Delta Naturalists Society

While four of us, Noreen and David, Lidia and Marion S. were waiting at the parking lot, we kept hearing a loud sharp “aoowww”! We soon spotted a Green Heron being harassed by a swallow as it sat in a bare-branched tree out in the marsh. The heron continued to call after the swallow left, and eventually flew off toward the water. We met several people looking for that bird at the pond and don’t know if it was the same as one they had seen earlier, or not.

The pond contained Mallards and a female Hooded Merganser. We continued on and found many Goldfinches, House Finches, a Willow Flycatcher, and several Bushtits. We took an inside trail heading south, which offered lots of shade and blackberries, and ended up at Westminster Way, where we once again chose the path through the woods. We came upon a small warbler that was clearly annoyed we were in her territory, and although we thought it was a Common Yellowthroat female, we changed our minds to Orange-crowned Warbler, which reverted to Common Yellowthroat once we could compare photos with pictures in the bird books. There were two of them, and we suspected one was a young bird.

There was little to see along the ocean path, Great Blue Herons, gulls, Bald Eagle, dragonflies, and we did not see the Western Tanagers reported the day before from the dike. On several occasions, Caspian Terns flew overhead

We returned via the circular path by the houses, and managed to find an Olive-sided Flycatcher that we observed at length, Cedar Waxwings, a Warbling Vireo, and a busy bush with several birds that resembled the Common Yellowthroat found earlier that were moving quickly—we could not identify them, but photos showed Orange-Crowned Warbler.

In our search for an Owl by the community gardens, we found Brown Creepers (2), a family of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Downy Woodpecker, some feathers, but no owl.  There were Anna’s Hummingbirds everywhere, all morning.

All in all a good day, with several birds we don’t see often.
Marion Shikaze

Photos are on flickr

eBird 32 species
Canada Goose  9
Mallard  30
Hooded Merganser  1
Eurasian Collared-Dove  1
Anna's Hummingbird  8
Ring-billed Gull  5
Glaucous-winged Gull  5
Caspian Tern  6
Great Blue Heron  5
Green Heron  1
Bald Eagle  3
Downy Woodpecker  2     M & F
Peregrine Falcon  1
Olive-sided Flycatcher  1
Willow Flycatcher  1
Hutton's Vireo  1     Heard only
Warbling Vireo  1
American Crow  17
Black-capped Chickadee  11
Barn Swallow  8
Bushtit  3
Red-breasted Nuthatch  3
Brown Creeper  2
Bewick's Wren  2
Cedar Waxwing  4
House Finch  24
American Goldfinch  13
Spotted Towhee  6
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Orange-crowned Warbler  2
Common Yellowthroat  2