PHOTO: Margined White Butterfly by Christine Gaio……
Six Delta Nats met at Joe Brown Park on Panorama Ridge in Surrey – Terry, Bill, Jacquie, Dottie, Christine, Lidia.
This little known equestrian park is usually a good place to see spring migrants. But there was a COLD wind which, along with all the new leaves, seemed to keep the birds hidden. We did see Robins, White-crowned Sparrows, Juncos, Song Sparrows and Towhees. We did not have any luck finding the resident Barred Owls. A detour to the large pedestrian bridge added a Brown-headed Cowbird on a distant treetop. On the walk down the hill we saw American Goldfinches flying back and forth – and we had the first of several Rufous Hummingbirds posing on the tips of branches.
At the bottom of the hill we joined the path along the Delta-South Surrey Regional Greenway and walked to Colebrook Road. Bill spotted a flash of yellow across the creek. It was a brilliant male Common Yellowthroat – but it never did completely reveal itself for photographs. Jacquie alerted us to a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flying over. More Rufous Hummingbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds posed on high branches. Starlings were carrying food to nests in some snags and Eagles flew over. A male Downy Woodpecker stopped long enough for photos. Just before heading back up the hill, we heard a very noisy Black-throated Gray Warbler. But we only had brief glimpses as it moved around high up in the canopy. A pair of Pine Siskins did give us good views.
When we returned to the cars we decided that there was time to drive to nearby Colebrook Park and walk the short loop trail there. Again the cold wind and new leaves seemed to keep the birds hidden. We did get some views of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hutton’s Vireo, and Bewick’s Wren – and we located a singing Common Yellowthroat. We saw a medium sized frog in a pond. It had visible skin ridges down either side of its back – so not a Bullfrog. On iNaturalist it was identified as a non-native Green Frog because of the visible large ear drums. So not the native, at risk, Red-legged Frog. ID chart for Frogs of BC’s South Coast.
Green Frog by Terry Carr
I also photographed my first butterfly and dragonfly of the season – along with 3 species of slugs, and 3 species of bumble bees.
Report by Terry Carr
Photos are on flickr
eBird checklists
Joe Brown Park (22 species)
Colebrook Park (12 species)
The May 11 Saturday outing has been CANCELLED.
The next Tuesday & Wednesday outings (May 14 & 15) will be to Campbell Valley Regional Park (16th Ave entrance) 20290 16th Ave, Langley.
Meet at 8 am in the parking lot on the south side of 16th Ave.
To sign up for future outings go to the signup form and put an x by your name.
https://tinyurl.com/dncb-signup
Delta Naturalists Society 