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.