PHOTO: Bullock’s Oriole by Terry Carr….
Seven Delta Nats met at Colony Farm Regional park in Coquitlam – Roger, Christine, Bob, Freddie, Claude, Dottie, Terry.
Our quest for Lazuli Buntings started on the service road below the Labyrinth. Christine managed to photograph the female but the more colourful male did not appear. We did see Blue-winged Teal, Mallards, Chickadees, Song Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Towhees, Robins, Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows. A very cooperative, singing male Common Yellowthroat stayed perched in the open – but it was quite far from the path. A Black-tailed deer was grazing on the other side of the road.
We then followed our usual route to the bridge across the Coquitlam River and along the path to a small pond. We added Gadwall, Common Merganser, Wood Ducks, American Goldfinch and Red-winged Blackbirds. We did not see the recently reported Eastern Kingbird, but we did have two other flycatchers – Western Wood-Pewee and Olive-sided Flycatcher.
Other birders reported that there more birds south of the Coquitlam River bridge so we headed along there. This route added Yellow Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, Rufous Hummingbird and Cedar Waxwings – but not the also reported Bullock’s Orioles.
We headed back over the river, adding a Common Goldeneye, and decided to cut through the community gardens on the way back to the parking lot. That turned out to be a very good idea. Dottie spotted a male Lazuli Bunting and a Bullock’s Oriole in the gardens. We all got good looks at these two beautiful birds.
The Eastern Kingbird had been reported past the labyrinth where we had started our walk. So Christine, Roger and I headed back there to continue the search. We scanned both sides of the path but it remained elusive.
However, we had a lovely walk on a sunny morning with some great bird sightings.
Report by Terry Carr
Photos are on Flickr
Next week there will be only one outing – Wednesday May 28 to Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley (16th Ave entrance) 20290 16th Ave.
Meet at 8 am in the parking lot on the south side of 16th Ave.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 