Delta Naturalists Society

6 of us met at 8:30 am on a bright sunny morning for a new walk in the Pitt Meadows area, with hopes of seeing the Yellow-breasted Chat that has been hanging out here for awhile. I had arrived a bit earlier so that I could check out Catbird corner a few kilometres up the road. Early in the morning, Willow Flycatchers, Swainson’s Thrushes, and Common Yellowthroats were calling, and I spotted several Eastern Kingbirds. Sure enough, as soon as I reached the favored spot, I heard a couple of Catbirds mewing away at each other. One eventually came out of the bushes and sat obligingly in view.

By the time I returned to the parking spot for our DNCB walk, the rest of the gang were there. Terry, Lidia, Glen, Pat, Mike and I made up an efficient spotting team as we walked west on the Sturgeon Creek dyke.

A gorgeous Lazuli Bunting soon showed itself among the blueberry bushes in the adjacent field, though it didn’t stay very long in one spot. A Spotted Sandpiper flew along the creek. Groups of Brown Cowbirds were prominent. Yellow Warblers, Black-headed Grosbeak, Purple Martins, a Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and Eastern Kingbird were some of the summer visitors seen and heard.

An Osprey did an amazing dive to grab a giant fish out of the slough, impressing Mike as the best show he had ever seen! It was pretty fantastic. 3 Band-tailed Pigeon and some Wood Duck were other interesting species.

We met a fellow birder who had hoped to see the Chat but was on the return walk having “blanked” on it, so we were not too optimistic as we arrived at the stretch of bushes where it has been seen and heard the last week or two, which were disappointingly silent (chats are noisy birds at times). Amazingly, within seconds, up popped the bird, perching clearly on a bare-branched tree above the dense thicket of undergrowth. Equally amazing, the photograpers took several excellent photos, to prove the sighting! The chat went back into the bushes, made a few calls and fell silent.

We strolled on past the edge of the golf course to some trees that offered a bit of shade. Terry and Mike got distracted by dragonflies, and while following a couple, managed to disturb a bear! The rest of us missed it, unfortunately, as it moved off pretty fast.

The walk back to the cars was hot but pleasant, and we saw two more species, Belted Kingfisher and Turkey Vulture, to bring the total to 34 for the trip.
Anne Murray

Photos on flickr