PHOTO: Barrow’s Goldeneye by Glen Bodie…..
We met at 9:00 at the Second Beach parking lot – Richard, Margaret, Brian and Glen – on a cloudy but dry day, and the water on the bay was very still. We walked from Second to Third Beach along the sea wall and saw Barrow’s Goldeneye, Buffleheads, a Horned Grebe, Surf Scoters and a few Double-crested Cormorants out on the water, plus a flock of Bushtits and a few Anna’s Hummingbirds in the bushes. Lots of gulls and crows along the way. We turned uphill, crossed the road and took a forest trail back to Lost Lagoon. This trail was more a flora expedition as the fauna were few and far between – just a few Pacific Wrens.
Walking to the lagoon we saw Wood Ducks, Mallards and a Spotted Towhee. A Douglas Squirrel was earnestly moving his pine cone stash from one side of the trail to the other. At the stone bridge we added a Hooded Merganser and a Great Blue Heron. Walking around the lagoon added the following to our list – some Common Mergansers on the far side of the water, one American Coot, several Buffleheads (mainly female), a Wood Duck couple, Anna’s Hummingbirds in the bushes, trees full of Red-winged Blackbirds and a female Shoveler. At the East end of the lagoon we saw another Great Blue Heron and some American Wigeon.
The north side heading back to the parking lot gave us the greatest assortment of smaller birds seen all day – Black-capped Chickadees, Spotted Towhees, a Fox Sparrow, some Ruby-crowned Kinglets and endless Song Sparrows. There was a small island just off shore covered in Mallards. The Common Mergansers we had seen from the other side had moved across the lagoon and were STILL far away from us, but diving constantly as though they were atop a large school of fish. We stopped at the concession stand (closed) tables to gather our memories and make an eBird list but, sorry, no group photo. The list ended up with 29 species.
Report by Glen Bodie
Photos are on flickr
UPCOMING DNCB OUTINGS
Sunday, January 12, Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Meet at 9 AM. DNS has been booked as a group. You do not need to book parking – just tell the gatekeeper that you are part of the DNS group booking. Non-Reifel members will need to pay admission.
Tuesday & Wednesday, January 14 & 15, Serpentine Fen Dyke Trail
Meet at 9 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 