PHOTO: Long-billed Dowitchers by Glen Bodie……
A great day for birding at Burnaby Lake – cool and mostly sunny – mist on the lake at the start and shedding layers by the end. Even some messy traffic congestion wasn’t enough to make too many of us too late for a 9am start. We were 15 in number: Roger, Glen, Jonathan, Richard, Susan, Henry, Naoko, Grace, Terry, Mike, Margaret, Lorraine, Lorna, Freddie, Claude.
It wasn’t the birdiest of days but the boardwalk at Piper St never disappoints. We had the ever abundant Red-winged Blackbirds, Rock Pigeons and Song Sparrows, and in the water were Mallards, Northern Pintails, Wood Ducks, American Coots, Green-winged Teal, both Ring-billed and Glaucous-winged Gulls and, of course, Canada Geese. The far side of the creek had a troop of sleeping Dowitchers (Long-billed we presume). No sign of the possible Snipe or any Pied-billed Grebes. A few Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants perched like sentinels.
We had a look from the tower near-by, but there was nothing new from that vantage, so we headed off towards the dam along the Cottonwood Trail. With 15 people we managed to spread out a bit so maybe not everyone saw the Roseate Spoonbill. Black-capped Chickadees, American Robins, House Finches and Spotted Towhees were everywhere. There were a number of Northern Flickers and American Crows. At some well-known stumps where people put out seeds we were entertained by the usual Douglas Squirrels and Steller’s Jays. At one point we heard some odd noises from back in the bush which Merlin identified as a Virginia Rail, and we heard it again on the way back.
Several spots along the trail had clusters of mushrooms – two species in particular – Shaggy Parasol (Chlorophyllum brunneum) and Puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum). Some other mushrooms seen (but not so assuredly identified) were Coral Mushrooms (likely some species of Ramaria) and Ma’am on a Motorcycle (Leucoagaricus leucothites). Add to that the commonly seen Polypores on the sides of trees – Red-belted Conks (Fomitopsis mounceae) showing some guttation and Birch Conks (Fomitopsis betulina) busily returning trees to the soil.
After turning around at the dam – sorry, no American Dipper this time – we heard then saw a Belted Kingfisher across the river. Soon after that we had an excellent sighting of a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk which we then saw again later on down the trail. The sightings included several less abundant individuals such as: Anna’s Hummingbird, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtits, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Purple Finch and one Bald Eagle flying over. That’s a total of 33 species, so quite a good day.
Report by Glen Bodie
Photos are on Flickr
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (Oct 8 & 9) the outings will be to Brunswick Point in Ladner.
Meet at 9 am in the new parking lot near the south end of River Road West – past the Westham Island Bridge. Parking is no longer allowed at the end of River Road. The parking lot is 1 km before the end of River Rd near 30B St.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 