Things from the Great White North

December brought two year birds. Finding a Glaucous Gull on December 15 was a big sigh of relief after scanning countless gull flocks this winter and last. Rare, but annual, this is the first one I've heard of that anyone has turned up locally in 2015, and not for lack of looking. It was actually spotted by the vagrant AVBA before we even exited the vehicle. Some people have all the luck!

#259 - Glaucous Gull - December 15 - Ladner Trunk Rd & 88th St., Delta, BC

The next bird is, in my humble opinion, a contender for Vancouver Bird of the Year: Hoary Redpoll. The e-Fauna checklist of Rare Birds of Vancouver lists six hypothetical records of this species in Vancouver. So this one, found at Queen Elizabeth Park, may be the first photo documented record for the checklist area. To boot, the bird was extremely cooperative; feeding at eye level in the same few birch trees for at least five full days! 

#260 - Hoary Redpoll - December 21 - Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, BC

The low-light of the month was having UBC campus security called on me while peering over the fence of the closed Nitobe Memorial Gardens in search of a Black-and-White Warbler. Fortunately , upon presentation of my pishing license, we were permitted to continue our unsuccessful search. I blame the whole incident on the two suspicious characters I was with, but I guess no Big Year is complete without a brush with the law, or something resembling it. 

Burrowing Owl at Sea Island

The discovery of a Burrowing Owl at Sea Island in November prompted the inevitable discussion regarding its origin. BC's wild Burrowing Owl population disappeared by about 1980 (Leupin and Low 2001) and the very small extant population is attributed largely to annual releases of captive-reared owls. I pursued some research about the BC Burrowing Owl Recovery Program, with specific interest in dispersal patterns and return rates in an attempt to, well, justify counting it. Over the course of my research I realized how little I knew about the Recovery Program, so decided to summarize a few items of interest here.

Mitchell et al. (2011) discuss some of the metrics I was looking for while comparing the success of two releases techniques: hard-released birds (i.e., those released directly in to the wild from artificial burrows) versus soft-released birds (i.e., those released in to an enclosure surrounding their artificial burrow prior to the wild).  Soft-releases appeared more successful with regard to site fidelity, breeding season survival, fledging rate, and ultimately population recruitment (Mitchell et al. 2011). I suspect soft-release techniques will (have?) gradually phase out hard-releases, and therefore will briefly summarize soft-release results only.

The soft release protocol is to place pairs of captive-reared yearling owls inside artificial burrows where they are held overnight before being released in to an enclosure, which is then removed after approximately two weeks. Released owls display high site fidelity, with 86% of released birds (n=140) from 2005 to 2007 staying following their release. During the same three year period, 69 adult pairs produced 168 fledglings, which had a 69% survival rate during a 40-day post fledging period based on a sample of radio-tracked juveniles. Typically, all owlets are captured inside artificial burrows and banded with a USFWS aluminum leg-band and a coloured alphanumeric leg-band when they are four weeks old. Only 5 of 71 (7%) fledglings from 2005 or 2006 returned in 2006 or 2007, resulting in a population recruitment of 0.17 offspring per soft-released pair. The return rate of released adults during the same period was 2% (1 of 62 adults). However, 28% of 'wild' adults (i.e., adults present prior to the annual release of captive-reared owls) returned again in the subsequent year (Mitchell et al. 2011).

Most adult and young owls leave their release sites by October, but there is little information regarding location of their wintering grounds (Mackintosh et al. 2004). One captive-reared owl wintered in Portland, Oregon in 2001 and again in 2002, and another in Port Townsend, WA in 2002 (Mackintosh et al. 2004). In the winter of 2013, a Burrowing Owl wintered in Tofino and another in Comox, but I do not recall if they were banded and whether their origin was determined.

(Aside: anyone interested in the Burrowing Owl Recovery Program and the associated challenges and successes of reintroduction efforts should check out the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC web site).

The Sea Island bird was unbanded, which almost certainly eliminates the possibility of a released captive-reared bird because, presumably, none are missed during banding prior to release. Mitchell et al. (2011) mentions all owlets are banded at four weeks old, but it is uncertain whether the occurrence of unbanded birds at release sites indicates presence of wild birds or simply the progeny of released birds missed during previous banding efforts (Leupin 2004). This, coupled with (limited) knowledge of their dispersal patterns, a juvenile bird from a released captive-reared pair may be a possibility. 

Unlike many larger owls that moult their primaries and some other flight feathers over two or three cycles, Burrowing Owls have a complete pre-basic moult (Howell 2010), which unfortunately complicates ageing this bird relative to large owls that often have striking moult limits in their primaries. I noticed the primary tips looked quite worn and abraded on our owl, but is it too much wear for juvenal feathers? One wise guy quipped "of course they're worn, they live underground", which may be a valid point, but I haven't got enough experience with Burrowing Owls to confirm or deny. 

So, my conclusion: origin uncertain. And that's good enough for me! Every big year needs some controversial tick, and a Burrowing Owl in BC fits that niche quite nicely. 

#258 - Burrowing Owl - 22 Nov 2015 - Sea Island, Richmond, BC

References:

Howell, S. N. G. 2010. Molt in North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York.

Leupin E. E. 2004. Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia in Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife - Southern Interior Forest Region V. 2004. BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. pp. 137-147

Leupin E. E. and D. J. Low. 2001. Burrowing owl reintroduction efforts in the Thomposn-Nicola Region of British Columbia. Journal of Raptor Research 35: 392-398.

Mackintosh, M., E. Leupin and D. Brodie. 2004. Burrowing Owls in B.C. - Science and Stewardship in Action. Proceedings of the Species at Risk 2004 Pathways to Recovery Conference, March 2-6, 2004, Victoria, BC.

Mitchell, A. M., T. I. Wellicome, D. Brodie and K. Cheng. 2011. Captive-reared burrowing owls show higher site-affinity, survival, and reproductive performance when reintroduced using a soft-release. Biological Conservation 144: 1382-1391.

Mock yeah, Ing yeah, Bird yeah

With limited time for blogging, I thought I'd let Harry and Lloyd tell you all about my next year bird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5f_gbzo4Q0

#255 + 2. Northern Mockingbird. 21 Nov 2015. Ladner, BC. 

Winter Finches

(N. B.: after 11 months of blogging about my big year, I thought I would attempt to write something at least somewhat educational.) 

My big year recently received a boost from what is shaping up to be a good finch winter. "What exactly is a good finch winter?" you ask. In this instance, "good" is measured from the perspective of a birder, and a winter qualifies as good with the presence of White-winged Crossbills and Common Redpolls. The local abundance of these species varies among years, and some winters none or very few are present. 

Unlike most northern hemisphere songbirds, White-winged Crossbills do not follow the typical north-to-south migration. Instead, they are nomadic, moving in response to the presence of their principal food. Their geographic distribution is closely associated with that of conifers in the genus Picea, and their movements are linked to patterns of conifer use.

A probability of observation (PObs) map for White-winged Crossbill, taken from the BC Breeding Bird Atlas (http://www.birdatlas.bc.ca). The PObs maps are created by incorporating topographic variables into models to make predictions about the likelihood of detecting a species in all areas of the province, within a fixed amount of time (20 hours). Granted this map is based on data collected by atlases during the breeding season, I would still like to point out the 0% probability of observation in Metro Vancouver (click map to enlarge).  

In late June and July, the cones of most conifers are developing and seed inside cones of tamarack and white spruce are among the most accessible. In May, White-winged Crossbills are often on the move as birds search for developing white spruce cone crops sufficiently large to support breeding. White spruce cones shed most of their seed between mid-September and early November. Crossbills generally remain in the area as long as seed abundance is high and leave once it declines, switching then to black spruce. Black spruce cones open later in the year than white spruce and their seeds often remain inside their cones through to the following summer. In late spring, White-winged Crossbills typically migrate from areas of black spruce to areas with developing white spruce cone crops regardless of black spruce seed availability. When the spruce cone crop is poor, crossbills can irrupt into regions south of their usual range in search of good cone crops.

Distribution of three spruce (Picea) species in British Columbia, taken from the Tree Species Compendium (https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/silviculture/compendium/index.htm). Top to bottom: Engelmann spruce, black spruce and white spruce. Notice any similarities to the White-winged Crossbill probability of observation map?

Though perhaps not quite a full scale irruption, some White-winged Crossbills have turned up on Mount Seymour this winter and were a welcome addition to my year list.

#253. White-winged Crossbill. 20 Nov 2015. Mount Seymour.

While crossbills are nomadic, Common Redpolls are considered ‘irruptive’, meaning they exhibit regular seasonal movements, the extent of which varies between years. One suggested cause behind their irruptive movements is their dependence on birch and alder seeds. Seed shortages may cause redpolls to travel farther from their breeding range in winter, stopping when they encounter sufficient food rather than a pre-programmed destination.

#254. Common Redpoll. 21 Nov 2015. Sea Island.

Redpolls have been reported widely this November, but seemingly from everywhere where I was not. It took some time before finally finding some of my own on Sea Island.

Count Update: 254 + 2 on Nov 21.

Back to Back Birds at Pt. Bob

After a bit of a lull, I got 252 + 1 and 252 + 2 both at Pt. Roberts.

You may recall from an earlier post that there are two versions of the Vancouver checklist area, one which includes the small peninsula of Pt. Roberts in Washington, and one that doesn't. Thus far I have made a (completely unnecessary) effort to keep both versions identical for numerical simplicity. However, after seeing a Rock Wren (#252 + 1) at Pt. Roberts on November 1st, my lists have once again diverged and will likely stay this way given the local rarity of this species. 

The main significance of this Rock Wren is that it was #250 for MEHA, the fourth person to join the 2015 250 Club. And so I would like to extend a big congratulations to someone who has greatly facilitated the rapid exchange of rare bird alerts and contributed immensely to everyone's Big Years. 

#252 + 1. Rock Wren. November 1, 2015. Pt. Roberts, WA.

After seeing several Ancient Murrelets (#252 + 2) at Pt. Roberts on November 15, I still felt compelled to make an effort to see them in the eBird Metro Vancouver county. My efforts since have included a sea watch from the end of the Iona south jetty, which produced only Marbled Murrelets, and a walk-on sailing on the Tsawassen-Duke Pt. ferry, which produced Ancient Murrelets only on the Vancouver Island side of the sailing, as determined by plugging GPS coordinates into eBird. It has been a great deal of (completely unnecessary) effort for a semi-year bird. Life would be much easier if birders ignored the international border across Pt. Roberts just the same as these murrelets do. 

 Count update: 252 + 2 on Nov 15.

October Briefly

October passed quickly with limited gains. The waning daylight impeded my birding before and after work, a whirlwind of rare birds outside Vancouver took my focus off the task at hand and field work took me out of town for a few days. Consequently, the effort I devoted to my Big Year was limited, as reflected by my piddly submission of only 13 eBird checklists from 9 days. However, there were two notable additions to the list.

A Clark's Grebe, which as rare birds always do, showed up while I was out of town. Fortunately it remained in the area for a couple weeks, swimming back and forth between the White Rock pier and offshore waters of Semiahmoo Bay. On some days it would thrill observers with close up views, while on others it was likely unresolvable among the distant flotilla of Western Grebes. I caught him somewhere in between.

#251 - Clark's Grebe - 9 October 2015 - White Rock Pier. The Clark's Grebe is on the right, with a Western Grebe on the left. With some stretch of imagination you may be able to see paler flanks and a narrower black stripe down the hind neck of the Clark's. And if you stare long enough, you may even be able to convince yourself that it has white lores. 

On October 12th a Tropical Kingbird was photographed along the Richmond West Dyke. Although this species has become of increasingly regular occurrence in recent years, it still remains an extremely rare bird for the area. According to the eFauna Checklist of Rare Birds of the Vancouver Area, there were only 3 records prior to 2008. This bird represents at least the 5th record since then, of which I've now gone 5/5.

#252 - Tropical Kingbird - 13 October 2015 -  Richmond West Dyke at Steveston Hwy.

But to balance these successes there was also great sorrow, the likes of which is known by few: on October 16 I missed a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher found by KELO at Boundary Bay. It was successfully twitched by several first responders¹, however, being the responsible employee that I am, I remained at the office until the afternoon by which point the gnatcatcher was never to be seen again.²

Two other birders joined the "2015 250 Club" in October and deserve special commendation: MITO on Oct 4 and ROLY on Oct 27. Well done both of you!

Count update: 252 as of Oct 31.

Footnotes:
¹Apparently I also missed quite a celebratory dance which I would have liked to see almost as much as the gnatcatcher.
²Despite blogging in anonymity, my blog has been discovered by some co-workers leading to suspicions about my priorities. Surely this sacrifice will alleviate all such concerns.

250



As of September 25, Phase 1 of the Big Year is complete. A Ruff at Boundary Bay was the big milestone bird. Unfortunately, 250 was reached early enough in the year that there remains considerable opportunity for the list to grow. I say "unfortunately" because this means that instead of sitting back with a cold glass of water and relaxing for the rest of the year, I now have to initiate Phase 2: 260-something. Below is a photographic recap of the recent year birds that haven't been featured on my blog

#250 - Ruff - 25 Sep 2015 - Boundary Bay. The Ruff is on the far right end of the island, and an American Golden-Plover is third from the left end.

#249 - Clay-colored Sparrow - 22 Sep 2015 - Stanley Park Rose Garden.

#248 - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - 22 Sep 2015 - Reifel Bird Sanctuary. 

#246 - Vesper Sparrow - 8 Sep 2015 - Colony Farm.

#243 - Horned Lark - 6 Sep 2015 - Iona Island. Photo taken at the Tsawassen Ferry Jetty on Sep 17, 2015. 

As a tribute to the action-packed fall of shore birding at Boundary Bay, I would like to welcome you to the Boundary Bay Shorebird Simulator. Can you find the Bar-tailed Godwit? And if you're really bored, look for a Red Knot.

New Nemesis Bird

Move over Ruddy Turnstone, there’s a new nemesis bird in town: Red-naped Sapsucker. I spent 9.5 hours over four days looking for three separate Red-naped Sapsuckers during the last week! This species occurs rarely in Vancouver during spring migration, with one or two reported most years. They are reported even less often in the fall, and each repeated opportunity to look for one was highly unexpected. I will again present select excerpts from my Birder’s Diary to tell this grand tale.

Monday, September 14: I am forwarded photos of a “mystery” sapsucker from a private residence in North Vancouver. Though certainly a Red-naped/Yellow-bellied-type, which, or whether a hybrid, cannot be ascertained. I am told I will be informed if it reappears.

Tuesday, September 15: The mystery sapsucker is not seen by the homeowner.

Checking all sapsuckers carefully. (This Red-breasted Sapsucker was found dead on the side of a Douglas fir trunk. It appeared to have gotten its bill stuck in the tree and unable to dislodge it. A very horrible and unlikely fate. Photo: 22 Sep 2015, Stanley Park.) 

Wednesday, September 16: Just as I arrive at Iona in the evening to pursue a reported Brewer’s Sparrow, I receive a phone call alerting me that the mystery sapsucker is back, well photographed and looking very much like a hatch year female Red-naped! The better news still is that the homeowner is willing to let me and a couple crazies come try for it. I consider driving to North Vancouver then, but that would put me through some of the city’s most congested traffic during peak rush hour and would also require abandoning the Brewer’s Sparrow without even looking. Both birds represent good year birds, but I have never seen Brewer’s Sparrow in Vancouver, whereas I have seen Red-naped Sapsucker, so I opt to stay at Iona. No Brewer’s.

Thursday, September 17: Today is a day off work on account of the presence of rare birds. I feel that arriving at the sapsucker property early in the morning is an imposition on the homeowner, so I return to Iona for a second unsuccessful attempt at the Brewer’s Sparrow. We arrive in North Van at mid-day, learn the sapsucker was present earlier in the morning, and wait for 4 hours for its reappearance, which never happens. We leave the property with a new qualifier added to the competition, which is now officially a “No Backyard Birds Big Year”.

Friday, September 18: Half an hour after I finish my pre-work routine (a lap around Queen Elizabeth Park) and arrive at the office, a Red-naped Sapsucker is found at the park. Ouch! Despite receiving news of this bird very promptly, I am unable to find time to twitch it during working hours. I search for two hours after work with MEHA’s help but we are unable to relocate it.  

Saturday, September 19: I spend three hours in the non-stop rain at QE this morning. It seems as if the inclement weather kept many of the migrants present yesterday from leaving; about the same number of thrushes feast on berries by the duck pond, and a mixed flock of similar composition to the day before is moving along the slope of the quarry gardens. But alas, I do not find my sapsucker.  

Monday, September 21: To my disbelief I receive notice of another Red-naped Sapsucker, this one reported from Burnaby Mountain. Curses! For I am at the office without Beatrice (my car) to get me there. Fortunately, I have a very loyal big year support network, and MEHA comes to my rescue, picking me up from work and driving me to Burnaby Mountain with less than an hour of light remaining to find this ‘sucker. As I stick my head in to the foliage of the very first birch tree I find myself looking at the object of my despair. Final score: RNSA 3 vs ILPO 1. Only in the birding world does this translate to a winning score.   

#247. Red-naped Sapsucker. 21 Sep 2015. Burnaby Mountain. Photo: Melissa H.

  

Strait of Georgia Pelagic

No big year is complete without a pelagic trip, even if there aren't any pelagic waters in the checklist area. Sporadic reports of Long-tailed Jaegers and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels from ferry crossings between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island offer tantalizing possibilities of what lies beyond reach of a scope on land. And so, to explore those possibilities, a group of us decided to take a boat ride through the Strait of Georgia on September 6.

My primary target was Heermann’s Gull, which I had already seen at Point Roberts, WA, but the objective was now to get one in Canadian waters. Wandering Tattler was target number two, since we are gradually passing their period of peak occurrence and there still have been no sightings in the Vancouver checklist area! But, lastly, Parasitic Jaeger was the only target I truly expected.

Our trip took us from Point Grey to Point Roberts, through waters three fathoms deep and alongside inaccessible breakwaters known only to the hardiest seafarers. It also offered a very different perspective on Vancouver birding, offering novelty in an otherwise thoroughly birded landscape.

Figure 1: Strait of Georgia pelagic route.

Our first stop along the tip of the Iona north jetty produced 11 Surfbirds, 4 Black Turnstones and 60 Sanderling. Offshore from Sturgeon Bank we observed our first Parasitic Jaeger, giving chase to a feeding flock of Common Terns.

#244 - Parasitic Jaeger - 6 Sep 2015 - Strait of Georgia.

At the end of the Sand Heads jetty, which sticks out some 6 km to the west of Steveston, sat my primary target: Heermann's Gull. We observed a second Heermann's Gull closer to the base of the Sand Heads jetty with a gull and tern roost on a sandbar (which contained some 90 Caspian Terns). We estimated 3,000 Western Sandpipers roosting along the outer two thirds of the jetty, and 200 Black-bellied Plovers closer to the base, which also had 2 Red Knots mixed in. I can only imagine all the rare birds that have sat on these rocks over the years! 

#245 - Heermann's Gull - 6 Sep 2015 - Sand Heads Jetty,  Strait of Georgia.

We observed a second Parasitic Jaeger offshore from Roberts Bank, which displaced a group of Common Terns roosting on a floating log. The highly anticipated loop around the 'backside' of the Tsawwassen ferry jetty breakwater was tattlerless, but afforded close views of 60 Brandt's Cormorants. A third Parasitic Jaeger was observed just south of the Iona south jetty on our return trip and close views were had of Common Terns roosting on a floating tern mattress.   

Parasitic Jaeger - 6 Sep 2015 - Strait of Georgia.

Common Tern - 6 Sep 2015 - Floating Tern Mattress, Strait of Georgia.

Many thanks to Melissa for organizing the trip and skipper John for piloting!

Count update: 245 on Sep 6. 

The Hunt for Ruddy

As we approached the mid-way point of August, one of my easier remaining target birds was Ruddy Turnstone. A couple adults had been seen in Boundary Bay while I was out of town in late July, and the juveniles were due to arrive any day. This year they made me work for them. The following are excerpts from my Birder's Diary. 

Friday, August 14: I headed for Boundary Bay during the passage of a low pressure system, hopeful that it would bring the next batch of shorebirds. There I found KELO, and we took turns using each other as a wind shelter while staring teary-eyed through our scopes. Final Ruddy count: 0.

Saturday, August 15: Two juvenile Ruddy Turnstones are found by KELO at Boundary Bay. Meanwhile I'm in West Vancouver, celebrating a successful tattler hunt that unknowingly took me out of checklist bounds.

Sunday, August 16: I'm back at Boundary Bay where the shorebird showing is poor.

Monday, August 17: My third attempt for Ruddys yields the exact same number. But I found a consolation prize better than my primary target: a Buff-breasted Sandpiper (#239). Views were distant but good, but no photos were obtained because the tide shuffled the birds as I approached closer and the Buff was not to be seen again. 

Tuesday, August 18: Together with a foolish cohort in pursuit of the same goal, I staked out a private hummingbird feeder where a Calliope Hummingbird had been photographed. It turns out we are two days too late. As I try to drown my woes in a bowl of pasta, text messages start coming in about Ruddy Turnstones showing well at Boundary Bay. A mad dash from Coquitlam to Boundary Bay gets me there right at sunset (made possible only by MEHA's twitching-mode driving). In the failing light I desperately plead to borrow a dejected shore-birder's scope, then proceed to falsely exclaim "Buff-breasted Sandpiper!", and miss Ruddy Turnstone for the fourth time in five days. These were a productive 15 minutes. 

Wednesday, August 19: I head back to Boundary Bay with a case of twitch-dip blues and a hurt pride. My Ruddy record diminishes further to 0/5, but I find a redemption bird: three Hudsonian Godwits feeding with a plover flock. They were observed simultaneously by MITA from further west, and then they buggered off, not to be relocated again on the rising tide. If I hadn't seen one earlier in August, this would have been another huge score.

Saturday, August 22: A successful connect with a Great Egret (#240) in Tsawassen encourages another attempt for Ruddy. But another evening high tide is shaping up like another Ruddy dip. I stand at the foot of 96th St. with MAWY, as two motorized paragliders make low flights over the mudflats spooking all shorebirds. As their activity subsides, I spot a turnstone a long way out and a long way west. While MAWY stays on the bird, I race further west and lock on to it for closer views: white throat, dark necklace and orange legs clinch the ID as a Ruddy (#241). I snap a record shot and MAWY comes over for a closer look, thereby satisfying MITO's earlier request to have all my birds verified in light of the Buff incident. At last, I'm 1/6. Victory! 

#240. Great Egret. 22 August 2015. Tsawassen, BC.

#241. Ruddy Turnstone. 20 August 2015. Boundary Bay, BC. Long-range, in-the-dark, shorebird photography; my specialty.

Count update: 241 + 1 on August 22.

Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush is an uncommon fall migrant through our area, with their passage peaking in the second half of August (I. Povalyaev 2015, anecdotal data).  In anticipation of their arrival I had already started checking places like Reifel where I have previously seen them just as the reports started coming in according to schedule. I took my birding kit (bins, scope, camera, census shoes) to work on Monday with the intention of going to Stanley Park that evening to look for a NOWA reported there the previous day. Instead, I got word of another report from Hastings Park that morning. This is just up the street from my office, so, by the end of my lunch break I had waterthrush on my year list. 

#238 - Northern Waterthrush - 17 Aug 2015 - Hastings Park, Vancouver.

The Tattler That Didn't Count

Following the report of a whack of good birds (Wandering Tattler, Heerman's Gull, Ancient Murrelet) from Howe Sound on Aug 3 a group of us decided to take a zodiac out on Aug 15 to see if we might have any such luck. Most of these birds were reported from Pam Rocks, a stack of rocks in the middle of Howe Sound, just south of Christie Islet, which itself is south of Anvil Island. To the best of my knowledge, the western Boundary of the Vancouver checklist area winds down the middle of Howe Sound, halfway between the mainland and Gambier Island, then wraps around Bowen Island and out in to the Straight of Georgia. Pam Rocks is pretty much in the middle of Howe Sound, so whether it falls in or out was a bit of mystery.

Pam Rocks is the barely visible speck above the red arrow.

Success was had at Pam Rocks when we spotted the crevice dwelling Wandering Tattler. I collected a GPS waypoint knowing that I would later need to sort out which jurisdiction it belonged to and we carried on to Christie Islet. Not having anything more to go by than a rather vague written description of the western boundary, I decided to defer to eBird and let it tell me which "county" the place mark fell in. Queue drum roll…. Sunshine Coast. D'oh! But a fun day on the water regardless, with good company and some interesting bird and marine life.

#238. Wandering Tattler. 15 Aug 2015. Pam Rocks, Howe Sound.

Carrying on to Christie Islet (left of JEKE's head), with Anvil Island in the background.

On the way back we checked out the mysterious back side of the Grebe Islets, where we enjoyed close up views of 90 Surfbirds.

Adult Surfbird in pre-basic moult. 15 Aug 2015. Grebe Islets, West Vancouver. 

Juvenile Sufbird. 15 Aug 2015. Grebe Islets, West Vancouver.

Count update: 237 + 1 on 15 Aug 2015.

Guttifer's Nested Checklist Theorem

Guttifer's Nested Checklist Theorem, named after pioneer lister Tringa Guttifer (read about T. Guttifer here), states that the total of one checklist area cannot exceed the total of a second checklist area, if the first checklist area fits within that second checklist area. 

Birders unfamiliar with this theorem are likely still aware of its principle. For example, Vancouver Island is part of BC and thus an individual's Vancouver Island life list cannot exceed their BC list, since any bird observed there would, by default, also represent a BC bird. BC is nested within Canada, and so it goes on.

However, the official Vancouver checklist area is an international one, and blatantly contradicts Guttifer's Nested Checklist Theorem, through the inclusion of Pt. Roberts, WA. Due to this outrageous discrepancy with one of listing's founding principles, many local birders are opposed to including anything seen at Pt. Roberts on their Vancouver list. Many players now choose to go by the new eBird Metro Vancouver County checklist area, which for all purposes is identical to the official Vancouver checklist area with the exception that it excludes Pt. Roberts. 

So where does this leave me? Pt. Roberts is a fantastic birding area offering some of the best and most easily accessible sea watching around Vancouver. I often wish it was part of BC, but then suddenly realize how quickly it would get developed, and immediately become thankful that it isn't. It would be a shame to disregard such a birding hotspot, but in order to compare apples to apples, a distinction needs to be made between birds seen only in Pt. Roberts. As such, my list will be reported as 2XX + Y, where Y represents Pt. Roberts additions. 

There are two species that are most easily seen within the Metro Vancouver checklist area at Pt. Roberts: Heerman's Gull and Ancient Murrelet. The time to see Heerman's Gulls locally is now, and in between high tides on August 3rd I visited Pt. Roberts to get my "security" Heerman's Gull.

#231 + 1. Heerman's Gull. 3 Aug 2015. Lighthouse Park, Pt. Roberts, WA.

I now plan to make a subsequent effort to see a Heerman's Gull in the Vancouver checklist area north of the border because, if for no other reason, 2XX + Y is such an ugly format for a list total.

Count update: 236 + 1 as of August 6, 2015.

Playing Catch-Up

A number of good birds had accumulated in my absence. My first order of business upon returning to town on August 3rd was the morning high tide at Boundary Bay. The main objective: Bar-tailed Godwit. I had read reports about this bird in agony for ten days, but with reports continuing through to August 1st, it seemed that I had a reasonable chance of seeing this bird.

The morning tide was perfect and thousand of peeps fed close to the dyke in the soft morning light. However, only about 200 plovers were present at 104th St., whereas up to 900 had been reported accompanying the godwit. With no other plovers to be seen in either direction, I feared that many birds had moved out in the last two days. A Red Knot was with the plovers and the Franklin's Gull flew past back and forth a few times; a good year bird, but not the primary target.

#229 - Franklin's Gull - 3 Aug 2015 - 104th St., Boundary Bay

I was joined by Mel and Yousif and we decided to walk west towards the mansion as the tide began to recede. A mixed flock east of the mansion had my first Baird's Sandpiper of the year (#230). Then, coming from the other direction, the Tabak brothers alerted us that the Bar-tailed Godwit was present with a large plover flock west of 88th Street. At this distance, hundreds of tiny heat-distorted blobs were all that was visible through the scope. It was time to boogie. As we drew nearer along the dyke, the flock moved further away in pursuit of the falling tide. It seemed as if we were't getting any closer and I considered aborting and returning on the rising evening tide instead, but was persuaded otherwise. Just when we got as close as we would get, without fail the flock took flight, wheeling back and forth above the mudflats. Serendipitously, I quickly locked on to a larger bird and we were soon all watching it in flight among the plovers. Definitely a godwit... with a plain barred underwing, barred tail, and no cinnamon tones; this was it, the object of my despair! We watched it land and decided to walk out on the flats for better views, but turned back because heat distortion proved too intense. As lousy as those views were, I remember it as clearly as the photo below. 

#231 - Bar-tailed Godwit - 3 Aug 2015 - 88th St., Boundary Bay. (Photo from Cairns, Australia; because nothing makes a sighting more credible than a photo from somewhere else.)

I returned on the evening tide hoping for better views of the barwit, and to try for a hudwit that we learned was seen in overflight the previous evening. The Hudsonian Godwit was present with plovers in front of 104th St., completing my godwit slam quite early in the year and distracting me sufficiently long that I did not make it to 88th St. to look again for the barwit until after the tide had risen.

#232 - Hudsonian Godwit - 3 Aug 2015 - 104th St., Boundary Bay.

The following morning's high tide at Boundary Bay did not produce either of the godwits, though one Pacific Golden-Plovers was still kicking about, as was the Franklin's Gull. It now seemed I was quite lucky to have seen the barwit. Meanwhile, hot shorebirds continued with the arrival of a Stilt Sandpiper at Reifel, feeding in the company of two Red-necked Phalaropes and three Lesser Yellowlegs. All three species were year birds! 

#233 Red-necked Phalarope, #234 Lesser Yellowlegs and #235 Stilt Sandpiper - 4 Aug 2015 - Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

My latest addition came from acting upon a call about a Solitary Sandpiper at Iona; this is a bird I generally bump in to at some point in the year, but was very relieved to get because I don't like the idea of "bumping" during a big year.

#236 Solitary Sandpiper - 6 Aug 2015 - Iona inner ponds.

Although none of these are mega-rarities, it is quite a good start to the shorebird migration for this early in August. There are still many weeks of it ahead and almost endless possibilities.

Count update: 236 + 1 as of August 6.

The Start of the Shorebird Migration

July is a great month to spend at the beach and observe the amazing shorebird migration. In Metro Vancouver, we are lucky to be situated along the Pacific Flyway in an area that offers some of the country's best shorebird viewing opportunities: the Fraser River Estuary. The Fraser River Estuary is designated as a site of Hemispheric Importance in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). Several million shorebirds pass over the estuary each year in migration and tens of thousands remain for the winter. Shorebirds form enormous concentrations at such key staging areas along their migration route. Each area provides an abundance of food resources that enable birds to quickly replenish their energy reserves and complete the next leg of their journey. These staging areas underpin their entire migration system, but also lend great vulnerability to their users. Such enormous concentrations of birds at relatively few, widely spaced locations break the usual relationship between a species' abundance and its immunity to extinction, while highlighting the conservation value of these special places.

Western Sandpipers lead the shorebird migration throughout much of the fall on the Fraser River Estuary.

Semipalmated Sandpipers move through in small numbers and their migration through our area will largely be over by the end of August. 

Least Sandpipers forage in small flocks in drier and more vegetated areas compared to Westerns, which dominate the open mudflats.

Fall shorebirds can make or break a big year in Metro Vancouver. There are numerous locally uncommon species that require determined and routine circuits of the local shorebird hotspots to see, plus almost endless possibilities for unexpected vagrants.This year, the fall shorebird season started off slowly with a pair of Pacific Golden-Plovers on July 19 being the only notable species I've observed thus far. Naturally, five days after leaving town for work, the first truly rare shorebird of the season showed up on July 24: Bar-tailed Godwit. I'm hoping its a really tired and hungry one and needs at least another 9 days to build up its fat reserves.

#228 - Pacific Golden-Plover - July 19, 2015 - Boundary Bay, BC. 

"koWIT" said one golden-plover to the other. (Translation: "race you across the Pacific".)

Being just a spectator from afar for the remainder of July, it seems 228 will be my month-end total. While finding another 22 species in five months doesn't initially seem like an unreasonable prospect, reviewing my "Target Species" on eBird suggests fairly limited opportunity. Here are the 30 most frequently reported species in Metro Vancouver between now and end of December that I still need for my year list.