Young Birder Trip to Maplewood Flats (WBT of BC)
Young Birders at Maplewood Flats - Photo: Melissa Hafting
On Saturday August 10-2024, we met up at Maplewood Flats (The Wild Bird Trust of BC ) and had a nice walk around the park. We started at East Beach to look for shorebirds and here we saw some Baird’s Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers and at least one Semipalmated Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpipers and Killdeer. We also saw a leucistic Short-billed Gull that was entirely white.
Leucistic Short-billed Gull at Wild Bird Trust’s Maplewood Flats - Photo: Markus Duhme
We saw Melissa’s friend Rob Lyske who pointed out a Chipping Sparrow to us and a Horned Grebe. We also had an Osprey fly over and watched both Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants swim in the ocean. We enjoyed listening to the Purple Martins doing their gurgling calls and Melissa explained to the youth that they migrated all the way from Brazil! Also Paul spotted a deer and Cole spotted a River Otter!
Rob also pointed out some Band-tailed Pigeons for us. Two Cooper’s Hawks flew by us squawking as we walked to Jake’s Bench. We would end up seeing these 2 Cooper’s Hawks several times throughout the bird sanctuary. Naomi told us about a time when she visited Maplewood Flats and found one eating a mouse and the little mouse was screaming and it was gruesome. We all agreed it would be an awful death to be killed by a raptor that slowly pecks its prey to death.
Immature Cooper’s Hawk at Maplewood Flats in North Van - Photo: Markus Duhme
At Jake’s Bench we saw a Western Tanager and also a Willow Flycatcher carrying food to her chicks. We also had 5 Evening Grosbeaks fly over us calling.
We walked next towards the bridge and here we had a Northern Rough-winged Swallow and Bentley spotted a Spotted Sandpiper on the rocks. Cole also pointed out a jellyfish and crabs in the ocean. Ruth met up with us and we continued walking, we found a Song Sparrow feeding its lone fledgling.
A Song Sparrow at Maplewood Flats - Photo: Markus Duhme
As we continued on we were amazed by the number of Purple Finches. They were singing and eating berries. Here we also saw Spotted Towhees and one sitting on a lovely perch allowing for nice photos.
Spotted Towhee in North Van - Photo: Paul Jacques
We also saw several Warbling Vireos and were dismayed we didn’t have any Red-eyed Vireos, as it is normally a good place to find them, as they have bred here in numbers. However, this year both Rob and Quentin said they had not seen any for months and were not convinced that they bred here this year. It was sad not to hear their beautiful song. We delighted in watching a few Yellow and Black-throated Gray and Orange-crowned Warblers.
Bentley pointed out a calling Western Wood-Pewee and we heard a Bewick’s Wren, Northern Flickers and watched some Bushtits. We watched a Red-tailed Hawk fly up with prey from the west salt marsh, which was super cool, as they aren’t that common at the site!
Naomi spotted a perched Rufous and Anna’s Hummingbird which was neat and we had Belted Kingfishers fly over us calling. There were lots of Cedar Waxwings and Pine Siskins as well. Bentley pointed out some Brown Creepers and Paul spotted a Turkey Vulture. We were hoping for a Northern Waterthrush but didn’t find any.
The youth also had fun photographing a very tame Wood Duck that was coming to seed!
Wood Duck in North Van - Photo: Paul Jacques
Wood Duck at Maplewood Flats - Photo: Bentley Colwill
We ended up with 55 species and had a most enjoyable day! Thanks to all the young birders who came out!
