Delta Naturalists Society

Despite a forecast of rain, our birding morning at Brunswick Point dawned fine. 14 participants turned up, more or less according to the sign-up list. Flocks of Snow Geese crowded the fields at the end of the road and more were seen in fields closer to the farm. After the walk, I contacted Sean Boyd, long-time Snow Goose scientist from Canadian Wildlife Service who kindly looked  extremely promptly at my blurry phone photos of one part of the flocks, and estimated 20,000, with up to 30,000 for the whole farm!  During our walk, Brian A. did a brilliant estimate of field size area divided by space taken up by each goose, and also came up with 20,000 geese for that flock – very impressive! Some Cackling Geese were among the flock: I think there have been more Cacklers in Delta this year than ever before.

The sound of geese filled the air the whole walk. The first stretch of the dyke was otherwise rather quiet bird-wise, as it was quite cool and the little birds were not yet stirring. On the return, this area had lots of sparrows of various species, Starlings, and Red-winged Blackbirds etc. We walked up to the corner where a Merlin startled the small birds and posed nicely for us on a small tree. The tide was fast receding, leaving several large white lumps on the mud, that turned out to be the remaining 9 White Pelicans from a group of 30 something that have been hanging out in this area for months. It was difficult to see ducks and shorebirds as everything was far away across the marshes and tidal flats.

The beach trail area near the farm was rewarding for small birds, however. We found Bewick’s, Marsh and Pacific Wrens, Purple Finch and American Goldfinches, Lincoln’s Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows. The Pacific Wren was having a dust bath, rather secretively behind a bush, and shared the bush with a Bewick’s Wren, which was unusual. Good spotting by Colin.

David and Noreen carefully scoped the shore and found 3 Western Sandpipers and we tracked down a few Black-bellied Plovers scattered on the mud, along with a handful of Killdeers. For exciting shorebird flocks, it is best to come at a rising high tide!

A satisfying tally of 39 species were seen by the group and recorded on eBird, during the four hours we were out.

Anne Murray

Today’s birders were: Brian and Louise, Ontario Brian, Colin and Stephanie, David and Noreen, Jack, Manli, Pat, Warren and Lynn, Janet, and Anne.

Photos on Flickr