There were twelve of us who met at the parking area next to King George Highway. This parking feels a lot safer than the original park parking lot that was plagued with break-ins and damage to cars. The twelve were: Chris, Mike B, Lorna, Jim, Roger, Pat, Richard, Lindly, and the four regulars from White Rock: Dottie, Jacquie, Lee and Bob.
We were leaderless, but that didn’t stop us enjoying the walk. Many of us had been to the area before, and so between us we managed to find our way around. Roger, as we started out, showed us the way, and we fell into our regular chattiest easily. Being leaderless, we took a little while to start our walk. Chris started keeping “the list”.
The Serpentine had a number of waterfowl swimming around. We were greeted by Bufflehead and Common Mergansers, A flock of Scaup flew in, and another group of Common Goldeneye were seen. Roger spotted a hawk resting on a post. After a discussion, it was declared to probably be a female Northern Harrier. Mallards and Wigeon were all over the marshland.
We ambled along the river, deciding to do a loop, cutting back across the marsh towards the end of the walk. We saw a sole Ring-necked Duck, a couple of Gadwall with additional numbers of previously seen ducks. Chris was pleased with himself spotting a lone Pintail, only to find 300-400, fifteen minutes later. Some of the group saw a Rough-legged Hawk. Eagles few overhead, and we started to note that no smaller birds had been seen. A few Golden-crowned Sparrows emerged, so we were happy again. When Robins started to appear, we were in raptures.
We took the path away from the river towards the observation tower. All of us climbed the tower to see so many ducks in the surrounding ponds. Northern Shovelers and Green-winged Teal were spotted amongst them. A couple of American Coots were seen, and Red-winged Blackbirds started to make their high pitched noise. We continued down the path, when one of the White Rock Gang, AKA the “Eurasian Queen”, spotted two Eurasian Wigeon in two separate Wigeon flocks.
The path was uneventful, apart from being full of mud and puddles, until we came near to the old parking lot. Roger (who had to get home) checked out the barn near the old parking lot, and reported an Owl. Subsequent investigations revealed it to be a Barred Owl. It was probably eating a small kitten. Mike B and Lorna decided to walk back to the car along the lane. Roger saw them as he was leaving, and kindly gave them a ride to Mike’s car.
The rest of us strung out across the marsh. It was a little quiet, Black-capped Chickadees, Golden-crowned Sparrows were seen, Marsh Wrens were heard, and a Red-tailed Hawk flew in and posed by the side of the river. Arriving back at the car park, a Kingfisher flew in to make our count for the day 32 species.
Another enjoyable day with enjoyable people.
Chris McV
Photos will be added to Flickr
Delta Naturalists Society 
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