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Blog: DNCB Outing No. 2017-40 to Boundary Bay at 104th Street

The Honeymoon is over! Sixteen DNCBers started dry and finished wet on our Tuesday outing along the Boundary Bay Dyke trail at 104 th Street.
birds

The Honeymoon is over! Sixteen DNCBers started dry and finished wet on our Tuesday outing along the Boundary Bay Dyke trail at 104th Street. Check out the photo evidence of some neat sightings, despite the weather, on our Flickr site at: https://www.flickr.com/search/?group_id=3027315%40N23&text=2017-40&view_all=1.

 

Ten of us left Petra’s at 7:30 a.m., carpooling nicely in three vehicles to the Delta Heritage AirPark on 104th Street. We met the others here at 8 a.m. as the tide was out, but coming in. White-crowned Sparrows were flitting in the bushes and an adult Bald Eagle perched above us as both David H and Roger M took a group photo (14 without time challenged “Germanic’s” Margaretha & Gabriele) with the bay behind us. It was cloudy and cool, but seemingly (to me) no threat of rain. There were thousands of ducks and peeps on the horizon at the incoming water’s edge, seen clearly through our scope. The ducks were mostly Northern Pintail, American Wigeon and some Green-winged Teal. The thousands of Shorebirds were mostly Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin and Pectoral (and a few Baird’s) Sandpipers as we learned later when they were pushed closer.

 

As we walked toward the Mansion and 88th St., we tried unsuccessfully to find the recently seen Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and the Godwits (Bar-tailed or Marbled). Small flocks of American Pipits gave fly pasts and landed on the shore very close for good photo ops. The Pectoral Sandpipers also came close and, late in the morning, we also identified a couple of Baird Sandpipers. We met Mike Tabak at 88th St. who had seen an American Golden Plover among the Black-bellied, but we missed it. As we traversed the dike trail, the thousands of waterfowl were often raised, spectacularly, to flight by passing Bald Eagles and Falcons. We saw Peregrines, and a Merlin. Northern Harriers occasionally glided by too.

 

At 88th, at about 9:45 a.m., the tide was fully in and the sky was getting a bit darker, so we decided to turn back to 104th. Most walked briskly and got back to their vehicles before the downpour. Some of us dilly-dallied and got soaked. If you can’t handle rain, you shouldn’t live in B.C.  At 10:30 a.m., the four stalwarts, dry WR Al & Mike and drenched Roger & me decided to go to Boundary Bay Airport restaurant for coffee. My supplement with French Toast and Strawberries warmed me up nicely, albeit without a beer. Although a rain-shortened outing (I was home before noon), as always it was very enjoyable.

 

We 16 were: Yachties David & Noreen (also soaked, but better dressed), photogs Glen & Terry, Chris drove Roger K & Jim K, DNCB Chauffeur White Rock Al, three North Deltan’s Johnny Mac, Jean G and Liz S,  our always-smiling Germanics Margaretha & Gabriele, and unflappable Roger M drove Mike & me.

 

Check out our website at www.dncb.wordpress.com for more info on outings and reports and photos. As always, your comments are encouraged. Cheers: Tom

 

Tom Bearss, President, Delta Naturalists Society