Delta Naturalists Society

Six DNCBers met at Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond – Kirsten, Anne, David, John, Lorna and Terry. The tunnel traffic was fairly good, but north of the tunnel the traffic was very slow. And then there was construction on Ferguson Road. A Cooper’s Hawk made a brief appearance by the parking lot.

The tide was very low for the whole morning so the birds were far away. There were many ducks on the pond by the parking lot, but the sun was too bright for good photos at both the beginning and the end of the walk. They included Mallards, Wigeon, Scaup, Pintail, Ring-necked Ducks, Shovelers, Gadwall and Green-winged Teal, as well as Coots. Farther along were two Pied-billed Grebes.

Access to the inner ponds is closed indefinitely for construction. Since there is water in those ponds, we walked along the road to view them from outside the fence. But there were no ducks or shorebirds in the two ponds visible from the road. There were a few birds along the fence and in the cottonwood trees – House Finches, Song Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Chickadees, Towhees and Orange-crowned Warblers.

We then took the path along the fence to walk along the interior path. We added a few more birds including Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Newly arrived Fox Sparrows were singing. A Northern Harrier left its perch and flew past us. We later saw another four fly over.

There were also flyovers by a Merlin, Herons, Ducks, Gulls. Barn Swallows and flocks of Double-crested Cormorants. Close to the river we added several Savannah Sparrows, a Lincoln’s Sparrow and a Flicker. There were several dragonflies, but only one landed for a photo.
Terry Carr

Photos are on Flickr

Anne’s ebird list