Fifteen DNCBers were surprised by the relatively decent weather on our outing to Stanley Park last Tuesday morning. The forecasted rain held up and the photogs were happy with some magnificent shots they got in the Park and English Bay. Check them out here.
Car-pooling was acceptable both from Petra’s at 7:30 a.m. and other Nats coming directly to Second Beach parking area. And traffic wasn’t too bad, it being the second week of Spring Break. We all arrived between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. The Bay was smooth, only a mist of rain, and there were big rafts of both Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye in the Bay near the swimming pool, along with a few Bufflehead, Surf Scoters, Horned Grebes, Lesser Scaup and Pelagic & Double-crested Cormorants. The birds were close to shore and the Common Goldeneye were very entertaining with their “neck-bending” courtship ritual. Jim took the obligatory Group Photo here before we began our walk.
Our walk to and around Lost Lagoon produced a lot of neat sightings. The pairs of Wood Ducks at the bridge were glorious, as usual. Then our first (at least mine) sighting of a spectacular Rufous Hummingbird (possibly two) as it hovered taking our picture and flashing its brilliant iridescent throat. We also saw Anna’s Hummingbirds and American Goldfinches. The Lagoon did not have a lot of birds in it, but we did see Common Mergansers, an American Coot, more Scaup, and the common species of American Wigeon and Mallards. Two little bird sightings along the trail were exciting, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Brown Creeper, both offering good photo ops.
We were fortunate to have Alyx Coulter, Outreach Coordinator, with the Stanley Park Ecology Society, with us this morning. When we reached the Nature Hut she was able to give us a tour of the inside with its taxidermed birds and mammals, and info on and exhibits about the park. This was the hilight of several DNCBers.
Continuing around the lagoon, the spring flowers and shrubs in bloom were invigorating, at least the chatter indicated so. We were blanked on seeing the Swamp Sparrow, Trumpeter Swan and Rails, as well as Beavers or River Otters, but there was lots of evidence of them being there. We got back to the vehicles about 11:30 a.m. and Ladner Jack Mac and I left the group; I had a one o’clock golf tee time at Tsawwassen Springs Golf Course.
The group drove on to Beaver Lake, as we normally do on our Stanley Park outings. The circular walk around the lake resulted in some really neat sightings, and photos, including: Red-breasted Sapsucker, the other Kinglet, Golden-crowned, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Hooded Mergansers, Tree Swallows, Green-winged Teal. Check out Richmond Brian’s eBird List which indicates we had 35 species on the day.
I’m not sure what others had for lunch, but I simply had salt & pepper wings along with two pints of Pat Quinn’s Lager after golf on a simply gorgeous afternoon in Tsawwassen. It was another awesome DNCB day.
The 14 with me were: Organizer Terry C, Guru Mary T, affable Mike B, Tsawwassen’s David & Noreen, Ladner’s Bryan & Masae, some of our Bird Box Team, Jim K, Mike B2 & Ladner Jack Mac, eBirder Richmond Bryan, South Surrey Colin, Stanley Park “Proprietor” Alyx C and, last but not least, Welcome Back to PB Lorna. Our weather wimp, Glen Bodie, led another group to Stanley Park on Wednesday. Some of their photos are included in the 2019-12 Flickr site.
On Wednesday, April 3, we will take the 7 a.m. ferry from Tsawwassen on our Victoria outing. For more info on this outing and other reports and photos, see our website at: www.dncb.wordpress.com. As always, your comments are welcome. Cheers: Tom
Tom Bearss, President, Delta Naturalists Society (late report because of golf, hockey, grand-parenting, Sandra’s Cataract operation, bird Nestbox installations, etc.)
