Delta Naturalists Society

Only five of us showed up at 8am on a cool, slightly wet morning at Iona Regional Park: Pat, Angela, Janet, Glen, and me. We were rewarded soon enough, as our four-hour leisurely walk around the beach, ponds, and shrub-lined trails, turned out to be mostly sunny. 30 bird species were recorded, a relatively low count for this major hotspot in the Fraser Estuary, but in mid-June it is mostly the nesting species that are around.

We had hardly said our hellos, before a beautiful male Yellow-headed Blackbird came insanely close, giving great photo ops. Red-winged Blackbirds and Marsh Wrens were calling and fluttering around the southwest pond and an otter swam by. A birding friend I know, but forgot his name, also turned up briefly, confusing me with another Anne. Old age creeping up on us.

Swallows were plentiful and during the morning we saw flocks with Barn, Tree, and Violet-green Swallows, and several Purple Martins. Adult Tree Swallows were using the nest boxes. We heard many young ones being fed, and saw a group of recently fledged chicks.

It was drizzling rain as we checked out the beach, where we blanked on Killdeer, which was odd. There are always Killdeer there, and if you don’t see them, you hear them. We were pleased to see that parts of the sandy shore were roped off by Metro Vancouver Parks to protect the habitat. However, as Glen noted, they hadn’t roped off the part where Killdeer used to have their nests. There were no birds on the water and the tide was high. A Bald Eagle flew over, the first of several seen.

We then walked the trails inland, which were narrower than normal, with vegetation pressing in on either side: COVID restrictions had turned it wild! No views of the north-west pond were obtained as the bushes were too tall, so we don’t know if the Pied Grebe family were there this year. A Gadwall couple were glimpsed through a hole in the vegetation.

Several Willow Flycatchers were singing in this part of the park, giving their distinctive fitz-bew calls from the top of a tree. Spotted Towhees and Song Sparrows were also singing, and Cedar Waxwings gave their high-pitched calls.

We visited the inner ponds which were also quiet, except for a big flock of immature Starlings feeding on a muddy area, a few Gadwall and some Mallard. The northeast pond had more water, and two pairs of Blue-winged Teal – summer visitors to the area. I was pleased I had lugged my scope around, as we all got a good view.

We took the path through the little wood (a Yellow Warbler was singing and a couple of chickadees put in an appearance) and then west along the river. The sky was now blue and the views were lovely. Hummingbirds, mostly Anna’s, dashed around from shrub to shrub. The Martin boxes on the pilings did not show any signs of use, though we had seen some Martins flying over the inner ponds.

It was difficult to believe we had been out for 4 hours on this leisurely stroll in a beautiful setting. Not a high count for bird species, but lots of typical summer resident ones, as well as flowers, berries, butterflies and dragonflies to admire.
Anne Murray

Photos on Flickr