Six hearty souls started at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal lookout at 08:00 (David, Noreen, Jonathan, Lorraine, Anne and Glen) where it was f-f-f-freezing and the tide was high. Anne’s cold fingers fed our sightings in to eBird for a total of 20 species, most at some distance out on the water.
We were blanked on the Snow Buntings. A Harrier settled in on part of the spit and scattered the ducks. We saw one Raven, one Red-breasted Merganser, one Lesser Scaup (female) and a reasonable assortment of Wigeon, Greater Scaup, Scoters, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Double-crested Cormorants, 3 Common Loons, and 3 Gull species. There were 3 Brant out on the spit.
Some then took the scenic route through the TFN lands (including some road diversions) and saw a few Green-winged Teal, a large raft of Pintails, 2 Bald Eagles, another Harrier, Red-winged Blackbirds and a murmuration of (probably) Dunlin which were across a field and over the dike. That added 5 more species to the daily count from a total so far of 25.
The entire group of 17 then gathered at Reifel at 09:00 as the gates opened – adding Brian and Louise, Colin and Stephanie, Thea, Marion, Liz, Pat, Richard, Margaretha and Christopher from Langley.
After getting to know the resident Sandhill Cranes, we immediately went searching for the Great Horned Owls reported in the evergreens along the entrance road. Found them! But one was just a pair of ears sticking up over the edge of a nest, and the other was a blob on a branch up near the top of the tree, shrouded in branches. Not the best sightings for the photogs, but enough to “tick the box” for GHO.
We followed our normal route through this Mecca for birding, with the chat-fest ebbing and flowing as the group stretched out along the trails and then clustered together again … all very organic flow. At the entrance were many Wigeon and Mallards, the resident Anna’s Hummingbird, and two Black-crowned Night-Herons in their normal tree, but quite easily visible. Near the sign where we took our group picture (of course!) was a very unique Mallard drake, dark body colour, glistening iridescence, and quite friendly. Mallards seem terribly promiscuous, and it looked like a cross-breed with a Neon sign.
As we walked the East trail toward Owl Corner, we were followed / mobbed by Red-wing Blackbirds, sitting on people’s hats and pushing all the other small birds away, even most of the Chickadees. The only other species in abundance were Spotted Towhees. The surrounding trees did have a few Golden-crowned Kinglets (no Ruby-crowned), the complex buzzes and trills of a Bewick’s Wren, some Fox and Golden-crowned Sparrows (no White-crowned). A Flicker cried from the top of a tree.
We were blanked for Owls at the corner, and nothing was in the slough beside Alaksen, so we carried on towards the high tower. By now the Red-winged mob had mostly left us, and we saw a few more Sparrows, but the waterways were still still and quite quiet. At the tower we remembered the good old days – the place were we saw the Swamp Sparrow some … what was it? … 2 or 3 years ago? And the place where we saw the Sora stick its head out … but no, the water level was too high today for that. Suddenly, from the top of the tower, Thea cried out “Shrike!” and we all looked were she was pointing … way, way, way across the water to a little spot on top of a tree. But yes, Shrike indeed.
Rounding on to the outer dike we saw a pair of Hooded Mergansers, a Pied-billed Grebe and an increasing number of Northern Shovelers. But no shorebirds. There are a number of places where they are often seen, or where the current water levels have left only the mud behind, but no shorebirds there either. We did see some Ring-necked Ducks, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, more Mallards and Pintail.
There were large numbers of Trumpeter Swans at the water’s edge across the marsh. We failed to find the regular Kingfisher in the SW corner, and several people searched the rushes near that corner for the occasionally seen Bittern. When we ended the SW Trail we took a slight diversion to the Auger Trail to see what was in the 2 neighbouring ponds. We had good looks at two more Hooded Mergansers, some Ring-necked Ducks and a few Coots mixed in with all the Mallards and Pintails.
We ended the Reifel segment of the day with 45 species. Accounting for duplication across our 3 different segments of the day, we ended up with an overall total of 59 species. We were glad when it was all over, as I think most people were getting a little chilled, and thinking of the warming hut or the car heater or a bowl of hot soup for lunch. But at least the clouds parted enough to give the photogs decent light, and the precipitation waited until later in the day.
Glen Bodie
Anne’s eBird list (Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Jetty)
Thea’s eBird list (Reifel)
Delta Naturalists Society 
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