11 February 2023

Trip Report by Kelly Sekhon

Seven members of Nature Vancouver and a guest participated in this birding field trip for beginners. Istvan Orosi, a long time member of Nature Vancouver, helped us identify several birds from their calls or songs. At the mouth of the Eagle Creek we saw males and females of several species of ducks up close. Visitors to the park bring bird seed to feed the birds. As a result, Song and Fox Sparrows, Spotted Towhees and Dark-eyed Juncos could be seen foraging near the begging of the board walk. Red-winged Blackbirds entertained us with their lovely song. Several Long-billed Dowitchers were feeding in the shallow part of the lake.

We continued our walk east along the trail on the north side of the lake. We observed Pileated Woodpeckers, Bewick Wren and Anna’s Hummingbirds. East of the dam, as we walked along the Brunette River, Istvan noticed that a group of Black-capped Chickadees were giving alarms calls and he spotted a bobcat on the other side of the river. We all had a good look before it decided to hide in the thick foliage. For many in the group it was their first sighting of a bobcat. After this excitement we called it a day and traced our way back to the Nature House where some of us enjoyed our lunch in the sunshine.

Thank you everyone for coming along. Special thanks to Istvan for sharing his knowledge about the birds, the park and for spotting the bobcat. Istvan also kept a list of the birds observed (31 species) and uploaded it to eBird – https://ebird.org/checklist/S128116943