Nanaimo is the first city I traveled to outside of Metro Van and to be very honest it was an amazing trip! I solely went there to see the birds but I wish I had a car to explore the sleepy town better !
After my exams in April, I decided to take a short trip to Nanaimo to see shorebirds as this is the season for them. This was my second trip to Nanaimo and wanted to get some awesome pictures of shore birds, so I decided to bring a few change of cloths as I knew my sloths will become dirty.
Our main focus was Pipers Lagoon Point
After my exams in April, I decided to take a short trip to Nanaimo to see shorebirds as this is the season for them. This was my second trip to Nanaimo and wanted to get some awesome pictures of shore birds, so I decided to bring a few change of cloths as I knew my sloths will become dirty.
Our main focus was Pipers Lagoon Point
We chose this point based on our previous trip. We found significantly more shorebird activity at this location then Neck Point Park, so we tried our luck.
We arrived during low tide around 11:30 am and set up. We remained here till around 3:30 after we got some amazing shots.
We did see multiple bird species namely Killdeers, Black Oystercatchers, Bald eagles, Canada Geese and a lone snow goose, we focused our main attention on the Oystercatchers. We did this because back in Metro Van, there are almost no good points to get eye level shots of Black Oystercatchers. We had a great opportunity at our hands and didn't; want to miss it.
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| Black Oystercatcher. It was curious and it came close on it's on terms |
While we photographed the birds we also took this opportunity to study their behaviour and understand how they act. We observed 7 individuals out of which there were 3 pairs. We noticed the pairs were very territorial against each other, which is a sign that the breeding season will soon commence. Based on this, I created the following map which I think is the territories of each Oystercatcher.
Strategies to photograph them:
The 4 demarkations above are the areas which the Oystercatchers and Killdeers occupy. The oystercatchers in Territory 2 are friendly with slight skittish behaviour. If they are comfortable with you, they will come close. The Killdeers are very shy. Best time to go is during low tide, especially in the morning. The tide can rise very quickly so be careful. From what we saw during both trips to Pipers Lagoon is that the Oystercatchers are most active around 2-5pm. You can park your car at the pin drop and enter the mudflat area infant of the bund.Photo Gallery:
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Tags: Nanaimo, Birds, Birdwatching, Nature, What to do, Exploration, Summer, Wild, Oyster, Beach
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