It was a crisp, -3˚C, sunny, beautiful morning when we met up at 9am to start our walk. North Van’s Richard had been there awhile, and informed us that the Mandarin Duck and Eurasian Green-winged Teal were at Piper Spit as well as many other species. It was a swift visit for Richard as he took off soon afterwards. Ten others congregated and then took off to Piper Spit. The ten were Brian, Louise, Jim, Marion, Joe, Kirsten, Colin, Stephanie, Chris and (newbie-ish) Susan. Susan has been out on some walks with DNCB in the distant past.
The Spit was alive with Red-winged Blackbirds calling all around, Spotted Towhees, Fox Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows and Song Sparrows flitting on and off the path. A flock of Rock Pigeons flew overhead. One of the targeted species was spotted almost immediately, the Eurasian Green-winged Teal came up close to us. The light was poor in that the sun was beaming on him, which made photographing hard. After we asked him to move, and the photo hogs changed their positions, we were able to get some good shots.
The light was perfect for the photographers, and many good shots of the various waterfowl were made. There were many ducks up close and personal. We saw Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Pintails, Green-winged Teal, Canada Geese, Lesser Scaup, Pied-billed Grebe and Coots. Colin reported a Double-crested Cormorant, and also a group of Long-billed Dowitchers resting close to the boardwalk. Moving towards the end of the boardwalk, someone spotted Trevor the resident Mandarin Duck. He was magnificent in his breeding plumage. Many photos were taken, “Trevor” being Vancouver’s most photographed duck.
We hung around Piper Spit for quite a while until everybody was nicely chilled, before moving off. Just before we started the walk, we saw three gull species, Glaucous-winged Gull, Ring-billed Gull and a probable Herring Gull. A Varied Thrush was spotted as we started our walk. We had spotted 27 species in our time at the Spit.
The walk was uneventful for species, but a very pleasant chatfest. There were many Spotted Towhees, Chickadees, Song Sparrows with occasional Fox Sparrows along the path. Marion reported a Downy Woodpecker. At some point on this part of the walk Bryan joined us. We were then up to 11 participants. This reporter has no idea when or where he joined the group. Being a nature group, we also saw a number of squirrels, both the native brown Douglas Squirrels and the black Eastern Grey Squirrel.
When we came to the clearing close to the dam, Susan spotted a Belted Kingfisher, Jim spotted a Great Blue Heron, and there was a Pied-billed Grebe in the lake together with Mallards, Bufflehead and Wood Ducks. The Tuesday group failed to see the American Dipper. Just to make them feel better, we worked hard at not seeing it either. Hopefully we will have better luck in the summer.
The walk back produced only one new species, Red-tailed Hawk, which sat nicely in a tree in the open making for some good photos.
We hung around the nature house trying to see the Pileated Woodpeckers. They didn’t show on Wednesday. We tearfully split up and said our goodbyes.
A very nice outing on a wonderful, crisp sunny day with some very pleasant folk… 33 species for the day.
Chris
Photos on Flickr
Delta Naturalists Society 
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