PHOTO: Evening Grosbeak by Grant Edwards…..
17 DNCBers met on the White Rock Pier on a cold, cloudy morning. Close to shore were Mallards, American Wigeon and Northern Pintail. Farther out were large flocks of Surf and White-winged Scoters. They were diving for clams and mussels which they swallow whole. Shells are crushed and digested by the gizzard. There were also Bufflehead and Scaup. Grant photographed a female Redhead and 2 juvenile males. There were Common Loons, Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants, a Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebes (small with small bill) and Red-necked Grebes (larger with large yellow bill). After looking at my photographs, I realized that we had also seen a female Black Scoter. Grant saw 2 Red-throated Loons. We were blanked on Long-tailed Ducks, Turnstones and Kingfisher.
We decided to stop next at Elgin Heritage Park to look for the Evening Grosbeaks that have been feeding there for several days. Sure enough there was a very photogenic flock of about 2 dozen. These gorgeous yellow birds are not as common here as they used to be. Robins, Finches, Chickadees, Towhees, Sparrows, Juncos, Red-winged Blackbirds and Flickers were also active here.
Our last stop was Blackie Spit in Crescent Beach. On the shore were the usual large flocks of American and Eurasian Wigeon, Mallards and Northern Pintail – along with Dunlin and Black-bellied Plover. A pair of Bald Eagles disturbed them, but they soon settled again. In the water were Common Loons, Cormorants, Horned Grebes, Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, Red-breasted Mergansers and a Bonaparte’s Gull. We walked to the beach near the Purple Martin nest boxes. Double-crested Cormorants were perched on those pilings. Perched on the other pilings was a flock of Black-bellied Plovers – soon to be joined by a murmuration of Dunlin. Neither of them had the black bellies of their breeding plumage – but the Plovers showed their black armpits when flying. Seeing the birds side by side showed that the Plovers were much larger with a shorter beak. There was a single Greater Yellowlegs nearby and more on the opposite shore. With his scope, Grant was able to find the continuing Willet among the slightly smaller Yellowlegs. Some of the group found a Western Sandpiper in a flock of Dunlin, spotted a Cooper’s Hawk, a Belted Kingfisher, and then found the two Marbled Godwits in the grasses of area where we had looked for them earlier.
It was a very productive morning, even with a few brief rain showers.
Report by Terry Carr
Photos are on flickr
eBird checklists
White Rock Pier
Elgin Heritage Park
Blackie Spit
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (Nov 19 & 20) Terra Nova Regional Park in Richmond.
Meet at 9 am by the Adventure Playground at the west end of River Rd (west of the north end of No 1 Rd).
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 