Wednesday provided a fine warm morning for a bird walk at Surrey’s Joe Brown Park. The turnout was 24 eyeballs (12 birders) all of which were needed to spy out the scarce birds present. Birders were Alan, Bob, Colin, Dorothy, Dottie, Lidia, Lorna, Margaretha, Stephanie, Susan, Teresa and Terry. Although May is when the peak of migration is expected we normally have a much birdier end of April. eBird lists 130 species for this hot spot and 42 species for April 2026.
We wandered down Jim Arnold trail searching in vain for even a chickadee. Eventually we found Orange-Crowned Warbler, Red-breasted Nuthatch and a few others. We ambled down several side paths searching for owls (also in vain) but picking up Pacific Wren, and Purple Finch. A sore-throated crow was calling in the distance which we believe was a Common Raven.
The last stretch of the walk on a straight alley to Colebrook Road yielded the most birds, including Bushtit, Common Yellowthroat, Tree Swallow, Rufous Hummingbird, and some butterflies. At the railroad tracks a Red-tailed Hawk was posing for us and a Killdeer was giving us the broken wing performance.
We retraced our path back uphill taking a different path when possible. Several more species showed up including a Hutton’s Vireo which some of us actually got visual with. Back at the parking lot, Chestnut-backed Chickadees brought our total count to 29 species – which was remarkable in that almost all of them were everyday birds and many were singular bird sightings.
Ever-optimistic, we went next to Colebrook Park to find something interesting. A Red-tailed Hawk flew over and another was perched on a distant post. By now it was mid day and the already quiet birds were even quieter. We added only 2 new species (Mallard and Bewick’s Wren) and some dragonflies.
Report by Alan Stewart
Photos are on flickr
On Saturday, May 2, there will be an outing to Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver.
Meet at 9 AM at the Pitch & Putt next to the Rose Garden.
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (May 5 & 6) the outings will be to Ladner Harbour Park, 4905 Mcneelys Way (off River Rd – NE of former West Coast Seeds store).
Meet at 8 AM in the parking lot by the caretaker’s residence.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.
Delta Naturalists Society 