We had a misty, cool, but dry walk, with 12 participants: Angela, Brian and Louise, Colin and Stephanie, Lidia, Warren and Lynne, Margaret, Thea, and me, with Bryan joining us a bit later.
The tide was high at 9am, and the bay was very quiet, bird-wise. Thirty Great Blue Herons stood in a roost at the edge of the southern outside pond, and Red-winged Blackbirds were singing from the top of a cottonwood. Thea had heard of a reported owl sighting the day before, so we decided to make a change to our usual route. (We did not see it.) This daring approach to Casual Birding meant that we were on the south side of the car park just as a low-flying and loudly calling flock of a couple of thousand Snow Geese came over, headed for the beach. We had a magnificent view of the squadrons as they honked their way over us.
A male Common Goldeneye and some Green-winged Teal were nearby in the ocean. Mallards were skulking in a flooded marsh to the north of the causeway, an area that is often dry and sandy. Waterfowl were very much the main attraction today: big flocks of Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, and Green-winged Teal crowded the sewage ponds. Two Long-billed Dowitchers stood forlornly on the grassy pond edge, and a small group of Red-breasted Mergansers flew downriver.
The usually bird-filled bushes around the ponds were leafless and quiet. The whole morning only produced a few sparrow species: Song Sparrows, 2 Golden-crowned Sparrows, and a Fox Sparrow (heard calling briefly). Some saw an Anna’s Hummingbird in the brambles, and we had a few Black-capped Chickadees calling. Several raptors were seen: 3 Bald Eagles, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northern Harrier cruising over the reed beds, and a Cooper’s Hawk that swooped into a tree along our return path.
Bryan took the alternative riverbank route back to the carpark and found a Belted Kingfisher and a River Otter, and Colin spotted a big flock of Dunlin over the bay.
On our arrival back at the carpark, we found that the Snow Geese had taken over and were tamely walking around the washroom block and grassy picnic area. There was a lot of noisy honking going on, and groups kept getting agitated and taking flight, while others just munched on grass. There were a good number of juveniles, and many were turning from grey to white.
It was a very pleasant morning, with a nice chattery, yet observant, group, plenty of birds to look at (36 species) and no rain.
Anne Murray
Photos on Flickr
Delta Naturalists Society 
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