the colourful spots on the head are a sight to behold:

“… I have always known you are present in the… wings of birds.”
–– Mary Oliver, from the poem ‘Six Recognitions of the Lord’

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Blackie Spit, Surrey, B.C.

Sometimes you stumble upon a place looking for something, unaware that there are so much more to explore. Last week I drove out to British Columbia, our neighbour province to the west. While in Surrey, I searched for birding spots in the area and decided on driving down to Blackie Spit by the coast.

The Spit is named after an early settler Walter Blackie. Way before Walter and his fellow Europeans arrived here, the place was called “Tsee-wahk” Point, indigenous language for “strawberry” or “elderberry”, a place rich in food. Their saying goes: “When the tide is out, my table is set.”

Blackie Spit is located where inlets from Boundary Bay flow in. Zooming out would be the Strait of Georgia:

I followed a path that put me inside a fairytale:

In such a setting, I shouldn’t have been surprised to stumble upon a Great Blue Heron but I was as I looked across a stream…

and just a few steps away along the path, another one. This time, right in front of me up on a tree:

Never have I seen a GBH so up close and personal, and not flying away even when I stepped right underneath it to take a picture. No cropping of the photo here.

As I walked further along the path, absorbing the stunning view of the outlet, I found yet another one. Three GBH in a row… I’ll call that a good birding day.

Or, was I dream walking? Can you see it too?

You found it?

Of course, there must be an abundance of food for them here, as the indigenous people had known a long time ago. I could see why when I saw this mural. I was in salmon habitat: