Delta Naturalists Society

After weeks of winter’s wrath, the Gods of Birdwatching struck a truce with their colleagues over at the weather department and blessed our group with a partly sunny morning.  There were 15 of us in total (from left to right): Dave, Lorna, Glen, Rosemary, Thea (yours truly), Mike, Noreen, Chris, Margaretha, Jim, Grant, Terry, Roger, Rose (who took the picture), and Bryan, who, in his usual style, mysteriously materialized out of nowhere halfway through the outing.

With many of the fields and much of the reedbeds embracing the bay totally underwater from the recent torrential downpours, many birds had become displaced and moved closer to shore or above ground, where we could see them much better.  And this translated into a busy day of birding!  In fact, before we had even arrived at the 72 nd street parking lot, we’d already amassed a list of 10 birds seen adjacent to the road, in the trees, patrolling whatever available dry land they could find, or on the power cables.

In addition to the usual European Starling, Northern Flicker, American Crow, Bald Eagle, and (remarkably abundant) American Robin, we saw dozens of Mallard and American Wigeon on the golf course, a pair of American Coot paddling in the ditch water on the side of the road, a Great Blue Heron, and a lone American Kestrel on a powerline.  An auspicious start to the day!

The car park at 72nd street also tends to see us off to a running start with many passerine species flitting about in the bordering bushes and trees.  There were Red-wing Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, and Spotted Towhee, as well as the usual Golden-crowned and Song Sparrow.  Chasing Dave’s report of a Fox Sparrow down a narrow path, Noreen and I spotted a rich chestnutty Marsh Wren, which made a brief appearance before disappearing into the thick brush.  Not a bad compensation for the Fox Sparrow that evaded us.

Some of our party reported seeing a pair of Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser in the road-side water channels.  Some Golden-crowned Kinglet flitted about in the brambles, their soft, almost supersonic peeping alerting us to their presence.  Casting our eyes skyward, a small flock of Northern Pintails and a skein of about 18 Cackling Geese were seen flying overhead, the latter’s tentative and higher-pitched honks (not to mention smaller size) giving them away.  And with almost 20 birds already on our eBird list, and 13 of us present, we finally embarked upon our walk along the dyke.

The day was busy with almost constant movement in the vegetation along the side of the road, mostly sparrows, including White-crowned, Golden-crowned, and Savannah Sparrow.  There were also House Finch, active and fidgety Yellow-rumped Warbler, and—a rare surprise—an American Tree Sparrow, a lifer for me!  Northern Harriers patrolled the marsh and, to our delight, gave a small murder of American Crows a thorough badgering.

In the generous ponds in front of a house (that apparently gets battered by stray bullets from hunters), there were American Wigeon, Mallard, Coot, a Eurasian Wigeon, and a single Northern Shoveler and Green-winged Teal.  And while I rushed on ahead, the rest of the group enjoyed a leisurely viewing of a Cooper’s Hawk in a tree.

At 64th street, we turned around and it was pretty much a straight shot back to the cars, the icy wind nipping at our heels, and the only additions to the list being Red-tailed Hawk and Gadwall.  Back at the car park, a patchy leucistic Bald Eagle that perched on the chimney of a nearby home confused the heck out of us for a bit until it’s size and heavy beak decided the vote in favor of a Bald Eagle.

We concluded the outing with a gift of Christmas cookies from Margaretha, who always speaks so kindly about my reports.  On that subject, as the last of 2022, I wanted to say what a pleasure it has been getting to know you all a little better this year, while delighting in the discovery of the rich diversity of birds in the Fraser River Delta, not to mention our wonderful Okanagan adventure.

Here’s to many more adventures (and lifers) in 2023!
Thea Beckman

Photos on Flickr

Thea’s ebird report