PHOTO: Robin in the Rain by Chris McVittie….
There were four of us to start – Stephanie, Chris and newcomers Dan and Boja. (I think Stephanie knew Boja as she and Dan hadn’t signed up). Colin joined us for the last 10 minutes of the outing, having come from an eye appointment.
It was April Fools Day and the weather had turned on us. A beautiful day yesterday to an intermittent rainy day on the first of April. It was cold as well, with the windchill factor we were down to Zero C at the midpoint of the walk.
The Belted Kingfisher sat on the lines above King George Highway greeting us at the beginning of the walk. The Serpentine River produced a number of ducks – Greater Scaup, American Wigeon, Mallards, Green-winged Teal, Hooded and Common Mergansers and a couple of Canada Geese. Nothing very exciting. We checked the conifer to see if the Golden Eagle was still there. It wasn’t and hasn’t been reported for the last couple of weeks.
In the bushes, on the bank there were a large number of Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, Sparrows with the occasional Black- capped Chickadee and Northern Flicker. One Flicker was yellow shafted. Again not too exciting. A lone Rufous Hummingbird posed at the top of a branch. Probably the highlight of the day. Last week I was at Iona and saw them there. Apparently they have been at Iona for the last three weeks. Very early.
The rain decided to increase in volume as we took the trail into the park. On the lakes were Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Bufflehead, a few Pintail with Marsh Wrens twittering and Red-winged Blackbirds making their usual calls. A lone Greater Yellowlegs strutted its stuff. A pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves were on the power lines. The rain persisted so we increased our pace as it felt like the rain wasn’t going to give up.
We were missing some expected species. No Coots and no Raptors. Stephanie thought she may have seen a Peregrine Falcon. On the way back to the car 4 American Coots took off, so we were able to add them to our list. I thought some raptors were going to appear at the end of the walk as an April Fools joke but no, they remained in hiding.
There are no photos from this trip I tried taking some photos but the light and rain made all the photos unworthy of publishing. We managed to see 30 species with the Rufous Hummingbird and the rain being the highlights of the day. Thanks to Stephanie for her spotting and call outs.
As usual a pleasant walk even if we were wet and cold.
Report by Chris McVittie
Upcoming outings:
Saturday, April 4: Ladner Harbour Park, 4905 Mcneelys Way (off River Rd). Meet at 9 AM in the parking lot by the caretaker’s residence. Bring a picnic.
Tuesday & Wednesday(April 7 & 8): Brunswick Point in Ladner Meet at 9 AM in the parking lot near the south end of River Road West in Ladner – past the Westham Island Bridge. The parking lot is 1 km before the end of River Rd near 30B St.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 