Birdwatching anyone?

For months now, whenever I ask TDSH where he'd like to go on the weekend, he's asked to go to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Ladner. I've been less than warm to the idea because it doesn't seem right to pay money to walk on the trails at Reifel when I can walk for free elsewhere.

Anyhow, he got his wish on Sunday. We headed out to Ladner while Abner had her morning nap in the car. She napped so long, we had to sit and wait in the parking lot for her to wake up!

After stopping five minutes down the trail to change Abner's shirt - she got pooped on by a bird - we had heaps of fun strolling along the trails, watching for birds and listening to the cacophony coming from the trees. Apparently we were witness to some rare tern, but it just looked like any old bird to me. It certainly had the hard-core bird watchers in a tizzy though (and I do mean hard-core -- these people wore kneepads for Pete's sake!).

We had to laugh at ourselves because we were surrounded by folks with some of the most sophisticated, expensive photography equipment around, shooting some of the most spectacular wildlife in the area - and here we were with our little point-and-shoot snapping away shot after shot of Abner. I had to include the shot above just to prove that we actually saw birds!

Abner and TDSH ventured up the lookout tower to see what they could see while I stayed on the ground guarding the stroller. I don't think they would have seen much up there because a rather noisy two-year-old was screaming her head off for her mommy the whole way up. In her defense though, even TDSH said it was a bit scary up there.

There are bird blinds set up throughout the park so you can observe the birds in stealth mode if you wish. I imagine this would work much better if you weren't equipped with a small child testing out her vocal chords every 10 seconds or so.

If I ever get around to writing that book about stroller-friendly walks of the Lower Mainland, this would definitely be on the list! Sadly, it looks like our stroller walking days are numbered. Abner was more than happy to do her own share of the walking.