Delta Naturalists Society

First things first … nobody died.  It was an adventuresome day for 5 birders exploring the less frequently used trails at North 40. As I recall, it all started when Lorna said, “What’s down this trail?”  Roger seemed to think there were adventures to be had, and Dottie, Bob and Glen just went along with it.

The cool morning quickly turned in to a warm sunny day. But none of that persuaded the birds to come out and play.  As you’ll see from the paltry eBird list attached below, we only had 15 species, some of which were only heard not seen.  We looked in several “likely” places for owls but saw nothing.  There were large flocks of Cedar Waxwings and Robins (many juveniles of both) and then a large – and loud – flock of Starlings.  Near the end of the trails we finally saw our first raptor – a Red-tailed Hawk flying past.

The most common species we encountered was Canus domesticus, but getting on to those “other” trails made them less common.  We were amazed by the Wych Elms and the huge rows of English Oaks and the number and varieties of Hawthorns, and we almost got conked on the head by falling acorns as though the squirrels were up there throwing them at us.

At one point we came to a fork in the trail and Lorna asked, “Which way?”  Roger replied that he “hadn’t got to where he was now by knowing where he was going”.  And so we took the right-hand choice.  It was a good choice, as Roger led us across a field to a thicket which had blueberry bushes (ripe and yummy) and old farm equipment rusting in a glade.

As we returned to the parking area, we walked past the fields which work crews are clearing and then covering with wood mulch.  You’ll see those next time you go to North 40 on both sides of the road just after you turn in from 72^nd Ave.  We have no authoritative answer as yet, but we heard that Delta is intending to plant trees there.  We’ll have to look into that…

Glen Bodie

Protocol: Traveling 3.0 kilometer(s) 3 hours 15 species
Glaucous-winged Gull  X
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Northern Flicker  X
American Crow  2
Black-capped Chickadee  X
Bewick’s Wren  2
European Starling  X
American Robin  X
Cedar Waxwing  X
House Finch  X
White-crowned Sparrow  1
Savannah Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  6
Spotted Towhee  2
Common Yellowthroat  1

Pictures from Glen and Roger will be posted on Flickr and can be found here:
Flickr photos