I spotted these shorebirds over the May long weekend. I’m pretty sure these are Dowitchers, but where the uncertainty lies is whether it’s a long-billed or short-billed. From what I can gather it is very difficult to tell the difference between the two and the best way to differentiate is by their call, which I didn’t hear. So I made a bit of a guess, based on the distribution map on Cornell’s website and sightings in e-bird.
Whichever one it is, they are quite fond of Burnaby Lake and I’ve spotted them there on many occasions. Quite the long beak on these guys! The picture above is from my most recent sighting, but without my telephoto. The picture below was taken last fall with my 55-300 Nikkor.
BCSONGBIRD 