PHOTO: Spotted Towhee (adult & juvenile) by Glen Bodie….
After a few late-the-night-before additions there were 5 birders at Campbell
Valley: Bill and Carolyn, Richard, Doug and Glen. We almost had the place to
ourselves. It was a little cool in the shade, but otherwise a hot day with no
clouds.
We started along the trail over the northern bridge and immediately found
our first bird – a Great Blue Heron – so all is right with the world. It’s
sad how the Little Campbell River has turned into a muddy little trickle. At
least it had a few Mallards in it. As we continued along the east side of
the River Loop, we heard our first Willow Flycatcher and our first
Swainson’s Thrush, but we heard many more of each as the walk continued.
Along the trail we had the regular assortment of Spotted Towhees, Song
Sparrows and Black-capped Chickadees. It was a little surprising that we
never heard a Common Yellowthroat.
We arrived at one clearing and saw a family of Swainson’s Thrush low in the
bushes 30 feet away, adults and juveniles, but they never quite sat-up in
the open for a good look. Also there we saw an adult and a juvenile
Steller’s Jay, an adult and a juvenile Spotted Towhee, an immature Western
Tanager and an immature Black-headed Grosbeak (male). Further along, we
decided to go a little bit down the Deer Trail to the meadow. It’s a great
viewpoint to the margins of the grasslands, low brush and tall deciduous and
conifer trees. There were 3 Willow Flycatchers all challenging each other
with their calls, and several Yellow Warblers in the distance. It’s enough to
make you wish for fewer leaves since the birds zip from one perch, across
the gap to another tree and bury themselves in the leaves. We did see
several fine examples of Leaf Birds.
Returning to the Listening Bridge, Glen had promised lots of Black-headed
Grosbeaks, but there was NOTHING except a dozen Black-capped Chickadees who
sat around chastising us for having not brought any seeds with us. After a
rest we continued and, at the next junction, chose to continue along the
River Loop instead of taking the Vine Maple Trail because it led directly to
good views onto a meadow. Along this leg we saw a Brown Creeper and an
Anna’s Hummingbird, heard a Northern Flicker and a Purple Finch. Not much
new to our list, so we paid attention to the vegetation to try to figure out
which tree was which, and to appreciate the Oregon Grape (Mahonia
aquifolium).
To add to the non-avian species list we had a bunny (which was very brave
until the dogs appeared on the trail), chipmunk, Douglas Squirrel and a
profusion of Black Licorice Slugs (likely Arion ater) which we helped to
make their way across the trail before they got smushed. Glen also found two
patches of mushrooms at the side of the trail which were later identified as
Pale Brittlestem (Candolleomyces candolleanus) and Wood Woolly-foot
(Collybiopsis peronat).
We had a productive day resulting in 23 species.
Report by Glen Bodie
Photos are on flickr
Glen’s eBird checklist
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (August 13 & 14) the outings are to Aldergrove Regional Park, 27240 8th Ave, Aldergrove.
Meet at 8 am at the main parking lot at the end of the access road off 8th Avenue.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 