Delta Naturalists Society

Twelve DNCBers met at 7am on Boundary Bay Dyke at 104^th. Street – Roger, Dottie, Bob, Jacquie, Deems, John, Margaret, Jonathan, Lorraine, Bryan, Lorna and Terry.

The early start was so that we would be there an hour before high tide to watch the shorebirds move in on the rising tide.  Unfortunately the high tide was not high enough to bring the shorebirds very close.  There were swirling murmurations, and hundreds of shorebirds feeding far out on the tide line.

Scanning with scopes determined that the larger, short-billed ones were Black-bellied Plovers and that the smaller, longer-billed ones were Western Sandpipers. The Plovers showed their black armpits when flying, and some of them still had their breeding plumage of black bellies.  We did not see any other black bellies, so we decided that Dunlin did not seem to be present.  We did see two Marbled Godwits with their long beaks.  There were Killdeer with their double breast band, and Semipalmated Plovers with their single breast band.  Unfortunately, the large flocks of shorebirds birds were too far away to identify any other species.  American Pipits were camouflaged on the eel grass, but then came closer to pose for photos on the driftwood.

At 9 o’clock we decided to drive to 12^th Avenue in Tsawwassen to see two uncommon shorebirds that have been hanging around there for awhile.  Sure enough, the Long-billed Curlew was standing near the pumphouse.

Farther along in the lagoon, the four American Avocets were feeding with Greater Yellowlegs and Killdeer.

In the bushes were Savannah Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows and House Finches.  Great Blue Herons and a Northern Harrier cruised by.

So we had an interesting collection of birds on a lovely morning.
Terry Carr

Photos on Flickr