Thirteen DNCBers enjoyed a beautiful morning walking the circuit at the spectacular Pitt Polder-Addington Marsh Park at Grant Narrows (aka Pitt Lake). We have visited this Park annually since 2010 to enjoy the extraordinary vistas and occasional unusual (for us) bird sightings; check out the previous reports on our website at www.dncb.wordpress.com. Also enjoy some super photos on our Flickr site at: www.flickr.com/groups/dncb, (click the magnifying glass icon in the “Photo Pool” row, and add 2017-22 to DNCB Photos” in the Search box at the top of the page).
Six of us left Petra’s at 7:30 a.m. in Anne and Roger’s vehicles and had a leisurely but long drive on Highway 17, across the Golden Ears Bridge to the Park. We stopped just before the meeting place at the boat launch because we spotted a Gray Catbird. This was one of our Target Birds and it sang and posed beautifully. We met the others around 8:50 a.m. and Jim took the Group Photo with the spectacular lake and mountains behind us. We started our walk along the trail, beginning with the Barn Swallows nesting in the shed by the toilets. Lots of birds singing along the trail. We heard Swainson’s Thrush, Bullock’s Orioles, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and a number of us even got glimpses, and photos, of these species. Other neat sightings included Eastern Kingbirds, Willow Flycatchers (maybe Western Wood-Pewee too), Band-tailed Pigeons, Rufous Hummingbirds, perhaps Western Tanager, and Cedar Waxwings followed us all along the trail. More Gray Catbirds and lots of Swallows including Tree and Violet-Green, and Brown-headed Cowbirds. My brilliant sighting was a Wilson’s Snipe that flew into my binocular view as I was looking at a Bald Eagle on a snag. We saw other common stuff (Sparrows, Goldfinches, Towhees, Redwings), but did not find an American Redstart. Lots of Wood Ducks and a few Gadwall in the sloughs near the Beaver lodge, and tonnes of Canada Goslings.
We got to the Lookout approaching 11 a.m. and after a bit of a break, most of us decided to continue around the marsh on the longer trail back to the boat launch. Richmond Brian finally got a good shot of a Common Yellowthroat. We hope our Newbie “Pseudo Hockey Playing” Marty got his camera adjustments organized as we look forward to seeing his Flickr postings. Unfortunately, he was like a seasoned DNCB veteran when a Blue-winged Teal flew by. He was busy chatting with Pat and missed the shot. The always-fascinating Cliff Swallow colony on the rock cliff was active with parents entering their nests with bugs for young. There seemed to be more Carp in the marsh and sloughs than we normally see, but the two guys we saw fishing for Large Mouth Bass in their tiny kayaks seemed to be having a ball.
The two Osprey nests on posts in the Lake had both parents hanging around them. I couldn’t tell whether there were small young in the nests, or they were just turning eggs. My legs were like rubber when we got back to the parking lot, approaching 1 p.m. Some decided to continue along the Catbird Slough Trail; one Newbie went for a swim; others decided to abort the outing and go home; six of us chose to go to nearby Swan-e-set Golf Course for lunch and a beer. Thankfully, my beef dip, salad (with Roger’s chips), and pint of Sapporo draught hit the spot. Hopefully Manli’s photo evidence is posted. I snoozed through Roger’s murmurings on the ride home, getting back to Tsawwassen close to 4 p.m. Another glorious DNCB outing.
The thirteen were: Marion S, Roger, Richmond Brian, Anne M, Glen B, White Rock Al, newbie Marty A (my Noon Hockey line mate), Chris M, Jim K, sisters Pat & Maureen and Manli, and me.
Next Wednesday, June 14, is our quarterly Birds on the Bay outing at Boundary Bay Regional Park. We will meet at and leave from historic Cammidge House at 9 a.m. Don’t forget the BioBlitz at Centennial Beach on Sunday, June 11, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Join me, and other experts, on this David Suzuki Foundation event. Cheers: Tom
Tom Bearss, President, Delta Naturalists Society
