gazette article

Sept 25th 1974, W. Robinson

Last week we tried something new in the way of field trips. It was suggested by - one of our young members that we hold a “100 Species Day".

The idea was to form several which were allowed to go anywhere in the Lower Mainland on that specific day from 8:00 in the morning until – 3:30 in the afternoon. Each individual species of bird would be recorded during that time period and the group - which came closest to recording 100 species would be declared the winner. Sort of a preview of the Christmas count. - Our team decided to run out to Iona Island to record the shorebirds. Since at 8 o'clock in the morning, the fog was quite heavy, and we found it hard to locate the birds, we thought we would use the first hour as travelling time and

when the fog lifted we would be at our destination. Sure enough, the fog was much lighter when we reached Iona Island, and we recorded quite a few shorebirds and various waterfowl on the settling ponds. Nothing unusual though, so – on to Reifel Refuge.

At the sanctuary we picked up a few more species of ducks, but no European Wigeon as we had hoped. The Snow Geese were in the area of the feeding ponds but no large flocks were seen out on the foreshore. No Peregrine Falcons, either, only Red-tailed Hawks and the occasional Rough-legged Hawk.

Undaunted, we decided to dash off to Point Roberts and perhaps get some Jaegers or something equally exciting out on the water. Well, we didn't See any Jaegers, but we did get Marbled Murrelets. different Scoters Common Loon.

We did our viewing from Lighthouse Park, just across the border. It's an open park an the water's edge, no trees and very windswept. But the buildings are rather unique and they have a wonderful three-tiered observation tower. I'd like to visit it again when I have more time—as it was, our time limit was up and we had to hurry home to hand in our list of species. We were quite proud of our 61 different species until we discovered that the team which Maple Ridge and Pitt Polder had outdone us by 5 more species. Which only goes to show that the best place to find birds is in your own back yard.

By W. Robinson *

On the morning of August 21, five Sandhill Cranes circled over our house. Flying in wide circles, they soared higher and higher until they were at a height of approximately 800 feet. Then they straightened out into a line, headed Southwest and slowly disappeared from view. That was our last sighting, for this year, of the Sandhill Cranes in the Pitt Polder.

But on Sunday September 15, a group of us visited the Reynolds farm in Ladner - where we had been told a flock  of cranes had stopped over on their way South. This farm has been a resting and feeding spot for migrating cranes for untold years, and we had long suspected that our Polder cranes could be part of the visiting flocks. - Mr. Reynolds told us when we arrived, that the birds had landed several weeks before, approximately the time our cranes disappeared. We were invited to walk out to the area. behind a large cornfield, where the flock was feeding on the stubble of a field of barley. As we approached, a pair of C accompanied by one young, flew off to our right. These were resident cranes who had nested every year in the bog behind the fields. Then, as the barley field came into sight, we had our first view of the flock of Sandhills. Frightened by our approach, the cranes rose into the air, flew about 500 feet, and settled down in an adjoining field about 250 yards away from us. With 'scopes and binoculars we counted 20 cranes, including 3 young birds.

Our study of the Polder cranes showed 14 adults and 3 positive (6 possible) young cranes. Assuming that there could be cranes nesting across the Pitt at Addington Point or the Widgeon Creek flats, the size of the Ladner flock seemed to indicate that it was most likely the flock from the Pitt a 1"ea. The small number of young cranes was disappointing, but we were told later that 24 cranes were counted the day before, with 8 young included. As we watched 3 cranes broke away from the flock flew off towards the river. Apparently this happens off and on during the day, with the wandering cranes rejoining the flock later. So the numbers could fluctuate from one hour to the next, but the count of 24 cranes was the highest taken. We felt certain that at least the bulk of the flock came from the Polder, and we spent the next half hour happily snapping pictures of the preening birds. Our thanks to Mr. Reynolds for allowing us one of the most satisfying bird-watching trips of the summer. May there be many more like that!