Delta Naturalists Society

As we were gathering in the parking area, Terry joined us from the pond area where he reported a hawk (possible Merlin) in the trees. We headed there, and the bird swooped closer revealing itself as a Peregrine Falcon. The group collected below this bird and got excellent looks with the Kowa scope before it headed off. Today’s lesson is for those who eBird regularly, or are thinking about it, as learning the 4 letter lingo (short form) for local species certainly speeds up keeping a list. I’ll only do some! We started with the PEFA in the trees above our group photo.

At this point there were about a dozen in the group photo Terry took, and we were later joined by Warren and Lynne as we hit the beach, and a bit later by Ladner Bryan at the concession and Margaretha near the Tower.

We headed to the beach to look for shorebirds. None were along the falling tide, but there were numerous gulls, some dropping clams to get their morning meal. A large raft of about 250 black ducks were in the distance, and, using the scope, could be identified as predominantly Scoter. Some Surf Scoter males (SUSC) could just be made out, and one of the birds stretching and flapping its wings was clearly a White-winged Scoter (WWSC) so it was likely a mixed flock. We expected to see some other species but with a brisk westerly wind blowing offshore, loons and grebes were not seen today. Also, there was no sign of Black Oystercatchers (BLOY) off the point.

We headed west past the concession (picking up Bryan) and saw our first Anna’s Hummingbird (ANHU) of the day. There were GCSP (remember = Golden-crowned Sparrows) and mixed Blackbirds along the edge of the parking lot and opposite the Dune Trail loop, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI) flitted along in the blackberry vines just off the ground. Over the vines numerous ducks could be seen in the flooded marsh. American Wigeon and a colourful male Northern Shoveler stood out amongst the many Mallards and a Northern Harrier (NOHA) swooped low over the bushes.

Margaretha joined us as we headed towards the Tower, and several Golden-crowned Sparrows were in the small Red Hawthorn trees, one posing nicely for photographers. As we neared the Tower, a sizable noisy flock of Cackling Geese overflew us, a singleton Canada Goose flew past over the bay, and a group of 18 Brant Geese could be seen landing further west amongst a large raft of floating Brant. At the water’s edge we still did not see shorebirds, so we continued along the dyke, and Noreen picked out a Cooper’s Hawk as it swooped into the low brush. There were Mallard ducks in the ditch along with a two pair of Gadwall. There were no Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, or shorebirds in the almost dry Lagoon, but inshore of the dyke there were 3 Great Blue Herons and more ducks.

The large group of Brant Geese could be seen off the sand spit, and pockets of gulls on shallow spots were evident, as were a flight of Northern Pintail ducks passing overhead. Along the Beach Grove shore there were murmurations of shorebirds and as they landed, one large group of Sanderling could be seen on one end amongst perhaps a thousand or more Dunlin. Off the pump house, two Greater Yellowlegs were seen just west of the main group of gulls. Several Ring-billed Gulls were clustered amongst a larger group that included Glaucous-winged Gulls and probably some hybrid gulls. Perhaps photos will reveal the true diversity in this group, as on Wednesday I took a photo of the gulls at this very spot, and 3 of the 4 gulls identifiable by primary wing colour, bill and spot, eye, and head streaking were Western X Glaucous-winged Hybrid Gulls (Melissa H. identified them from my photo), and Anne identified Thayer’s (Icelandic Gulls) there about 20 minutes before I took the photo. Not all gulls are the same is an understatement!

There were numerous House Finch in the trees on the newly repaired trail behind the pump intake pond as we headed along the slough towards the Boundary Bay Road entrance. Large numbers of European Starlings, a few Golden-crowned Sparrows, Spotted Towhee, and Dark-eyed Juncos were seen along the new tree plantings and a noisy Belted Kingfisher (female) caught our attention near the road as a Red-tailed Hawk soared overhead. Here we also saw 2 more Anna’s Hummingbirds, one male repeatedly soaring high and plunging down doing its characteristic tail-generated “chirp” at the bottom of the loop in the vicinity of some House Finch beside the path. We looked for the Purple Finch seen yesterday along the Raptor Trail without success, but did see a busy Northern Flicker, some American Robins, a female Northern Harrier, and many more European Starlings.

At the north entrance to the Brink’s Savannah Trail a Red-tailed Hawk soared overhead, and a bit later 2 were seen together further to the south. The fairly brisk wind made it impossible to hear many of the expected small birds, and we did not hear the Virginia Rail today in the area where 3 or 4 were calling recently.

We arrived back at the parking area about 11AM. Although cold and windy, we managed to tally 38 species by my eBird count.
David Hoar

Photos are on Flickr

The list follows:
Boundary Bay Regional Park, Metro Vancouver, British
Columbia, CA
Dec 2, 2021 8:02 AM – 10:57 AM
Protocol: Traveling
4.48 kilometer(s)
38 species (+2 other taxa)
Brant 128
Cackling Goose 68
Canada Goose 1
Northern Shoveler 3
Gadwall 9
American Wigeon 4
Mallard 155
Northern Pintail 16
Surf Scoter 5
White-winged Scoter 1
scoter sp. 250
Bufflehead 1
Common Goldeneye 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 2
Sanderling 20
Dunlin 1000
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Ring-billed Gull 8
Glaucous-winged Gull 4
gull sp. 110
Great Blue Heron 4
Northern Harrier 2
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 5
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 2
Peregrine Falcon 1
American Crow 13
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
European Starling 120
American Robin 2
House Finch 8
Dark-eyed Junco 4
Golden-crowned Sparrow 27
Song Sparrow 4
Spotted Towhee 3
Red-winged Blackbird 18
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Brewer’s Blackbird 23
View this checklist online