Nov 19 - Brunswick Point

I returned to Brunswick Point again hoping to see the American Tree Sparrow I had missed on my last visit. As I was walking along the dike I met up with two of the foremost birders in the Lower Mainland. One of the first birds spotted was a Northern Shrike hunting on the foreshore.

Northern Shrike - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

This is a Robin sized bird that hunts and kills small rodents and other songbirds. It is called a butcher bird for its practice of impaling its prey on sharp spikes or fence posts. You can see the hook in it's beak in the photo below.

Northern Shrike - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

This bird was on the hunt and it didn't take long for it to locate and kill a vole on the foreshore. Here it is munching on a morsel shortly after the kill.

Northern Shrike - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

Another hunter common in this habitat is the Northern Harrier.

Northern Harrier - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

I had a work commitment on this Saturday afternoon, so I had to leave the other two birders and head back. After I left them, they found a juvenile Gyrfalcon further on up the dike, and they saw the American Tree Sparrow on their way back.

My only other sighting was this very common Cormorant along the River as I walked back.

Double-crested Cormorant - Brunswick Point, Delta BC

Now I was off to work to help pay for my birding activities!