Subject: PITT MEADOWS BIRDING, APRIL 9
Date: Apr 15 02:03:22 2000
From: WAYNE WEBER - WAYNE_WEBER at bc.sympatico.ca


Birders,

On April 9, I spent about 5 hours (8 A.M. to 1 P.M.) birding the
Pitt Meadows area, from Dewdney Trunk Road north to Grant Narrows
(south end of Pitt Lake). The highlights for me included an AMERICAN
BITTERN, six OSPREYS, at least 20 singing COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, an
early flock of 20 AMERICAN PIPITS, and one flock of 42 COMMON
MERGANSERS in the North Alouette River. However, my most unusual bird
(for Pitt Meadows) was a single SNOW GOOSE with a small flock of
Canadas-- my first for Pitt Meadows since I started birding there in
1968.

In the following list, abbreviations are as follows:

GN= Grant Narrows
PLM= Pitt Lake Marsh
PLND= Pitt Lake Nature Dyke
RR= Rannie Road
SH= Sheridan Hill (on McNeill Road)

The complete list of birds seen is as follows:

Pied-billed Grebe 1 (PLND)
American Bittern 1 ("pumping" next to Grant Narrows parking lot)
Great Blue Heron 17
Mute Swan 2 (PLM-- 1 bird on a nest)
Swan species (Tundra or Trumpeter) 5 (PLM-- too far for
positive I.D.)
SNOW GOOSE 1 (near Rannie Road & McNeill Road)
Canada Goose 75
Wood Duck 6
Green-winged Teal 80 (nearly all in PLM)
Mallard 50
Northern Pintail 150 (PLM)
Northern Shoveller 22 (20, PLM; 2, RR)
Gadwall 100 (PLM)
American Wigeon 450 (300, PLM, 150, RR S of McNeill Rd.)
Ring-necked Duck 5
Lesser Scaup 6 (Pitt Lake)
Common Goldeneye 1 f
Bufflehead 18
Common Merganser 54 (42 in one flock, N. Alouette R near McNeill
Rd.)
Osprey 6 (3 pairs-- Pitt Lake)
Bald Eagle 3
Northern Harrier 2
Red-tailed Hawk 5
Virginia Rail 1 (PLND)
American Coot 83 (65 in PLM)
Killdeer 2 (RR)
Greater Yellowlegs 3 (GN)
Common Snipe 5
Glaucous-winged Gull 7 (GN)
Rock Dove 8
Rufous Hummingbird 1 male (RR, 1 km from GN)
Downy Woodpecker 1 (PLND)
Northern Flicker 1
Tree Swallow 60
Violet-green Swallow 15
N. Rough-winged Swallow 2 (PLND)
Steller's Jay 1 (GN)
Northwestern Crow 35
Black-capped Chickadee 2 (GN)
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 (SH)
Bushtit 4 (PLND)
Bewick's Wren 1 (PLND)
Winter Wren 2 (SH)
Marsh Wren 20
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
American Robin 50
Varied Thrush 1 (PLND)
American Pipit 21 (1, GN; 20 in field, RR s of McNeill Rd.)
European Starling 50
Yellow-rumped Warbler 9 (7 Audubon's, 2 Myrtle)
Common Yellowthroat 20
Spotted Towhee 4
Savannah Sparrow 2 (RR)
Song Sparrow 23
White-crowned Sparrow 4
Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco 1 (GN)
Red-winged Blackbird 60
Brewer's Blackbird 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 4 (GN)
Purple Finch 2 (1, PLND; 1, Pine Mtn. Ecological Reserve)
House Finch 5
Red Crossbill 6 (PLND)
American Goldfinch 3

TOTAL 63 species

The weather was calm and mostly clear at first, with marine cloud
appearing and gradually thickening up before noon, and becoming a bit
breezy, but not enough to hamper observations. I met Eric MacBean, who
was also obviously having a good morning of birding, near Grant
Narrows.

The number of migrant songbirds was disappointing; only one VARIED
THRUSH, one RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, 3 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS and 9
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, and no ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS. The 20 COMMON
YELLOWTHROATS, widely scattered, may all have been breeding birds that
were already on territory, rather than migrants.. However, the
OSPREYS, AM. BITTERN, SNOW GOOSE, etc., made up for the paucity of
migrants.

That's all for now!

Wayne Weber
Kamloops and Delta, B.C.
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca