Delta Naturalists Society

Six of us gathered at the beach parking lot in front of Kiniski’s Reef Tavern just before 8 AM in a heavy mist with calm water that helped in the viewing (Nicki, Roger, Terry, Anne, David, and Noreen). A Great Blue Heron and single Glaucous-winged Gull were on the pilings, and numerous Canada Geese floated in front. As a Song Sparrow picked its way along the beach edge below us, we watched Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Loon, Red-breasted Merganser, and Horned Grebe feeding, and a few Double-crested Cormorants fly past. A Sea Lion was swimming along outside the pilings headed north.

About 08:10 we headed to Lighthouse Park, and immediately noticed a pod of Dall’s Porpoise streaking south, while several Harbour Porpoise were rolling out front. There were Harlequin Ducks in striking plumage, and Pigeon Guillemot with their predominantly winter-white look just offshore, and a good mix of Horned Grebe, Common Loons and two Pacific Loons. We headed to the lighthouse point, and Terry captured a Pelagic Cormorant and a single Sanderling in a fly-past photo. White-winged Scoter and Red-breasted Merganser flew past, and one beautiful male Long-tailed Duck could be seen diving further offshore.

Behind the foreshore a few House Finch, American Crows, European Starlings and a Northern Flicker were seen. The cold wind and persistent mist was biting, so there was little enthusiasm for working further south, and we decided this was a reasonable start to our first adventure in Point Roberts since the Covid-19 lockdown of the border. We headed back, and some of us made a brief stop at the North side of the marina, but there were few birds in evidence. Anne did explore the South side of the marina, and there was a flock of Canada Geese in the field, and a Common Loon calling in the inner harbour. A few dozen ducks could be seen in the distance just inside the outer breakwater, but Noreen and I did not attempt to identify them.

The cross-border return trip using the ArriveCan App seemed to be problem-free other than Terry getting randomly selected for a take-home Covid-19 test. Most of us completed the ArriveCan App and obtained our receipt before heading across the border, and this worked just fine, even though our predicted time of returning to Canada were estimates, and we were ahead of our predicted time. It has been almost 2 years since we have had the opportunity to explore this birding site, and we hope to be able to continue to visit here.
David Hoar

Photos on Flickr

David’s eBird report