PHOTO: Cooper’s Hawk by Glen Bodie….
Some of those who skipped the trip to Manning Park on Tuesday came out to the North 40 park on Wednesday – Dottie, Bob and Glen. It was a sunny hot day, but the blast furnace of the last week had started to come back to normal BC temperatures.
There were no great surprises in our walk except for running into another birder who knew where the Cooper’s Hawks were nesting. Reportedly there were 4 chicks, hatched on different days, the eldest of which had just fledged. We were able to see that oldest juvenile testing it’s strength with a watchful adult hanging around. The adult had to chase off a Bald Eagle at one point.
That other birder also reported that a nest of Bushtits had just hatched. And that’s the thing about a bunch of juvenile Bushtits – they seem to be the same size and coloration as the adult Bushtits. That results in the commonplace wave of 10 to 20 or more of them flitting about in one tree or bush and moving on to the next. We saw them a few times as we moved through the area.
As is often the case, we heard Common Yellowthroats in several different parts of the park, always in the tall grasses, but we never saw one. It was still hot enough, and already past the early morning hours, that many of the species were likely already quiet and in the shade. The most common species, and also the loudest, was Canis lupus familiaris, in a broad assortment of sizes and colours.
We paid as much attention to the vegetation as to the birds, noting the Silver-leaf Poplar, huge Chestnuts, Hawthorns, Crab apples and mighty Oaks along with the smaller Fireweed, not-yet-ripe Blackberries and the “what’s this one” weed!
A pleasant walk with good company resulting in 16 species.
Report by Glen Bodie
Photos are on flickr.
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (Jul 16 & 17) the outings are to Alaksen National Wildlife Area, 5421 Robertson Rd, Delta on Westham Island before the turn into Reifel, opens at 9am.
MEET AT 9AM
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 