PHOTO: Amanita muscaria by Chris McVittie…
9 Delta Nats met at the Piper Avenue entrance to Burnaby Lake Regional Park – Chris, Christine, Lidia, Margaret, Dorothy, Terry, TK, Glen and Connie. Once again traffic was terrible for those of us coming from south of the Fraser.
But it was a glorious fall day. There was mist of the lake which soon cleared and was replaced with neat reflections. The water level seemed very low and most of the water lilies have been removed. Most of the ducks were still sleeping – Mallards, Wood Ducks, Green-winged Teal and Northern Pintail – along with Coots, Canada Geese and Gulls – but no Dowitchers.
From the spit we walked west instead of east. In the past the paths on that side of the park have had woodpeckers and mushrooms in the fall. Sure enough we had Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers and Red-breasted Sapsuckers – and lots of mushrooms – especially bright red Amanita muscaria.
There were also Red-winged Blackbirds, Juncos, Towhees, Robins, Chickadees, House Finches, Song Sparrows, Brown Creepers, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets – and a Cooper’s Hawk flew over. Metro Vancouver Parks staff were leading a group of children who were especially interested in looking at all the mushrooms.
TK suggested that we should go to Como Lake Park in Coquitlam to see the juvenile Little Blue Heron that has been there for several days. Google maps said that the park was 16 minutes away so 5 of us did go. The bird is far from its typical breeding grounds in the southeastern United States and Central/South America. It is white because it is a juvenile, and will turn a bluish color as it matures. It is about half the size of a Great Blue Heron.
We did a circuit of the lake – along with several other birders – but there was no sign of it. There were great reflections in the lake along with Mallards, female Hooded Mergansers and a Turtle. Three Hummingbirds were chasing each other and we also saw Flickers, Robins and Song Sparrows. There were some golden Larch Trees and a huge display of Amanita muscaria mushrooms.
We had very enjoyable walks at 2 lovely lakes on a glorious fall day.
Report by Terry Carr
Photos are on Flickr
eBird checklists:
Burnaby Lake
Como Lake
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (November 11 & 12) the outings will be to Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen.
Meet at 9 AM in the concession/washroom parking lot.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 