Many of us missed the turn from 272 Ave on the first attempt, but all 11 of us got there: Brian and Louise, Colin and Stephanie, Warren and Lynne, David and Noreen, Lidia, Marion and Glen. The sun was already beating down, looking like a scorcher in Langley. There was interesting construction just north of the parking lot and we later determined it was a movie set for some undisclosed TV movie.
The trees had Willow Flycatchers, a well-hidden Bewick’s Wren, White-crowned Sparrows and a quick sighting of a Black-headed Grosbeak. There was a very odd, flat, white bird which photographic evidence later determined was a Frisbee. Some Swallows were swooping around, certainly Tree and Violet-green, and we later saw Barn and possibly a Rough-winged.
As we moved along the trail with fields on one side and trees on the other we saw Cedar Waxwings, American Robins, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Spotted Towhee, many more Willow Flycatchers, Anna’s Hummingbird and some Sparrows, possibly Savannah. The first large expanse of water that we came to was very overgrown – and who knows what those little pink flowers were out in the water? The only birds we added there were Red-winged Blackbirds, more Waxwings and Fitz-bews in the trees, Northern Flicker and the sounds of a Purple Finch and a Swainson’s Thrush.
As we reached the main pond all eyes were turned to find the Grebe, but we were greeted only with Canada Geese. Now, what exactly is a peninsula and which one of these was Terry talking about? Many pieces of land had water on 3 sides. We finally spied a Grebe across the water but didn’t get good looks. We continued around, hearing (another?) Black-headed Grosbeak and Common Yellowthroat in the hedgerow. Finally, a real pointy looking peninsula seemed promising and sharp-eyed Colin spied the Pied-billed Grebe on her floating nest. She spied us, slipped off the nest, covered her eggs in some brown material and disappeared. Sighting confirmed, though most of us only were able to see the muddy brown hillock that was supposedly the nest.
By this point we were turning back towards the starting point. We checked the large pond south of us finding Mallards, some distant Grebes maybe with grebelets and “something” on the far shore which turned out to be a Killdeer. This is the area where most of the dogs were being trained. They were well-controlled and seemed to not be interested in finding any bird life so they left that to us. One tree with some bare branches at the top provided a bonanza of good sightings: Willow Flycatcher, Tree Swallow, Cedar Waxwing and Savannah Sparrow. We cut back through the trees to the Frisbee Golf Course hoping we might get different looks and a little shade but, it was not to be. It was only 10:30 but most of us had an hour to drive to get home and it was bloody hot, so we called it a day.
Glen Bodie
David’s David’s eBird list of 33 species
Delta Naturalists Society 
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