Delta Naturalists Society

The North 40 Park Reserve was a great place to be on Tuesday morning, May 10, and I know 12 people who will agree with me: Terry, Lorna, Mike B1, Roger K, Lee, Jacquie, Dottie, Lindly, Johnny Mac, Bryan, Dirk and Sean. It seemed to threaten rain at the start, but by the end it was all sunshine. The number of dog-walkers was small, so we didn’t (often) get over-run by the dogs, and the birds weren’t too disturbed. The good news was that the trees are all in leaf and blossom, and it looks lush and smells wonderful. The bad news was that the trees are all in leaf and blossom, and finding the source of that chirping sound was a Sisyphean task, making Merlin Sound ID even more useful.

Right at the parking area we were presented with either a Brown-headed Cowbird or a Yellow-headed Blackbird, and on further reflection we settled on the Cowbird, a male and a female. There were large numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers in the leafy trees all along our route, rarely sitting still, letting us see a rump OR a chin, but rarely both. After the Myrtle and Audubon’s there were lots of other little yellow birds – American Goldfinch, Wilson’s Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler and Common Yellowthroat. In all the wonderful old huge trees (many of which were not native species) we also saw all the usuals – Song and Golden-crowned Sparrows, Spotted Towhee, Rufous and Anna’s Hummingbirds, Pine Siskins, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

There were two highlights to the trip, both in almost exactly the same place along the old streets, overgrown and canopied with trees. First, we followed a Downy Woodpecker, trying to get a good look, and it came to rest on an old stump at about eye level, then popped into a hole. There were several holes of different sizes in this stump. We waited a while for it to reappear, and got some great looks. We were just about to wander on when Lee said “what’s that?” Don’t you love it when a birder says that? She pointed out a dark lump up in the canopy and said “stand right here.” It was a GHO, a little hidden by the foliage but clear enough if you stood right there. Lindly was wondering what Lee was looking at, it seemed too high and off at the wrong angle, because she could see the owl too. Turns out there were 2 full sized adults up in the tree, and we all got good looks. Yellow-rumps seemed anticlimactic after that.

No one in particular kept a species list, so at the end I asked several people to send me a list of what they thought we had seen (and heard), resulting in the collaborative effort below. It’s not a long list, but it’s a good one!

Species list (Total 26):
Chickadee, Black-capped
Chickadee, Chestnut-backed
Cowbird, Brown-headed
Crow, American/Northwestern
Eagle, Bald
Finch, House
Goldfinch, American
Gull, Glaucous-winged
Heron, Great Blue
Hummingbird, Anna’s
Hummingbird, Rufous
Junco, Dark-eyed
Owl, Great Horned
Robin, American
Siskin, Pine
Sparrow, Golden-crowned
Sparrow, Song
Towhee, Spotted
Warbler, Yellow-rumped (Audubon)
Warbler, Yellow-rumped (Myrtle)
Warbler, Orange-crowned
Warbler, Wilson’s
Warbler, Yellow
Woodpecker, Downy
Wren, Bewick’s
Yellowthroat, Common

from Glen Bodie

Photos on flickr