Delta Naturalists Society

Six DNCBers met at Ladner Harbour Park on a cold sunny morning – Glen, Dirk, John, Bryan DeB, Lorna and Terry.  A light dusting of snow overnight covered the branches with snow.  This made for a very scenic walk.

Bird feeders at the caretaker’s house had attracted Anna’s Hummingbirds, Black-capped Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers.  The snow-covered eagle sculpture on the roof was striking.  Brown Creepers and Steller’s Jays were active in this corner of the park too.

We started along the new path called Shirley’s Walk.  From here we had good views of the snowy North Shore mountains beyond the snow-covered foliage.  Along the way were Fox Sparrows, Song Sparrows, House Finches, Northern Flickers, American Robins and Marsh Wrens.  There were flyovers from Mallards, Herons, Bald Eagles, Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans.  A Red-tailed Hawk was sitting in a distant tree.

We turned around where the path was blocked by a fallen tree and headed along the paths toward the river viewing platform.  We saw and heard Varied Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Towhees, Juncos, Wrens and Bushtits.  We did not see the Scrub Jays that have been frequenting this area.  There were no waterfowl in the river.  The trees were now dripping on us as the sun melted the snow – so we decided that it was time to return to our cars.

Bryan, Lorna and I drove to the path along the slough on the east side of Ferry Road (near Windjammer Road).  The slough was full of ducks – Ring-necked, American Wigeon, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Northern Shoveler and Green-winged Teal.  The Mallards and Wood Ducks were particularly colourful in the bright sunshine.  A nice group of Scalycap mushrooms was growing in a cavity in an alder tree.  Glen later identified them as Golden Pholiota.

There were recent beaver cuttings, including on an alder that had fallen across the path.  Bird sightings included Song and Fox Sparrows, House Finches, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Robins, Juncos, Towhees and Herons.  A Red-tailed Hawk was posing in a tree on the golf course.  Before we could identify it, a hawk left its perch on the other side of Ferry Road to chase a bird.  It soon returned to the same tree, and we decided that it was a Cooper’s Hawk.

This was another enjoyable outing on a spectacular day.
Terry Carr

Photos are on flickr