PHOTO: Surf Scoters by Glen Bodie……
The day threatened, driving many prospective birders back to their beds, but it turned out quite nice – windy but the sun did peek through out at the White Rock Pier. Glen was the only DNCBer there to see it. The Pier had the usual assortment – Mallards, Canada Geese, Rock Pigeons, Surf Scoters, Greater Scaup, White-winged Scoters, Bufflehead, Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants, a few Common Loons and Red-necked Grebes, one Kingfisher hiding on the pilings under the pier and a Harbour Seal popped up to see what was going on. Didn’t see any Black Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Great Blue Herons or Black Turnstones. That made 14 species at the Pier.
After that it was off to Elgin Park in search of the Evening Grosbeaks. There were plenty of the expected birds in the bush – Robins, House and Purple Finch, Black-capped Chickadees, Spotted Towhees, Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Juncos and Pine Siskins. Way at the top of a tree, in poor lighting, were a dozen or more small birds chattering and zipping around. Merlin identified them as the Evening Grosbeaks … still there! I figured I had seen them and that was that and I’d just finish the loop and head home. But a little further along the river side there were more of them in the berry bushes and along the trail on the ground, giving much better views. On the interior pond were tons of Mallards and American Wigeon accompanied by a single male Eurasian Wigeon and a single male Northern Pintail. Merlin heard a Common Goldeneye and a Killdeer but I didn’t see either one. Out on the riverside were more Wigeon, a few Great Blue Herons, a Green-winged Teal and 4 Red-breasted Mergansers.
Merlin heard a few more species that I didn’t see, but I put them in the eBird list because they were “not unreasonable” and common enough that Merlin can be expected to get them right – Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Golden-crowned Kinglet and Snow Bunting. Nearing the end of the loop some more trees showed Northern Flicker, Song Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow. A Bald Eagle flew low over the field and then disappeared into a perch that was high up in a Fir tree. The sky was starting to spit a little bit, so I headed home without a visit to Blackie Spit. That made 28 species at Elgin Park.
Report by Glen Bodie
Photos are on flickr
eBird checklists:
White Rock Pier
Elgin Heritage Park
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 