Visiting the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary near Vancouver, B.C.

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Kristie feeding a duck

    On Monday, October 9 we were visiting our son and daughter, Michael and Kristie for the Thanksgiving Long weekend and decided to check out the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary near Vancouver, B.C. Both Kristie and Michael live in Vancouver but had not been to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary so given the good weather forecast we decided to see what birds were there. The Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary is located in Ladner and is about is about a 45 minute drive from downtown Vancouver. The sanctuary is family friendly and we saw many people with their small children out enjoying the fine fall weather. One popular activity at the Reifel Sanctuary is feeding the birds and the ducks , red wing blackbirds and black capped chickadees were getting their version of a thanksgiving feed on this day.

Wood ducks are one of our favourite ducks

   There are many treed pathways through the 300 acres of land that comprises the bird sanctuary as well as ponds and intertidal marshes and it is perfect habitat for many different birds. In fact close to 300 bird species have been recorded in this area. Our highlight was a great horned owl located high up in a tree as well as the colourful wood ducks. There were lots of people with big telephoto lenses since  this area is known as a good place to photograph many different species. Although mallard ducks seemed to be the most common birds we also saw many shorebirds including one large congregation of long billed dowitchers.  The Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary is open year around and is a real bargain to visit since adults are just $5 to enter. They also have a large picnic area and we had lunch in the sun after our visit. For more information on this special area see: http://www.reifelbirdsanctuary.com/

There were many families out to experience the bird life