PHOTO: Brant Geese by Terry Carr….
14 DNCBers met at Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen – Dorothy, Lorna, Alan, Liz, Christine, Susan, Jim, Pat, Dottie, Bob, Jacquie, Lee, Mike & Terry.
The trees around the parking lot were full of Bald Eagles and Crows. On the field was a huge flock of American Wigeon, one Eurasian Wigeon, Robins and Brewer’s Blackbirds. In the pond were Wigeon, Mallards and one Northern Shoveler. In the bushes around the pond were Golden-crowned Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Towhees and a Fox Sparrow.
We headed for the beach. The tide was high but there were no shorebirds to be seen. A pair of Common Goldeneye were diving quite far out. The walk to the tower found more Sparrows and Robins. On the shore below the tower was a busy mixed flock of Sanderling and Dunlin.
The walk to the pumphouse added Great Blue Herons, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, Brant Geese, Glaucous-winged and Short-billed Gulls, a female Scaup and a single Greater Yellowlegs. In the water behind the pumphouse were 3 Bufflehead, a Ring-billed Duck and an American Coot.
As we got close to a distant raptor we found that it was a juvenile Bald Eagle, not a hawk. One corner of the inland trail had quite a bit of bird activity – Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows, Towhees, House Finches and Anna’s Hummingbirds. Merlin heard a Downy Woodpecker and Christine managed to find it along with an American Goldfinch. We finally saw a Northern Harrier just before we reached the parking lot. In the parking lot a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was flitting in the small hedgerow between the cars.
We felt very lucky that the rain held off, which made this a very enjoyable morning outing.
Report by Terry Carr
Photos are on flickr.
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (February 25 & 26) the outings will be to Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond (via Templeton St & Ferguson Rd).
Meet at 9 am by the washrooms.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.