Delta Naturalists Society

On this morning, the sun’s rays flowed copiously from beneath the sky’s heavy skirts of cloud, making the horizon blush burgundy. American Bald Eagle, European Starling, and a Northern Flicker adorned the large winter bare tree at the start of our walk at the southernmost end of 64^th Street. Song Sparrow chirped shyly from the roadside foliage and a throuple of Trumpeter Swan glided overhead.

Thirteen brave souls gathered against the icy onshore winds: Thea, Rosemary, Richard, Brian, Louise, Chris, Colin, Stephanie, Lydia, and Jim. We were joined shortly thereafter by Lindly, Lynne, and Warren: victims of Vancouver’s already terrible and somehow worsening morning traffic. We set off along the dyke in a westerly direction—chasing the plaintive keening of an elusive Killdeer—and checked out the large flocks of Mallard and Northern Pintail that had settled on the nearby flooded fields.

We then turned around and headed east towards the more heavily trafficked (by birds) hotspots and ponds. The hedges and bushes along the way contained their usual cargo of Golden- and White-crowned Sparrow, as well as House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Spotted Towhee, and Song Sparrow. We also chanced across a particularly busy section of foliage that added Bushtits, Bewick’s Wren, Fox Sparrow, and Pine Siskin to the list.

Gadwall, American Coot, and Green-winged Teal paddled about on the first pond. On the way back, at that same pond, the “crickety” call of a Belted Kingfisher alerted us to its presence and we quickly found her, complete with fetching brick-colored brassiere, hunting from a bare limb above the pond.

The second pond offered an even richer lucky-packet of waterfowl, including—among the more “pedestrian” Mallard and American Wigeon—three Hooded Merganser, two Eurasian Wigeon, two female Bufflehead, one Northern Shoveler… but the partridge in a pear tree was nowhere to be seen.

To our right, oceanside, large flocks of Black-bellied Plover were seen flying little more than a foot or two above the water’s surface, exhibiting the typical rapid wingbeat and direct flight of shorebirds. Later on, we flushed a flock of them up from a flooded field. Dunlin—with their longer, drooped bills, bold white wing stripes, and dark tail centrelines—also coursed overhead on their way to the ocean. (One of the benefits of shorebird spotting in the winter is that there are so few species around, making it rather easy to guess what you’re looking at!)

With Short-eared Owl seen the day before, we didn’t take a single Northern Harrier for granted, closely examining each one. Alas, while there were plenty of Northern Harrier scouring the dyke, we never did see a Short-eared Owl (you beat us there, Tuesday group). Nature compensated us with a Cooper’s Hawk, two Red-tailed Hawk, and an American Kestrel (seen on the way out of 64^th Street) but I’d wager we’d all still have preferred an owl.

We did, however, manage to find the Northern Shrike that was seen the day before. We remarked on their preference for high perches and how that makes them a most obliging bird to observe. The only other sort-of uncommon sighting for the day was a Yellow-rumped Warbler, which seemed out of place on this moody and grey day.

We retired our birding efforts two-and-a-half-hours later with faces stinging from the cold wind but a satisfactory list of 42 species!

Written by Thea Beckman

Thea’s eBird List

Photos on Flickr

The outings next Tuesday & Wednesday December 19 & 20 will be to Stanley Park. Sign up here.
Meet at 9:00 AM on the seawall below the Second Beach Swimming Pool.

You can no longer access Second Beach from Beach Ave. From Beach Ave, turn right on Denman. Then left on Barclay (one block past Nelson). As you enter the park, keep left on Lagoon Drive, past the pub and pitch & putt. Turn right on Stanley Park Drive. When Stanley Park Drive becomes one way the wrong way, just past the Second Beach Concession, turn left into the parking area by the seawall. You will need to pay for parking.