Delta Naturalists Society

Our team for Area I included five walking groups and one feeder watch. Terry Carr counted the waterfowl on the ponds at the Beach Grove golf course; Liz and Alan Stewart and Joe Stephenson surveyed the interior of Boundary Bay Park, David Hoar, Noreen Rudd and Margaretha Schramm did the shoreline areas of the park, and Anne and Len Murray covered Boundary Bay community, starting at the dog park near the US border, then streets and beaches, and finally the fields and ditches east of 56th Street in the afternoon. Roger and Rose Meyer and Mike Betts covered Beach Grove park and dyke. Jim Kneesch did a feeder watch list.

The day started cold, and light snow showers developed into increasing amounts of snow driven by a strong westerly wind off the bay. By afternoon, several centimetres of snow were lying and it was really quite cold.

At the Boundary Bay dog park, birds were just emerging from roost as Len and I arrived at 7:50am. It was unusual to see several Ruby-crowned Kinglets hopping on the grass. Eagles flew overhead, and the woodland area was full of Dark-eyed Juncos. A pair of Downy Woodpecker were working a dead tree, and a flock of Bushtits moved through rapidly.

After an hour at the park, we moved on to the Boundary Bay community streets and the beach, while the weather worsened. Waves were hitting the shore driven by the strong westerly wind, and the shorebirds were kept on the move. There were few waterfowl offshore, they had probably moved to quieter locales. We saw a few White-winged and Surf Scoter, and Greater Scaup, but no loons, grebes or other diving species. The streets were also relatively quiet, just a few flocks of starlings and robins overhead, and Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows at gardens with feeders. However, a Townsend’s Solitaire sitting quietly in a bush was a surprise! Anna’s Hummingbirds buzzed around regardless of the cold.

Early in the morning, Terry had Marsh Wren and a good variety of waterfowl, including Cackling Geese and Hooded Merganser in the golf course ponds.

At Boundary Bay Regional Park, Liz, Alan and Joe were pleased to get both Virginia Rail and a Northern Shrike! These birds are both regulars at this location, but do not always perform to order, especially not on such a difficult weather day. David, Noreen and Margaretha surveyed the waterfront trail area: surprisingly there were no crows, no Brewer’s Blackbirds and no Red-winged Blackbirds, all normally common in the park. However, there were large numbers of dabbling ducks and other waterfowl.

Roger, Rose and Mike covered the Beach Grove area, but had to cut it short when the snow increased. They saw Snow Geese, robins and a few Purple Finches, not entered on an eBird list.

David and Noreen returned to the Regional Park at dusk to check for owls; none were seen but a Wilson’s Snipe was seen.

Great birding effort by the Delta Naturalists Casual Birding Group on a cold and challenging snowy count day.

An additional checklist was submitted by non-member Shaunti for a private location in the count area close to the Tsawwassen dog park in Boundary Bay, which is included on the eBird list for the complete Area I count of the CBC.

Anne Murray

eBird Checklist