Delta Naturalists Society

Eleven of us met at the entrance to the WR Pier, and once we concurred that it was indeed 08:08, we headed out (some of us were a bit behind on our timing).

There were lots of Surf & White-winged Scoters feeding close along the pilings, which provided very close viewing as they were regularly popping up with Blue Mussels in their mouths.  Sometimes they had large bunches, and I expect the storm on Monday had stripped these Mussels from the pilings and they had discovered a bonanza.  The behaviour was so unusual as they seemed to pay little attention to the curious onlookers above them.  In the past, the flocks had always been distant, often viewed only by scope, and today we were asked by curious pier walkers, “What are the black ducks?”

Colin spotted a more distant Black Scoter that a few of us also saw, but it was the other two species that were on display.  There were numerous Horned Grebes further off, and a couple of closer-in unusual looking birds which turned out to be sleeping Western Grebes.  They sleep with the bill forward but head and neck tucked into the back feathers.  Some gulls, loons, Bufflehead, grebes, and a few Brant could be seen more distant, as well as possible Long-tailed Ducks so we headed out to the end of the pier to scope for these.

A Pelagic Cormorant (originally incorrectly ID’d as a Brandt’s) was swimming just off the end of the breakwater, and then flew to land on the far east end of the breakwater.  We did not see Turnstones, but did view 3 Long-tailed Ducks by scope, and then after we took the group photo (just before Ladner Bryan joined us) we were surprised by a female Long-tailed Duck just below us off the float and a Pacific Loon just east of the breakwater.  The close-in birds had kept us interested, and it was approaching 10 AM so we headed directly to Blackie Spit.

At the Spit we met up with Pam and Margaretha, who were wondering what became of us.  We headed out the spit and immediately saw a group of birds on a small sandbar that included 2 Marbled Godwit, a  small flock of Dunlin, 8 peeps, Wigeon (5 Eurasian males amongst them), and Northern Pintails.  A Western Meadowlark flew across our viewing and we tried to find it in the grass behind without success.

By the time we turned back to the sandbar, the tide had moved the Peeps and Dunlin off so we did not get an ID on the peeps.  Unfortunately, I did not take photos that included them before being distracted by the Meadowlark.  Maybe someone else did.  A Red-necked Grebe was off the end of the spit, and flocks of Dunlin could be seen across the water along with larger plovers, some of which later flew a circle and revealed the black armpits of the Black-bellied Plover.

Heading back to the estuary, we encountered many of the usual small birds, including White-crowned and Song Sparrows, Purple Finch, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, and a small hawk, which was debated as a Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s Hawk, but a photo reviewed by Melissa confirmed as a Cooper’s Hawk.  The “Hackle Feathers” layered on the back of the head along with the vertical black breast streaking captured by Marion in a photo indicate a juvenile Cooper’s.

No sign of the White Pelican seen yesterday, but it seemed like each of the Purple Martin House pilings had a Double-crested Cormorant perched on top.  Most of the group continued along the dyke to the pump house as Colin promised some Green-winged Teal and Waxwings should be seen.  In fact we found both of these, as well as seeing others like Purple Finch, House Finch, Song, Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows.

Before departing, Marion had picked out the call of a Bewick’s Wren, and along the dyke trail a Steller’s Jay called for our attention, and an Anna’s Hummingbird buzzed past.  At the pump house we encountered a Varied Thrush and our first American Robins of the day.

It was after 12 noon, so we turned back and saw more Greater Yellowlegs on the mud flats as the tide fell, and few American Goldfinch caught our attention as we also heard our first Black-capped Chickadee.  A poor Red-tailed Hawk being pestered by a “Murder” of crows put on quite a display overhead as we headed to the parking lot.  While we stood talking, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet jinked through the lower bushes, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler hawked insects over top.

All in all it was a nice, but cool, day with a total species count of 59 at the two locations, with the close-up look at the Scoters and female Long-tailed Duck being special.  UPDATE: Long-billed Dowitchers in the photo of Marbled Godwits means 60 species!
David HoarParticipants L-> R: Jacquie S., Noreen, Colin, Stephanie, Bill D., Lynne, Warren, Marion, Chris, David, Jim.  Ladner Bryan DeB arrived just after the photo was taken, and at Blackie Spit, Margaretha and Pam M joined us for a total of 14.

Photos on Flickr

David’s eBird lists:
White Rock Pier, Metro Vancouver, British
Columbia, CA
Nov 17, 2021 8:08 AM – 9:41 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.97 kilometer(s)
25 species
Brant 6
Canada Goose 28
Mallard 2
Greater Scaup 3
Surf Scoter 36
White-winged Scoter 14
Black Scoter 1
Long-tailed Duck 4
Bufflehead 16
Horned Grebe 35
Red-necked Grebe 1
Western Grebe 2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 35
Anna’s Hummingbird 2
Short-billed Gull 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 3
Red-throated Loon 1
Pacific Loon 1
Common Loon 4
Pelagic Cormorant 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Bald Eagle 1
American Crow 6
House Sparrow 6
View this checklist online at
https://ebird.org/checklist/S97759471

Blackie Spit (Incl. Dunsmuir Farm & Nicomekl
estuary), Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
Nov 17, 2021 10:13 AM – 12:58 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.18 kilometer(s)
45 species (+1 other taxa)
Eurasian Wigeon 5
American Wigeon 22
Mallard 82
Northern Pintail 4
Green-winged Teal 2
Greater Scaup 1
Bufflehead 6
Common Goldeneye 1
Red-necked Grebe 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Black-bellied Plover 10
Marbled Godwit 2
Dunlin 2500 Murmurations distant. A few
dozen on sandbar with 2 Godwits and some
peeps possibly LESA but no photos and they
flew before getting the scope on them
(distracted by Western Meadowlark).
peep sp. 8
Greater Yellowlegs 22
Ring-billed Gull 7
Glaucous-winged Gull 3
Common Loon 5
Double-crested Cormorant 17
Great Blue Heron 13
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 3
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 2
Steller’s Jay 2
American Crow 15
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Bushtit 12
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Bewick’s Wren 1
Varied Thrush 1
American Robin 6
Cedar Waxwing 2
House Finch 10
Purple Finch 8
Pine Siskin 45
American Goldfinch 4
Fox Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 6
White-crowned Sparrow 4
Golden-crowned Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow 8
Spotted Towhee 3
Western Meadowlark 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Long Billed Dowitcher 5
View this checklist online at
https://ebird.org/checklist/S97759472