PHOTO: Northern Shoveler by Glen Bodie….
Only Glen and I showed up at Boundary Bay Regional Park for birding this morning, but we amassed a satisfying total of 26 bird species. The weather was cool and cloudy but stayed rain-free for the whole walk. We started as usual at the main car park where flocks of European Starlings were active. The pond had a number of Mallard in it as well as some American Wigeon and 2 Northern Shovelers and the beach picnic area had some Red-winged and Brewer’s Blackbirds. Bald Eagles sat vigilantly in the cottonwood trees throughout the park: we counted 17 this morning, a relatively low number for the park in winter.
The tide was high, and the southeasterly wind was cold and quite strong. We checked the shoreline and saw Dunlin and a few Sanderling. The lagoon was full of water. A group of 9 Brant, some American Wigeon and Mallard were foraging near the pump outlet. We managed to locate the 12 Greater Yellowlegs that are wintering here; they were close to the pump outlet. Gull identification caused us the usual trouble – they were mostly Glaucous-winged (big, not black on wingtips) and Ring-billed (small, black and white wingtips) and a couple of what I think were California Gulls (wingtips are very black in flight, like they are dipped in ink). Glen’s photos will probably help confirm or contradict these IDs. The stretch of water immediately behind the pumphouse provided some unexpected species: a Ring-necked Duck, an American Coot and 2 Bufflehead. We also bumped into a birding friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in a while.
We took the more direct route back through the inside of the park as the weather was not improving. (I had walked round the park yesterday with a friend in better weather and we had not encountered many birds on the extreme western side). Golden-crowned Sparrows were foraging along much of the trail side, and a flock of House Finches in the bushes provided some colour. Unbelievably we only counted 1 Spotted Towhee this morning – any that were there must have been huddled under the bushes and keeping very quiet. Glen remembered we hadn’t seen a hummingbird yet, so then we were on alert and saw two. 2 Northern Harriers were seen – they seem to keep mostly to the west side of the park at the moment, and we saw them gliding over. It will not be too long before their breeding season, which starts with an awesome aerial mating display, involving a food drop between the pair.
Report by Anne Murray
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.
Delta Naturalists Society 