At least 21 DNCBers enjoyed a fantastic outing on Wednesday in Surrey, visiting the Little Campbell River (LCR) Hatchery and adjacent Forest Trail, and then to A Rocha's Canadian flagship project at their 18-acre Brooksdale Environmental Centre. We saw 51 species throughout the morning, several were real beauties. Being Casual Birders, we don’t normally produce a Species Seen List, however, the e-Bird record is at the end of this report. Also, be sure to check out the photo evidence of this outing on our Flickr site: www.flickr.com/groups/dncb, then click the magnifying glass icon in the “Photo Pool” row, and add 2017-20 to DNCB Photos” in the Search box at the top of the page. The list of participants is at the end of this report too.
Three cars took nine of us from Petra’s at 7:30 a.m. and we got to the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club in Surrey just past 8 a.m. (ahead of schedule). Smooth sailing along Highways 17, 99 and 16th Avenue. Ken Borrie had pre-arranged this outing with our leaders, Stan Olson of A Rocha and Roy Thomson at the Hatchery, and they met us with smiles, and a brief introduction of the morning’s outing, and what we might see. After Roy showed us the “Collection Tank” where every salmon going upstream must pass, and the active Barn Swallow nest, Ladner Jack took the mandatory group photo in front of the sign and hatchery shed from which 150,00 salmon are raised and released annually. Only 17 in the photo as time-challenged Marion, Jean and Glen showed up later. We rousted a very young family of Wood Ducks in the grass beside the pre-release pond.
We followed the Forest Trail, with its informative signage seemingly beside every tree and plant. Roy knew where every bird nested in this woods and Stan could recognize and identify every singing bird species. So we were really taken care of on this outing. Some highlight sightings for me as we wandered along included: Black-headed Grosbeaks, Flycatchers including Pacific-Slope and Western Wood-Pewee (Willow later at A Rocha), Pacific Wren feeding young, a pounding Hairy Woodpecker, and finally seeing a noisy Swainson’s Thrush. We stopped at the tree where the wide-eyed Mother Barred Owl was perched. After a brief search, we found all three baby Fuzzballs which were hopping among the branches, never too far from Mom. We saw several Rufous Hummingbirds and Roy showed us an empty nest that he had followed from egg-laying to fledging.
We circled back from the Camp Ground and heard several Warblers including Orange-crowned, Yellow, Townsend and Black-throated Gray, and Warbling Vireos. I couldn’t spot any of them high in the leaves. Back at the parking lot, Roy led us to the Barn Owl Barn. When we got there, one jerk amongst us was too noisy and the Barn Owl flew out before anyone could get decent photos. Back at the cars, while watching Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows, a beautiful American Kestrel was spotted hunting and hovering in the adjacent field.
Excited by our sightings, we said thanks and goodbye to Roy, and followed Stan to A Rocha, not far away on 192 St. A Rocha is a Christian environmental stewardship organization working in conservation, environmental education and sustainable agriculture. The Brooksdale Environmental Centre is a living lab comprised of forests, a threatened river system, organic gardens, and heritage houses. One heritage barn had a very active colony of Cliff Swallows nesting in its eave. Stan led us around the property; in the adjacent field I finally saw a Warbler, Orange-crowned, that was very irritated by Stan’s phone. A Willow Flycatcher, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Brown-headed Cowbirds, American Goldfinches and Purple Finches also posed for us here.
We continued our tour down to the river, where the Salish Sucker (it’s a fish) was re-discovered in 2011, dispelling its believed extirpation in the Little Campbell River watershed (Note: I think someone, perhaps a “discoverer” or Mike Pearson, spoke to Delta Nats several years ago about this discovery). A brilliant masked male Common Yellowthroat posed for us here, as I rested on a large box containing nets and pails for kids to use when sampling the contents of this section of the LCR. The bell rang, so we climbed back up to the heritage kitchen building where the A Rocha staff, led by Director David Anderson, served us a delicious home-made lunch composed of organic stuff grown on the property, plus a song. We ended this glorious morning at about 1:15 pm, thanked Stan and the A Rocha staff, and drove leisurely and pleasantly back to Tsawwassen.
Participants (21) were: Leaders Stan Olson (A Rocha) and Roy Thompson (LCR Hatchery), Terry C, Mike B, Jim K, Hamilton Lyle J, Glen B, Marion S, Jean G, Pauline O, WR Al S, Anne M, Ken & Anne, Jonathan & Lorraine, Johnny Mac (turned 76 yesterday), Roger Two, Pat without Maureen, Ladner Jack M and me.
Next Wednesday, June 7, our outing is to Pitt Lake, leaving Petra’s at 7:30 a.m. We expect to be at our regular meeting spot at the park’s boat launch parking lot around 8:30 a.m. Also, please attend our final 2016/17 Delta Nats monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, June 6, at the Benediction Lutheran Church (7:30 p.m.) in Tsawwassen, where seven DNS members will give 15 minute Pictorial Presentations on their adventures somewhere in the world. For more info on our outings, meetings, reports and other stuff and photos, check out our website at: www.dncb.wordpress.com. As always, your comments are encouraged. Cheers: Tom
Tom Bearss, President, Delta Naturalists Society
Species Seen List, May 31, 2017:
Canada Goose 2
Wood Duck 6
Mallard 5
Great Blue Heron 2
Bald Eagle 4
Glaucous-winged Gull 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Barn Owl 1
Barred Owl 4
Anna's Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel 1
Western Wood-Pewee 3
Willow Flycatcher 1
Pacific-slope Flycatcher 3
Warbling Vireo 4
Steller's Jay 2
Northwestern Crow 5
Common Raven
Tree Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 3
Cliff Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 2
Pacific Wren 2
Bewick's Wren 1
Swainson's Thrush 3
American Robin 5
European Starling 10
Cedar Waxwing 7
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Common Yellowthroat
Townsend Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 2
Black-throated Gray Warbler 1
Dark-eyed Junco 2
White-crowned Sparrow 10
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 5
Spotted Towhee 3
Western Tanager 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
Purple Finch 3
American Goldfinch 10
House Sparrow 2
