Delta Naturalists Society

13 birders gathered at Iona Regional Park this morning and we were greatly outnumbered by a noisy flock of about 200 Snow Geese. It is always fun to see how these geese from far away Wrangel Island, in the Arctic Ocean, Russia, make themselves at home in our waterside parks. There seemed to be a good proportion of young ones with them, so they had a successful breeding season. We also saw Canada Geese this morning and a number of different duck species in the interior ponds. A lone Horned Grebe was out on the ocean, which was surprisingly quiet, and there were few birds other than geese by the beach.

As we walked back along the entry road, we viewed the sheltered water at the shoreline where a number of Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail and other dabbling ducks were found. We viewed the old sewage lagoons from the adjacent raised walkway. A small group of shorebirds held our interest, as we identified a lone Long-billed Dowitcher wading in the water and a single juvenile Sanderling in the flock of 17 Dunlin. The usual selection of gulls flew over intermittently and there were quite a few teal, pintail and wigeon in the lagoons. Great Blue Herons were scattered through the park, often perched in trees.

We then took the somewhat overgrown trail beside the fence, to the east of the ponds and marsh, and were serenaded by a couple of Marsh Wrens. This trail and the central bushy area were quite productive for House Finches and calling Red-winged Blackbirds, but sparrow diversity ruled the day. We saw and heard White-crowned, Golden-crowned, Fox, Song, and even three late Savannah Sparrows. Two Anna’s Hummingbirds buzzed us as we walked along one of the inland paths. The inner ponds had Ring-necked Ducks, Bufflehead and Lesser Scaup and the trail by the river gave us views of a large group of Great Blue Heron and a small flock of crows.

In total the group saw 44 species, although not everyone saw everything, due to us wandering around in our usual casual birding style! It was a nice winter walk, not too cold and very pleasant company. Birders today were: Anne, Thea, Rosemary, Brian, Louise, Lidia, Jim, Chris McV., Chris P., Lidia, Glen, Pat, newbie Sin, and Stanley.
Anne Murray

Photos on Flickr

eBird checklist

Next Tuesday & Wednesday (Nov 7 & 8) the outings will be to
Ladner Harbour Park
4905 Mcneelys Way (off River Rd – NE of West Coast Seeds)
Meet at 8:30 am in the parking lot by the caretaker’s residence.

To sign up for future DNCB outings go to the signup form and put an x by your name.