The South Arm Wildlife Management Area is a less frequently birded local spot, and was new to most folks on the walk. The trails meander through deciduous woods of mostly alders, down to several lookouts onto the Fraser and over the marsh to the south. Within 10 metres of our start, we found Song Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, a House Sparrow, an Anna’s Hummingbird, a Brown Creeper, and a Bewick’s Wren.

Trying to keep many small birds in our bins

Proceeding along the path to the Fraser, we encountered more Brown Creepers and could observe both the stiff woodpecker like tail and the bright white belly of these small birds. Closer to the river, a Yellow-rumped Warbler was seen above us in the trees. We could identify it partly by the white spots on the underside of the tail feathers, which was one of the few field marks we could see from below.

Two Bald Eagles were spotted sitting in trees, one to the north and one to the south. A great Blue Heron flew down and landed on the edge of the creek soon after. A Marsh Wren sang from the cattails on the creek side.

Reaching the Fraser River look out we could see several Green-winged Teal, two female Northern Pintails, that looked surprisingly like shorebirds in the reeds, a few Mallards and Double-crested Cormorants. While scanning the jetty jutting out from Kirkland Island part way across the river, a Ring-necked Pheasant appeared and then a second one was seen. What were they doing out there?

Male ring-necked Pheasant – photo by Hsien Tan

We moved on to the observation tower over the marsh to the south where a Bald eagle kept watch near its nest. Song Sparrows and many Marsh Wrens flew about and stopped to sing. The wrens actually sat up singing often enough that everyone managed a view. Admittedly, we did linger a while in the sun there. Only one lone Red-winged Blackbird was noticed in the fairly large marsh there. Just to the south in the marsh by Shirley’s Walk, there are scores of them.

Marsh Wren belting it out – photo by Hsien Tan

We carried on back into the woods hearing then seeing two Northern Flickers. A couple of Chestnut –backed Chickadees kept us company for a while. We weren’t expecting these birds as there wasn’t a conifer in the whole woods. We crossed the creek and spotted a few American Goldfinch feeding on some of the billion or so alder catkins in the woods. As we proceeded back to our starting point, a Cooper’s Hawk blasted through the trees followed by a second. Both birds circled back and perched calling to each other. When we could finally get a decent look at the birds we determined one was an adult and the other was an immature.

Coming out of the woods, we crossed the road to check the small pond in the residential area there. Wood Ducks, Gadwalls, Mallards, Ring-necked Ducks and American Wigeons were paddling about – most of them feeding. There was also a young male Northern Shoveler just coming into adult plumage.

We turned to head back to our cars and the immature Cooper’s Hawk was looking down on us from the woods across the street. A nice end to a walk on a beautiful day.

Coopers Hawk – photo by Hsien Tan

We found 36 species on our morning out. Our eBird list for the walk is here. https://ebird.org/checklist/S305104163