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.