Stanley Park is a popular destination!  Harvey and Michelle posted their March 23 walk to enews and Meetup and the Meetup slots filled in about 1/2 an hour, so we decided to run two walks on the 23rd: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

However we had no way of predicting the atmospheric river that was forecast for Sunday.  Many attendees canceled and in the end only 10 hardy birders joined us under the heron rookery at 9am.  

Those who showed up were immediately rewarded with a spectacular sight.  About 50 Great Blue Herons have already claimed nests and were perched in the trees surrounding the tennis courts. As we finished our introductions a Bald Eagle swooped into the colony.  Most of the herons fled, but those who stayed close began harshly calling at the eagle who had landed near one of the heron nests.  The herons sounded eerily like their dinosaur ancestors.  

We watched the drama for several minutes while the eagle investigated one nest, then left and returned to investigate another as two crows showed solidarity by dive bombing the eagle.  We couldn’t tell if the eagle was successful in its hunt but its attack certainly started our morning off with a bang. 

As forecast, it continued raining as we left the heron rookery and made our way to Lost Lagoon.  Here we were greeted with another spectacular sight:  two to three hundred Common Mergansers sleeping in the middle of the water.  They must be migrating through as I’ve rarely seen a group that large.  Along with the mergansers were a few Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and dabbling ducks.  One wet Spotted Towhee put in an appearance to give two of our attendees their first ever good look at this beautiful local sparrow.  

From here we headed towards Second Beach to look for sea birds, and began to lose participants who were just a bit too wet and cold to enjoy birding.  By the time we reached the ocean only three hardy birders remained to enjoy finding Surf Scoters, Bufflehead, Red-Breasted Mergansers, and Barrows Goldeneye on the water.  

The eBird checklist for the morning field trip has 18 species.

After warming up and drying out in a local restaurant over lunch, Harvey and Michelle met our second set of birders under the heron nests at 1:30pm.  We spent a few drama-free moments enjoying the herons before reversing our path from the morning and heading towards the ocean.  Now, in addition to the birds we’d seen earlier, we had nearby Common Goldeneye to compare to the Barrows, and a Pelagic Cormorant displaying the white rump patches seen only in breeding plumage.  We also managed quick glimpses of a Horned Grebe and a Common Loon, both of which were halfway between their winter and summer forms.

On our way back to Lost Lagoon we encountered the bold coyote we’d seen chasing ducks in the morning.  It seemed a little too comfortable being close to us so we hurried to the south end of the lake where a couple of us caught glimpses of two passerines — a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets who were undeterred by the continuing rain.  From here we returned to the main body of lost lagoon to once again marvel at the large numbers of Common Mergansers before saying goodbye to our guests.

Thanks to everyone who joined us on a wet Sunday!  Even on a suboptimal weather day there is lots to see and enjoy in Nature.