PHOTO: Northern Shovelers & decoy by Glen Bodie……..
It was a clear, cold day – just what 18 birders needed to get them out of bed. We were Alan and Liz, Brian and Louise, Colin and Stephanie, Jonathan and Lorraine, Warren and Lynne, David and Noreen, Christine, Moira, Margaretha, Nick, Richard and Glen. Only 5 of us made it to the ferry causeway at 8am where the water was fairly calm and the sunlight made the snowy peaks of the North mountains stand out. We saw small numbers of Gadwall, Mallard, Harlequin, Common Goldeneye, Horned Grebe, Black Oystercatcher and Common Loon. The tide was very high and the “bay” that often exists on the North side of the causeway was engulfed by the ocean. It contained larger numbers of Scaup and Surf Scoters, and a huge murmuration of Dunlin. Bald Eagles sat on the high lamp standards. One lone Song Sparrow braved the weather. Our species count was 14.
Once at Reifel, most of us first walked back along the entrance road to look for Great Horned Owls said to be roosting in a tree. They were there, but very hard to see clearly. We moved on into Reifel past the hummingbird feeders (lots of Anna’s), the main pond (a surprising number of Northern Shovelers) and through the marauding Mallards, Wigeon and Red-winged Blackbirds. One Black-crowned Night-Heron was in the regular roost. At the first lookout over London Slough we started counting Great Blue Herons …18. Don’t worry, we saw LOTS more later! Louise took the group picture with everyone there (except Nick, sorry).
Deciding to take our regular route up to the bird blind corner we saw more Northern Shovelers, a few American Coots, many Black-capped Chickadees, Spotted Towhees, Song Sparrows, two Green-winged Teal, a flock of Canada Geese in the fields and one Barred Owl sleeping in the overhang of a large cedar. Rows of daffodils along the trail were threatening to burst open at any moment. A Brown Creeper challenged us all to keep our balance as we bent over backwards to see it high on a tree trunk.
The next leg of the trail towards the high tower was uneventful except for the briefly heard call of a Rail – heard but not seen. The Chickadees followed us all the way. We had a good view of a bare tree over in Alaksen with 9 Bald Eagles in it. We had a distant view of a Saw-whet Owl – VERY camouflaged on a cedar branch 60 feet off the trail. The pond was very full – of water, not birds. Far off in the Strait we could see Trumpeter Swans.
We decided to take the full outer dike trail because it was sunny, there was almost no wind and everyone wanted to see a Rail and/or a Bittern. We paused at one point to try to see the Marsh Wren that we were hearing. It popped up every so often and, just as quickly, disappeared – we got no photos. While we were waiting for the Wren to reappear, a quick black body zipped between the cattails and several people said “Rail”. We hadn’t heard it, and we never got a picture of it either, but the collective conclusion was Virginia Rail. We stopped several more times to watch a Northern Harrier cruising over the marsh, Eagles overhead, sudden eruptions of Mallards from the waterways through the marsh, and small murmurations at the shoreline. The current flowing in those waterways suggested the tide was falling. The ponds inside the dike were very quiet. Oh, did I mention the Great Blue Herons? They were standing like sentinels everywhere throughout that marsh.
As we reached the far corner we realized we had not seen any Short-eared Owls over the marsh, leaving our Owl species count at 3 for the day … pretty good. We did not see the regular Kingfisher near that corner, and we did not see a Bittern along that last leg of the outer trail, though perhaps we’re a month early for the Bittern. Along those inner ponds on the way back to the exit we added Northern Pintail, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead and Pied-billed Grebe. The large group had spread out a bit by this point, and we all scattered after a great outing. Our species count in Reifel was 48.
Report by Glen Bodie
Photos are on Flickr
eBird from David for Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Jetty
eBird from David for Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (Feb 20 & 21) we will meet at Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond (via Templeton St & Ferguson Rd)
Meet at 9 am by the washrooms.
Delta Naturalists Society 