The End

Here it is. The highly averted final blog post.

Total Species Count

In 2015, 265 species were reported to eBird from Metro Vancouver County, which is fairly consistent with the five year average of 264 (σ=1.73). I also made note of any additional rarities that were not reported to eBird, which included the following 12 species:

White-faced Ibis – Sep 11 at Reifel

Willet – Aug 10 at Boundary Bay

Little Stint – Aug 8 at Boundary Bay

Forster’s Tern – May 27 at White Rock Beach

Costa’s Hummingbird – May 3 in Burnaby

Calliope Hummingbird – Aug 16-17 in Coquitlam

Yellow-bellied Sapscuker – March 9 in Southlands

Prairie Falcon – Jan 12 in Pitt Meadows

Black-and-white Warbler – Dec 18 at Nitobe Memorial Garden

Brewer’s Sparrow – Sep 16 at Iona

Indigo Bunting – Dec 20-25 in Port Coquitlam

Rose-breasted Grosbeak – May 27-28 in North Vancouver

There was also a Rock Wren at Pt. Roberts, which is outside the eBird Metro Vancouver County, but part of the official Vancouver checklist area. This brings the 2015 total to 279 species.

My year end total was 260 (93.19%) for the official Vancouver checklist area, and 258 (97.36%) for eBird Metro Vancouver County.  At the start of the year, I had said I was striving for 260-something, while realistically hoping to reach 250. I guess both goals were achieved.

Biggest Misses

There are two approaches to identifying my biggest miss: 1) the commonest bird that I should have seen but didn’t, and 2) the rarest bird that was reported that I didn’t see.

The following are my top contenders in category 1:

#3 Northern Goshawk. They aren’t always easy, but often at least one will settle for the winter at a location with a good food source somewhere in Vancouver. That did not happen during the winter of 2014/2015 or 2015/2016, although there were occasional reports.

#2 Willet. This is an underappreciated rarity in Vancouver because a few birds have repeatedly over-wintered at several locations for many consecutive years. Most recently, one to two have wintered at the White Rock pier during most winters from 2005 to 2014 (disappearing in November 2014), and as luck would have it did not return in 2015. Finding a Willet during migration is no easy feat, and this year’s only sighting was a one-tide wonder at Boundary Bay on August 10.

#1 Wandering Tattler. This is a species that is essentially annual in Metro Vancovuer and its occurrence is very localized and highly predictable: adults show up on the Iona south jetty from mid- to late-July, and juveniles from late-August to mid-September. The Iona south jetty receives almost daily coverage, including from one intrepid walker in particular who, leading up to 2015, has found tattlers on the south jetty for seven consecutive years. But 2015 was, disappointingly, a tattler-less year in Vancouver. Due to its general reliability and predictability I haven chosen Wandering Tattler as my biggest miss of 2015 in the “commonest” category.

The following are my top contenders in category 2:

#3 Little Stint. This bird was found by KELO on Aug 8 while I was only a few kilometers down the dyke.  I received prompt notification but got stuck behind a horse-drawn buggy, such that JORE made it from 96^th to 104^th on bike faster than I did by car. In this instance, speed was not a difference maker (but makes for a good story) since the stint was seen for seconds before the area was inundated by thousands of peeps. I searched for the remainder of that night, the following day, and the day after, but all to no avail.

#2 Indigo Bunting. Because it was present at a feeder for five days.

#1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. I missed this one simply because I did not act fast enough, and really had no reason not to. It was successfully twitched by a few first-responders before disappearing within hours. This was another KELO bird, and had he not found me a few others in 2015, he’d be quite unpopular with me.

Best Birds

Picking a best bird from my list is a bit of a struggle, not because there are so many rarities to choose from, but indeed the opposite. My list was largely built from an abundance of annual and semi-annual rarities. During a big year, they all count as 1, so getting a Vesper Sparrow is as important as getting the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, even though I expect to see Vespers 3 years out of 5, and still have not caught a gnatcatcher locally. Having said that, here are my top picks:

#3 Ross’ Goose. Perhaps somewhat overdue, this was a Vancouver first for me.

#2 Hoary Redpoll. Based on rarity alone, this would take the top slot. This was the first photo-documented record for Vancouver.

#1 White-tailed Ptarmigan. It was the experience that bumped this to the top of my list: a pleasant winter hike with a good group of friends and unlikely odds of success that delivered the prize. Although ptarmigan are likely present on our north shore mountains during the winter a lot more often than they are reported, it still represents a fantastic year bird!

Closing Thoughts:

I would best describe a Vancouver big year as a tiring affair with fluctuating enjoyment. If done seriously, one has to be prepared to drop anything and twitch everything immediately, which becomes tiring even if the twitches are successful, which often they are not. Equally as tiring is having to look for birds you need but have not been reported based on their probability of occurrence at a given time of year. These are generally low success rate endeavors and I lost track of the number of hours spent sorting through gulls, scanning for Yellow-billed Loons and searching for other unlikely things when I wanted to simply go birding, or stay at home altogether.

Below I present my big year enjoyment curve overlaid with my species accumulation curve. Peaks in enjoyment are generally correlated with rapid species accumulation, successfully connecting with target birds or milestones. Troughs generally represent prolonged periods with no year birds, repeated dips or good birds being found while I was out of town.

Figure 1: Weekly big year enjoyment and species accumulation.

Finally, my big year would not have been nearly as enjoyable or successful without special contribution from several people to whom I owe special gratitude. First and foremost, MEHA for running the Vancouver bird alert and promptly sharing rare bird notifications, which contributed to a significant portion of my list. Secondly, the others alongside whom I pursued Vancouver Big Years of sorts (openly or in denial), namely MITO, MEHA, ROLY and GECL, thereby further motivating me to chase birds that I didn’t want to at times that were inconvenient. Thirdly, everyone who sent me updates and notices on my target birds; there are too many people to list, so: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ. Find your 4-letter code, this is your shout out! And finally, anyone and everyone who picked up their binos, pulled their socks up to their knees and went birding in 2015! I hope 2016 brings you a Siberian Accentor or something.