Tweeters,

On the afternoon of March 16, I spent about 2-1/2 hours birding at the
Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta, B.C. The weather was mainly sunny with
light winds, temperature about 52 degrees F, and the daffodils along
the refuge trails were already starting to bloom. The birding was
great, as well-- I tallied 54 species. I won't bore you with the whole
list, but here are some of the highlights:

American Bittern-- 1 standing erect and motionless in the West Field;
unusual to see one out in the open like that
Mute Swan-- 1 adult in Canoe Pass near the Westham Island bridge
Trumpeter Swan-- only 4 in the outer marsh; most probably gone north
by now
Snow Goose-- at least 3000 feeding in the fields, some very close to
the
paved road. (This may have been a serious underestimate!)
Wood Duck-- 14 (8m, 6f) in Ewen and Robertson Sloughs-- a high
count for Reifel
Mandarin Duck-- 1 on Robertson Slough, appeared to be an imm. male
Eurasian Wigeon-- 1 male on Fuller Slough
Common Goldeneye-- flock of 25 in Canoe Pass (large no. for locality)
Virginia Rail-- 1 heard calling
Sandhill Crane-- 3
Greater Yellowlegs-- 2 in West Field
Mourning Dove-- 2
Great Horned Owl-- 1 heard calling, Robertson Slough
Dickey-birds-- nothing unusual

Eastern Gray Squirrel-- 3 (all gray phase)

I failed in my attempt to find some early Tree and Violet-green
Swallows, but both John Ireland, the refuge manager, and Cathy
Aitchison, whom I met on the west dyke, reported having seen both
species.

Spring is on the way-- the birding should get much better very soon!

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net