Trip report & photos by Christine Balkwill

Our small group of 6 started out on a cool, overcast day from the north end of Kits Beach.  We had some intermittent rain but not enough to spoil the birding.  A Pacific Wren called from the bushes while we completed introductions and we quickly found a trio of sparrows near the old totem pole site – Golden-crowned, White-crowned and Song.  We took our time identifying a lone drake Mallard in eclipse plumage and a Glaucous-winged x Western Gull and discussed how to distinguish these from pure Glaucous-winged Gulls as we checked False Creek for divers before heading to the duck pond. 

At the pond we identified more White-crowned Sparrows and also a few Savannah Sparrows and at least one Lincoln’s foraging in the bushes, as well as heard a Fox Sparrow calling.  We took a long look at the pond and discussed the ID features of the Northern Shoveller, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon and Green-winged Teal.  We found birds in various stages of their molt from eclipse plumage back to their more familiar garb.  On our circumnavigation of the pond Evelyn spotted a young Cooper’s Hawk that we were close enough to get a good look at.

Around the south pond area (still devoid of water) a large willow was very active with bushtits and we were lucky to find a Wilson’s Warbler there and a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  Near the planetarium were more kinglets, chickadees and two Orange-crowned Warblers.  Our wealth of warblers continued with a few patches of Yellow-rumps and a couple more Orange-crowned further east.

We turned back at the Burrard Marina and found ourselves in a moving stream of school kids on a walkathon!  Luckily the birding here is mostly on False Creek so was not influenced by the crowd of kids.  We enjoyed watching some young Double-crested Cormorants drying their wings and a couple of large flocks flying overhead, one of at least a hundred birds.  A few pairs of Pelagic Cormorants flew by on the way to or from their foraging grounds.  Three of our group had other commitments and left us along the way so we finished with just three.  We checked the pond a last time for any late-comers and found one more pintail, completed our ebird list and headed home in vigorous rain.  In all we finished with 31 species – pretty good for a rainy day in a small city park.

Ebird checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S278371901