Young Birders Shorebird Night In Delta

Western Sandpiper in Delta - Photo: Lory Cantin

We had a fun young birder shorebird night at Boundary Bay last night. We met at 3pm and unfortunately quite a few of the youth were on holiday and out of town. Heather who is on the island sent me photos of a Long-billed Curlew she found and Clay sent me photos of a family of Spruce Grouse he saw on his adventures in the Cariboo. Evan and Lukas are on the island, Raymond was in Sechelt and Bentley is having a blast picking up lifers in Nova Scotia. Cameron is at Long Point in Ont where Josh just came back from and he had fun telling us all about his week there. You can read about Josh's adventures in Long Point HERE. We still ended up with 8 youth (2 had to leave before I remembered to take the photo!).

Young Birders at Boundary Bay - Photo: Melissa Hafting

We started off checking out the foot of 104th St where we found a flock of at least 1000 Black-bellied Plovers and a breeding plumaged Red Knot. It was a lifer for most in the group. We bumped into Chris McVittie who chatted about heat shields he will be adding to the Delta Nats Barn Owl boxes which is what I and the city of Richmond will be doing with Tree Swallows this winter. Let's hope it works... unfortunately these mitigation methods are now necessary with the ever warming climate.

Black-bellied Plovers in flight - Photo: Paul J.

Black-bellied Plover in Delta - Photo: Daniel Graca

Then we walked down towards the pilings and met Kevin Louth who had seen a Ruddy Turnstone, Pacific Golden-Plover and Surfbird down by 96th St. They had all flown so we spent time enjoying the large Western Sandpiper flocks (at least 5600) and I was able to pick out a few Semipalmated Sandpipers which were lifers for many of the youth. We also found a good size flock of Semipalmated Plovers anoter lifer for a few and many Baird's Sandpipers. It seems to be a good Baird's year so maybe this means we will get some Buff Breasteds! The youth had fun picking up grasshoppers for iNaturalist. I was surprised to see how knowledgeable they were about the different species of insects we saw during the night.

Westerns at Boundary Bay with Mt. Baker in the background - Photo: Paul J.

Western Sandpiper at Boundary Bay - Photo: Daniel Poon

Peeps at Boundary Bay - Photo: Josh Yiu

Semipalmated Sandpiper in Delta - Photo: Daniel Graca

Red Knot in the middle between two plovers - Photo: Daniel Graca

Baird's Sandpiper in Delta - Photo: Josh Yiu

We walked all the way down to 96th and by this time the tide was pretty much in. I picked this tide since it was a good tide where we could bird it till dark coming in and going out. After spending some time here admiring the large flock murmurations we started to head back towards 104th St. Here we watched both a Merlin and Peregrine Falcon try to hunt some sandpipers. These falcons are the bane of shorebirders (and the shorebirds) but it is quite beautiful to watch, as they make the flocks pick up in panic creating spectacles with their murmurations.

Western Sandpipers at Boundary Bay - Photos: Daniel Poon

When we got past the pilings near to 104th St, I spotted the Pacific Golden-Plover. It had been found the night before by Sabine Decamp. This was a lifer for most of the youth except for the 3 who had been to Hawaii where they are almost a dirt bird. The youth could really see the size difference between the Golden and the Black-bellieds and I explained the key id features between this and an American Golden-Plover. There was quite a few Short-billed Dowitchers out with the Black-bellieds too.

Pacific Golden-Plover at Boundary Bay - Photo: Melissa Hafting

Caspian Tern in Delta - Photo: Paul J.

Short-billed Dowitcher with Black-bellieds and Westerns - Photo: Daniel Graca

Next we kept on walking towards 104th St. Here we found a Surfbird which was a lifer for all the youth. In the past few years there have been up to 3 Surfbirds visiting the bay. It is always strange to see Surfbirds and Black Turnstones on the mud but I have seen Rock Sandpipers out there too which is even stranger. After the Surfbird excitement (which really was a lot!) we kept scanning the Black-bellied Plover flocks. It was so peaceful to stand with everyone (a few of the youth were lying in the mud photographing the shorebirds), watching these birds come closer and closer to us just going about their little lives feeding. The birds did not mind any of the respectful youths presence and were almost at the dyke. It was a beautiful sight. At the end many of the parents who came to pick up the youth stayed an extra hour with me just watching the birds with the youth. It is nice to see such supportive parents.

Surfbird at Boundary Bay - Photo: Daniel Graca

On the way out, I spotted a Great Horned Owl in a tree, which was a lifer for a couple of the youth and seeing an owl is always special.

Great Horned Owl in Delta - Photo: Daniel Poon

It was a great night with great people and we even had one young boy name Lory who was visiting from Quebec, which was so nice.

Till the next time.