PHOTO: Red-necked Phalarope by Glen Bodie….
It was a very grey and damp morning, which is why only newbie Bryce, Chris and I showed up at the Tsawwassen jetty. The mudflats at the landward end were exposed and there were enormous flocks of duck there, but there is nowhere convenient to stop. We met at the usual pull out spot, previously known as Windsurfers’ Corner (no one windsurfs there now). Interesting side story: it was my windsurfing husband and his buddy Russ in the 1990s who asked for and got that pull-out made, as they needed to park somewhere to go chase the wind. Now it is used by taxi cabs, birdwatchers, and people headed to the ferry who need a moment to get organized.
Today the drizzle began to turn to cold rain, so I mostly scanned the water from my car. A Horned Grebe, a couple of Red-necked Grebes and a Common Loon were quite close to shore. A single Caspian Tern and a crow flew by. Bryce saw Killdeer, but I only heard one call. As usual, some Great Blue Herons were standing around on the shore and in the marsh and water. The big heronry nearby holds several hundred nests.
Next stop was Reifel Bird Sanctuary. A good group of naturalists showed up, some of whom had been off in exotic locations, so there was a lot of interesting chitchat. Our group included Chris, Bryce, David S, Glen, Warren and Lynne, Nicki, Richard, Stephanie and me.
It was rather misty, but the rain had mostly stopped. The pond and slough were relatively quiet. We chose the northern trail through the trees, and that was also much quieter than usual. We eventually found some small flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers feeding in the trees, along with a few Orange-crowned Warblers and Golden-crowned Kinglets.
A Red-breasted Nuthatch called, and further along a Brown Creeper showed itself. There were relatively few winter sparrows, however. Near the tower, we saw Barn Swallows and Purple Martins flying around, and the first of two Northern Harriers was seen flying low over the marsh. We tried to spot pelicans from the tower but no luck. We walked along the outer dyke past the ponds and saw a Red-necked Phalarope in the first one. We carefully checked the ID as it looked different from one seen earlier this summer – this one was molting into winter plumage.
A single Western Sandpiper looked a bit lonely but there were lots of Long-billed Dowitchers and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs in the various ponds. Virginia Rails were heard calling a couple of times but not seen. We saw the usual selection of ducks in the various ponds: Mallard, Northern Shovelers, some Northern Pintail and a couple of Gadwall, but only one Wood Duck, one Coot and one Pied-billed Grebe. A Belted Kingfisher alerted us with its call. Those of us who had missed the Sandhill Crane family earlier (adult pair and two quite big colts) had a good view of them walking through the car park.
The weather cooperated in the end for us, and we had a nice, chatty, casual birding walk in this favourite location. Our total for the Sanctuary was 38 species, a bit lower than anticipated but with some interesting species.
Report by Anne Murray
Photos are on flickr
eBird checklists
Ferry Causeway
Reifel
OUTINGS NEXT WEEK:
– CHANGED TO Monday Sept 16: Mt Baker, USA. See the website for more info.
– Wed Sept 18: Serpentine Fen
Meet at 8 am in the parking lot on King George Blvd by the bridge over the Serpentine River. We will not use the gated parking lot behind Art Knapps.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 