Delta Naturalists Society

On a still, cloudy day, 6 DNCBers met at White Rock Pier: Thea, Rosemary, Nicki, Marion, Lindly and Glen. It was still cool and dark so the passerines had not stirred in the bushes.

We headed out on the pier with collections of Mallards, Surf Scoters and White-winged Scoters on both sides. We also saw a few less numerous species – Common Loon, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe, Black-bellied Plover, Belted Kingfisher and Bald Eagle. Of course, there were the numerous Rock Pigeons and an assortment of Gulls, mostly Short-billed and Glaucous-winged.

At the end of the pier, we were talking with Liron and he mentioned a Black Scoter (female) “just over there” and we rushed to get a look. On the way back we saw a seal slowly moving along, sinking underwater, and we could see it swimming under the pier through the clear water. We could also see silvery little fish in the water and see the Scoters swimming underwater. Lindly was looking closely at a not-too-distant raft of ducks saying “those aren’t Scoters”, and she was right, it was a raft of Lesser Scaup that most of us had just passed over without thinking about it.

Then off to Blackie Spit, where we ran in to Liz and Alan. As usual there were lots of Wigeon including the common (for this location) Eurasians. The Shorebird Identification course that Lindley, Thea and Nicki had been taking was put to good use identifying the flocks flying along the shoreline – Dunlin and Black-bellied Plovers. Liz and Alan had located the 2 Marbled Godwits but they were hard to see – paler brown blobs in the grasses with their backs to us and their heads tucked it. There were several Loons scattered off shore, and though we tried hard to find a Yellow-billed we only found Common Loons. No luck on the spit for any Snow Buntings or Larks or passerines in the grasses. But Glen did find a mushroom!

As we walked back towards the parking, the rain started to spit, but most carried on towards the Rene Savenye area. The trees and bushes along the way were super busy with all kinds of songbirds! Fox, Golden-crowned, and Song Sparrows; Black-capped Chickadee, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, robins, starling, flickers, Varied Thrush, and a flock of Pine Siskin. We also added a Greater Yellowlegs to the list. Where that path splits off from the main loop, we stopped and headed back because the rain was picking up. A successful outing resulting in 27 species at the Pier and 33 at the Spit.

Report by Glen Bodie

Thea’s eBird lists for White Rock https://ebird.org/checklist/S154508344
and Blackie Spit https://ebird.org/checklist/S154514228

Flickr pictures at https://flickr.com/search/?group_id=3027315%40N23&view_all=1&text=20231115&sort=date-taken-asc