A very select group of birders (and secretive too – no picture of them) met at Piper Spit on Burnaby Lake on a cool but sunny morning, the sun slowly burning the mist from the Lake. It was quiet on the water with most of the usual suspects: Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Wood Ducks, Coots, some Northern Shovelers, an assortment of Gulls, Long-billed Dowitchers, a well-hidden Snipe and a small group of Dunlin. Further out were some Double-crested Cormorants, a Pied-billed Grebe and a Great Blue Heron. The bushes had a small assortment of Song Sparrows, Juncos and Black-capped Chickadees. The other regulars along the boardwalk were the Red-winged Blackbirds and the pigeons.
After the spit, we took the Cottonwood Trail away from the dam, past the observation tower, looped around on the Piper Mill Trail and finished back at the Nature House. That route offered a few more species: Bewick’s Wren, Northern Flicker, Steller’s Jay, American Robin, Spotted Towhee and American Crows. We had hoped to see Woodpeckers, Owls, Eagles, a raptor, Nuthatches, Creepers, other Sparrows …. but it was quiet. We made up for that by finding a great assortment of mushrooms: lots of stands of Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric), many rotting logs covered in Armillaria mellea and nabsnona (Honey Mushrooms), some Trametes versicolor (Turkey Tails), Hypholoma fasciculare (Sulphur Tuft) and Phlebia tremellosa (Trembling Woodcrust).
It all made for an adequate eBird list with 22 species (created after the fact because we had our hands full with cameras) by 3 pairs of eyeballs – Richard, Pat and Glen.
Report by Glen Bodie
Photos are on flickr
Next Tuesday & Wednesday (November 10 & 11) the outings will be to White Rock & Blackie Spit.
Meet at White Rock Pier at 9 AM. Free parking on the waterfront until 10am.
After the pier we will drive to Blackie Spit. Blackie Spit is at the NE end of McBride Ave in Crescent Beach. Park in the gravel parking lot past the paved parking lot and the sailing club.
To sign up for an outing, click on the DNS bird outing schedule sheet.