VISITORS’ CORNER
Purple Martins. Photos by Terrance Carr
Delta Naturalists Casual Birders Outing to Maplewood Flats Conservation BY TOM BEARSS
T
en of us car-pooled nicely in two vehicles from Petra’s at 7:30 am. I was in Roger’s “shortcut” van and we drove the “quick” way through downtown Vancouver to avoid the morning rush hour highway traffic. Seventeen DNCBers enjoyed a warm, sunny Wednesday morning wandering the trails of Maplewood Flats Conservation Area in North Vancouver. We saw some neat species, met some neat folk, and had an enjoyable pub lunch. We all arrived at the Maplewood Flats Greeters Hut by 8:40am. We all bonded for several minutes before
Noreen took the Group Photo in front of the Feeder area. Lots of finch, sparrow (including a Fox Sparrow) and woodpecker activity at the feeders. While identifying the American Goldfinches a warbler slipped into view, and it was a gorgeous male Townsend’s Warbler, probably my Bird of the Day. We took the trail to the mudflats where the Purple Martin boxes on the pylons were full of activity. The tide was way out but we also saw Mew and Glaucous-winged Gulls in the distance and a flock of Common Mergansers. Both Pelagic and Double-
crested Cormorants were diving. The Osprey nest was empty, but Marylile said that the single young Osprey had successfully fledged. A Spotted Sandpiper was bobbing along the shore and some saw other smaller sandpipers (Peeps?) and Black Oystercatchers. Common Ravens and a Red-tailed Hawk gave us fly-pasts. We walked the inland trails and I missed seeing the Western Tanagers and the Yellow Warblers because the Blackberries were in perfect bloom and were a delicious breakfast. Fresh Bear scat on the trail showed that a Black Bear was also recently enjoying these blackberries. We regularly saw LBJ (little bird) activity in the tops of the WINGSPAN FALL/WINTER 2019
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