Delta Naturalists Society

At 9am I seemed to be the only DNCBer in the Centennial Beach parking lot. It was a very cold minus 9 degrees. There was snow on the ground, and the sky had mixed sun and cloud. The trees around the parking lot were full of Eagles and Crows.

After deciding that no one else was coming, I checked the frozen duckless duck pond, and walked to the beach. Along the way were Golden-crowned Sparrows, Chickadees and Starlings looking for food in the snow. The water in the bay was frozen as far as I could see. Mount Baker and the other mountains sparkled in the sun. There were no shorebirds in sight. Yesterday at Crescent Beach there were large numbers of Dunlin and Black-bellied Plover huddled on the shore.

Walking to the boardwalk, I met up with Margaretha, and continuing, we saw Song Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, Towhees, Red-winged Blackbirds, Purple Finches, Juncos and Flickers. At the end of the Bert Brink Trail a Cooper’s Hawk flew between trees and posed nicely for us.

I then moved my car to 12^th Avenue where I met David, Noreen and Bryan DeBou. They said that Colin and Stephanie were looking for the “group”. After exchanging reports, David and Noreen continued to 12^th, and Bryan and I went to the pumphouse. Bryan continued back to his car, and I walked the loop on the other side of the pumphouse on the new path back to Boundary Bay Road. Since there was still some open water in the lagoon there Herons and large flocks of ducks there – Mallards, Wigeon, Shovellers, Pintail and Green-winged Teal. In the drainage ditch were Mallards, Wigeon, Gadwall, one Pintail, one Bufflehead, and 5 Hooded Mergansers.

David and Noreen saw a Rough-legged Hawk at the SW corner of the Bert Brink trail. Bryan saw a Harrier and Brewer’s Blackbirds. Colin and Stephanie saw a Western Meadowlark near the boardwalk. They also saw 3 Yellowlegs, a Killdeer, and possibly a Merlin.

I went back to the boardwalk to look for the Meadowlark this afternoon with Janan and Guinness (our dog) but we did not see it. Joe Stephenson saw it this afternoon by the pumphouse.

No one has signed up for tomorrow’s outing.

Since cold weather and snow are forecast next week, too, we will try Centennial Beach again.
Terry Carr

Photos will be added to Flickr