Boundary Bay Regional Park & Bald Eagles

Boundary Bay Regional Park & Bald Eagles

You can meet so many birds of prey in Boundary Bay! Marc and I were keen to go out for a walk, but we didn’t have any micro-spikes. I looked up some hikes at low elevation, so we didn’t need to worry about ice. My search found several fun (and easy) hikes in the Tsawwassen / Delta region, south of Vancouver. We started off by driving an Evo (car share) down to Boundary Bay Regional park. I had heard that we might see some wildlife down in Boundary Bay, but I wasn’t expecting to see so many bald eagles up close! This walk is brilliant for seeing wildlife at this time of year!

The loop aroundย Boundary Bay Regional Park:

Distance: 5km (ish)
Time: 1-2 hours, depending on how much you stop to see the birdies!
Elevation gain:ย Almost none. This walk is really flat!
Facilities: There are loos, a play-park for kids, and a cafe all close to the car park. The cafe was closed early on a Saturday morning, but maybe it is more for summer beach goers!?
Can you do it?ย 
YES! This is another super-easy walk, with some stunning (if flat) views.

Boundary Bay Regional Park is really close to the US boarder, so we had some gorgeous views of America and Mount Baker! I have heard from friends that there is some really good skiing over near Mount Baker. From this far away, the mountain just looks epic and calm!

Bald Eagles(!)

The first thing we saw after we left the car park was a tree filled with bald eagles! They were sitting so still that I didn’t even see them straight away! It was a little hard to take photos (as the sun was in the wrong direction) but isn’t this dude beautiful! They were as interested in us as we were in them, so they followed us around with their eyes, even while they kept most of their bodies still!

There are quite a few paths around theย Boundary Bay Regional Park. We chose to walk along the coastal section first. There are some really good views of Burnaby and Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains off in the distance. Up close, there are piles and piles of driftwood for birds (or people) to perch on.

We started seeing some more majestic birds of prey zoom past. I wasn’t sure what this dude was at first, but now I am pretty sure he is a juvenile bald eagle. This is what they look like before they go “bald” with that distinctive white head.

The mountains look sooo different from this angle compared to the views from the center of Vancouver. I loved being able to see the line of snow-capped peaks further inland. Normally I only get to see those peaks when I’m at the top of other local mountains.

Once we turned off into Boundary Bay Regional Park the views were completely different. The center of the park is full of reeds, surrounded by bare trees. The weather has warmed up quite a lot since we did this walk, so by now the trees will probably be even prettier and bright green.

One great thing about the bare trees was we had amazing views of the bald eagles. This guy wanted to show off his speckled wings. I’v decided to give him a Royal name- William.

There were two juvenile bald eagles that were playing chase. I mean, I don’t know if they were *actually* playing chase, but they kept zooming from one copse of trees to another, while swooping down at each other in mid air. It was really cool to watch, and very difficult to take a photo in focus!

Suddenly one of the eagles (this one is called Harry,) swooped down to the ground and grabbed something. If you click on the photo to make it bigger, you can just about see it is a huge crab! He then took his meal over to a different tree and started to much on crab sashimi. These birds have good (royal even) tastes! I’d rather snack on crab than a mouse!

William stopped swooping around. He sat a few branches up from Harry, watching him eat the crab!ย It’s pretty interesting watching a bird expertly open up a crab’s shell to get at the meat. But after a while we decided to keep walking along the shore.

There were sooo many other birdies digging through the mud looking for shellfish and bugs. Every so often a group would fly off in a chatter, but mostly it was a quiet, relaxing place to stroll.

As this was a few weeks ago, the sakura were justย starting to bloom. You could tell that Spring will just get prettier and prettier.

Along the edge of the path there are quite a few bird houses with different residents popping in and out. Some of them stuck around long enough for me to take a photo. Mostly they were too fast for me though! The iridescent cuties on the left are tree swallows, and the fluff-ball on the right is a black-capped chickadee. I didn’t know what any of these bids were(!) but I found this helpful pdf to help me work out what we’d seen later.

This red winged blackbird might have been on the pull. he was sitting up high and singing as loud as he could. Marc thought he was attempting to be noticed by the ladies.

We finished our walk by looping back through the center of Boundary Bay Regional Park. We chose to walk along the raptor trail, which seemed appropriate with so many birds of prey around! There were quite a few bunnies, but they were too speedy for me to get my camera out!

Heading back to the car park, we walked past one more tree full of Bald Eagles. This one was definitely watching us!

So, that was our easy walk, watching birds, and in turn being watched by raptors. If you visit Vancouver and fancy a hike, but your legs can’t quite cope with the Grouse grind-esque hills, this is a fun, easy option.

Or, if you fancy other easy-walking options, you can find looooads of others here.

Blogging friends:

If you are reading this and you like my posts, please consider voting for me! I have been nominated for the โ€œBest Palโ€ category of the Annual Bloggers Bash. You canย click here to vote (please do!!) If youโ€™re not sure who to else vote for, I have aย whole post listing other lovely bloggersย too!

41 thoughts on “Boundary Bay Regional Park & Bald Eagles

  1. This is so cool, Josy!! I had a chance to see a zookeeper talk on birds of prey, and they are utterly fascinating. To be honest, if I see one nowadays I’m probably running away so they don’t snatch Agnes but their wingspan, their agility, their speed- THEY COULD TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!

    1. OMG I didn’t even think of that! I mean Agnes is tiny, they could totally grab her. But, there were quite a few dog walkers and the birds didn’t seem interested in them, so it’d probably be fine. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  2. The bald eagles are so pretty. You’re so lucky to see them! The walking path would be awesome to visit during a sunset or sunrise. Thanks for sharing!

    1. They were pretty amazing right!? I’ve never been that close to wild birds of prey!

      You are right though, it must be lovely at sunrise/sunset!

  3. A beautiful spot, Josy! And yes, Baker has great skiing. They are usually the first to get snow and last. Artist Point is famous for snowshoeing!

    1. Oooh I hope we can go there once we’ve bought a car! <3

      I've heard that there are some amazing hikes there as well. Looking out to the mountain (I'm not sure if I am hard-core enough to climb Mount Baker itself!!)

    1. I’ve since heard from another local blogger that you can often see them around Vancouver – I guess Boundary Bay is just extra cool because they sit in the trees in easy to spot places!

  4. This is definitely my kind of walk! I simply find eagles and hawks such powerful symbols, that i would love snapping as many as possible ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. This is a beautiful place and post! Never seen a bald eagle so close, would love to see one in the wild, like you, good luck with the award, I voted ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Thank you soooo much Miela! I am so glad you visited and double thanks for the vote!

      I’d never seen one before either (that is why I didn’t even know that teenage bald eagles are all spotty without the white heads!!)

  6. The photos are really beautiful and made me what to go to Boundary Bay. I love seeing bald eagles. I also went and voted for you for the annual Bloggers Bash. Good luck.

    1. Thank you sooo much Sue! I really appreciate it! To be honest, once I saw they other lovely bloggers involved in my category I realised I don’t have much of a chance, but I am just sooo excited that I was nominated!

      Where do you normally see bald eagles? I’ve never really seen them before this!

  7. What a great place to see birds of prey!! I used to work with them at a nature ceneter. I must say though, watching them soar majesticaly is much better than feeding them dead rats.

    1. Woooow! What an amazing job (I mean, apart from the dead rats!!) Did you get to let them perch on you as well?

  8. So lucky you got to see those Bald Eagles! I saw them in Oregon and it was the most amazing experience. But, it flew away from us so we couldn’t take a picture ๐Ÿ™ Beautiful and majestic animals, aren’t they? ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. That is what happened to us with the falcon/hawk (I’m not sure as we didn’t get quite close enough to identify it!!)

      I love seeing them fly around, but I am even more happy when they stop for a second and allow me to get out my zoom lens!!

  9. I will never tire of seeing bald eagles no matter how many times I see them. Just today we were watching 5 flying around at Spanish Banks…

    1. You mentioned on your other post that you see them on the Spanish banks. I’ll have to start looking out for them. We *thought* we saw some a while ago, but as they were far away it was hard to tell!

      They really are majestic birds!

  10. I love the royal theme with your bird naming. Every time I read your posts I want to get my butt outside! We took my new hiking boots for their first spin yesterday walking through mud/ice trails near our house. A good test of grip and waterproof-ness. We saw a crane but little else I the way of wildlife. So fun to see such majestic birds in your post.

    1. Yaaaay! I am so happy that those pretty boots are getting used! I love seeing cranes, so I am glad you got to see one. ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Lol they seemed regal, but they’re only juvenile, so I couldn’t call them Elizabeth! ๐Ÿ˜‰

      I’m glad you liked it anyway!!

  11. Beautiful photos, Josy! We have many bald eagles here in Minnesota. They congregate around the open river water during the winter, and disperse throughout the state during the warmer months. We have a pair that lives in the woods behind our house as there is a creek that runs through the woods. We see them perched on the top of the trees – watching for their prey.

    Great post!

    1. Oooh that is sooo cool! So your kids will grow up thinking it’s totally normal to see a bald eagle in their back garden! Amaaaazing! <3

      1. Yes! About an hour after I commented on your post, my daughter ran into the house from the back deck and yelled “Mom, a bald eagle almost flew into my head it was so close!”

    1. Thank you so much for popping over! It’s not as thought provoking as your corner of the internet, but I have LOVED exploring Canada so far!

      I guess you’re right. I am lucky that Marc is up for seeing all these cool places with me! ๐Ÿ’›

  12. Iโ€™ve never been there but would love to. Iโ€™m a truly nature lover and the Boundary Bay Regional Park is a really beautiful place with pristine lakes, shores, rivers, and forests that can be easily accessed. I would love to see this Canadaโ€™s best-preserved area and to watch the birds as well !

    1. Thank you C-Ludik! I don’t know if it is the best preserved area (it is still very close to where humans live!) But it is really lovely!

  13. I would love this. My life in the San Luis Valley with a bad hip has taught me to appreciate flat and that means wetlands along the Rio Grande. What a wonderful world! And I didn’t know about it, hill-obsessed as I’ve always been. This walk would be magic!

    1. Oooh you would love the area South of Vancouver! There are so many pretty flat walks in the Delta!

      I am a little hill obsessed too, but I appreciate these flat walks when we fancy an easy day!!

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