Delta Naturalists Society

Lorna and I (Terry) were the only two Delta Nats who went to the ferry causeway at 8am on a wet and windy morning. There were hundreds of ducks and many herons on the shore at the start of the causeway – but the rough water was nearly empty. There were Cormorants, Horned Grebes and a Red-breasted Merganser. The fields on the way to Reifel were full of pumpkins. Along the way we saw a very wet Eagle perched in a tree and a very wet Red-tailed Hawk perched on a wire. There were two Mute Swans below the Westham Island bridge.

Again at Reifel it was just the two of us. In the house pond there were Mallards and a large group of Long-billed Dowitchers. Under our umbrellas, we decided to head first to the west pond to look for the continuing American Avocets. We got good looks at four of them from the cover of the blind – along with more Dowitchers, Northern Shovelers and Green-winged Teal.

Next we walked around the southwest ponds where we saw Mallards, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Hooded Mergansers, Coots, a Horned Grebe, a Bufflehead, and a male Ruddy Duck with four females. The dripping bushes had Sparrows, Juncos, Towhees, Chickadees and Red-winged Blackbirds. There were hundreds of Snow Geese on the foreshore and large flocks of them flew by.

We left Reifel in the pouring rain just before 11am. Debbi texted a few minutes later to say that she was just arriving there. As the rain seemed to be letting up we decided to stop at the the ferry causeway again. There were just the same few birds in the water. But on the south side of the causeway there were at least 50 Black Oystercatchers, including many juveniles – and a Northern Harrier flew by.

I hope the Wednesday group has better weather.
Terry Carr

Photos on flickr

Next Tuesday and Wednesday we will go to Burnaby Lake Regional Park.
Meet at 9am by the Nature House (4519 Piper Ave) at the south end of Piper Ave (off Winston St).