SemiPen Big Year (2024): Epilogue

Species Count

With 213 species, I exceeded my expectations for a SemiPen year list by a wide margin. This equates to 78% of all the species ever observed (to my knowledge) on the SemiPen and 88% of my current SemiPen life list! Further, all but nine species were self-found, which was the most rewarding part of a local patch big year. Unlike a big year at a larger geographic scale, there were far fewer chases and more emphasis on intensely scouring an area for micro-rarities that would not elicit any interest or excitement beyond the patch (e.g., Yellow-headed Blackbird). 

Effort

Although I had envisioned this as a casual project, it gradually morphed to a nearly all-consuming one. During peak migration, I frequently birded split shifts on the SemiPen – early morning before work and again in the evening after work. Over the course of the year, I submitted 235 eBird checklists for the SemiPen, including 80 checklists for Blackie Spit, 26 checklists for the White Rock waterfront (i.e., pier, west beach, east beach), and 24 checklists for Elgin Heritage Park (the three primary hotspots on the SemiPen). 

Biggest Misses

There are two approaches to identifying biggest misses: 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 picks in category 1:

• #3 Snow Bunting. Blackie Spit is one of the best places in Metro Vancouver to see this species, usually on passage in November but sometimes throughout the winter. In each of the three previous years, several Snow Buntings were present at Blackie Spit for weeks to months. In contrast, there was only a single report from Blackie Spit in 2024 on November 28. Was it real? Who knows? Location and date fit the profile, but around the same time I noticed several reports of Snow Buntings at Elgin Heritage Park where a real one has never been documented. Some of those checklist comments indicated they were identified by Merlin, which makes me certain these were misidentified Evening Grosbeak “teew” calls. Their irruption in late fall was Elgin Heritage Park’s main birding attraction. 

• #2 Northern Shrike. This species is scarce on the SemiPen but is an expected migrant at Blackie Spit from late Oct through Nov, and occasional in the winter. In 2024, there were reports from Blackie Spit on Jan 3, 6 and 7, Oct 21, and Nov 7. The January bird seems to have been chaseable, but I was out of the country then. I searched unsuccessfully for the October bird the day after it was reported. The November report is particularly painful because I was at Blackie Spit around the same time that day but did not cross paths with the shrike. 

• #1 Common Murre. This is a species that I had expect to see at some point along the White Rock waterfront, but never did. Ironically, several people that chased the Clark’s Grebe in the days after I found it on Oct 21 reported a single Common Murre. Had I seen the murre instead, nobody would have cared, yet the outcome of my year list would have been the same. Quantity over quality is the name of the game when it comes to year listing. 

The following are my biggest misses in category 2:

• #3 Bohemian Waxwing. One was present at White Rock east beach on January 13 and 14, but I was out of the country.

• #2 Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. See the May account for a reminder of how I missed the flock that was briefly seen at Blackie Spit on the morning of May 1.

• #1 Plegadis Ibis. A juvenile ibis, likely White-faced but impossible to identify to species, flew over Blackie Spit on September 19. I was there the day before and the day after. 

Best Birds

Moving on to highlights, there were quite a few. In fact, narrowing them down the top five meant I had to exclude some very rare SemiPen birds (e.g., Bar-tailed Godwit, American Redstart, Palm Warbler) - a good problem to have!

• #5 Lark Sparrow. This was just the second SemiPen record and a good Metro Vancouver rarity. The last SemiPen record was in 2014 and was not reported in real time so nobody else got to see it. 

• #4 Black-and-White Warbler. This was a self-found SemiPen first record. Black-and-White Warblers are quite rare in Vancouver altogether, but especially in spring. According to eBird, this was just the fourth May record for Metro Vancouver.

• #3 Ruff. This was a self-found SemiPen first record. Even more rare (and special) was the timing of its occurrence on December 31. To my knowledge there is only one other winter record of Ruff in Metro Vancouver. 

• #2 Northern Parula. This was a self-found second record for SemiPen, meaning that BAWW is a “better bird” based strictly on the number of records. But with fewer than 30 provincial records, parula still qualifies as a proper rarity anywhere in BC and on that basis takes second place.  

• #1 Oriental Turtle-Dove. Need I say more?  

Closing Thoughts

I found my SemiPen big year very rewarding. In the process, through constant surveillance of my local patches I turned up quite a few rarities including many micro-rarities (i.e., notable SemiPen birds that are common elsewhere in Vancouver), a handful of local rarities (i.e., rare anywhere in Vancouver), and even a provincial rarity (Northern Parula). 

I saw 183 species at Blackie Spit alone. Remarkably, according to eBird there were 209 species reported at Blackie Spit in 2024, albeit a couple are questionable because they do not trip the Metro Vancouver filter but are very rare at this specific location. Nevertheless, even allowing for some potential errors, in 2024 Blackie Spit had the longest species list of any hotspots in Metro Vancouver! I found this a surprising statistic. 

Most notably, my big year helped rekindle my appreciation and enjoyment of the great year-round (except maybe July) birding that the Semiahmoo Peninsula offers. Heck, I’ll even go as far as claiming that the Semiahmoo Peninsula is the birdiest peninsula in all of Metro Vancouver! 

Chapter 12: December

On December 1^st, both species of murrelets were present at White Rock west beach; five Ancient Murrelets and a single Marbled Murrelet. The lingering Short-billed Dowitcher and Lesser Yellowlegs at Blackie Spit carried over into December. I saw them on the 2^nd and both were AMAT birds. Just as I was packing up that morning, the far carrying call of a Long-billed Curlew caught me by surprise and I looked up to see one flying towards the spit, where it landed and stayed for the next few days. This curlew had been present for weeks in Blaine, just across the border from the SemiPen, however its sudden appearance on the SemiPen represented an unexpected late addition to my year list. The Red Knots started visiting Blackie Spit again around mid-month, and along with the Willets and the occasional Western Sandpiper mixed in with the Dunlin comprised a good mix of winter shorebirds.  

Long-billed Curlew at Blackie Spit (Dec 2, 2024)

Liquid sunshine became the norm for much of December, hampering my attempts to squeeze out any remaining year birds. Yet there were still realistic possibilities. I scoped the White Rock waterfront for Common Murre, sifted through the gulls at the Campbell River estuary for Western Gull, and visited Nicomekl Portage Park to sort through the blackbirds en route to their nighttime roost for Rusty Blackbird, but all to no avail. The White Rock Christmas Count on December 28 did not produce any unexpected goodies and it seemed my year list would fizzle out at 212.  

December 31^st brought a welcome break from the rain, and I decided that it was only fitting to spend the last day of the year birding on the SemiPen. This wasn’t going to be strategic birding; I didn’t have any specific targets in mind and didn’t expect to see anything. I started off at Blackie Spit, where the Long-billed Curlew had returned from Blaine, but otherwise it was the usual cast in attendance. I carried on to Elgin Heritage Park. A large flock of yellowlegs was gathered at their high-tide roost in a side-bay of the Nicomekl River and as I scanned them, I was amazed to spot a Ruff. I couldn't have asked for a better conclusion to my big year! Well, I guess I could have - something like a Eurasian Skylark, Rustic Bunting, or Song Thrush - but a self-found SemiPen first record on the very last day of the year was plenty fine!

Ruff at Elgin Heritage Park (Dec 31, 2024)

Chapter 11: November

By November the short daylength limited how much birding I could do before and after work, and my number of outings decreased substantially relative to the preceding two months. I continued checking the White Rock waterfront as I was still missing several alcid species and was expecting the appearance of Ancient Murrelets any day.  

Ancient Murrelet is a fairly recent addition to the SemiPen bird list, with the first record at the White Rock pier dating back only to October 2017. This seems hard to believe considering the White Rock pier now has a reputation as one of the most reliable locations to see Ancient Murrelets in Metro Vancouver. They have been seen almost every year since and sometimes by the dozens. I believe this is a fairly recent phenomenon since the White Rock pier has received coverage from birders for decades and surely such a passage of Ancient Murrelets would not have gone undetected. 

On November 6, I spotted a distant murrelet while scoping from Kwomais Point. White scapulars on uniformly dark upperparts identified this one as a Marbled Murrelet, which in recent years has become the harder of the two murrelet species to find on the SemiPen so I was pleased. On the 8th there were three female Redheads at the White Rock Pier. The first report of Ancient Murrelets from the White Rock pier came on the 24^th, and I caught up to them on the 29^th; three separate groups totalling fifteen individuals. However, I still could not find a Common Murre. 

Redheads at White Rock Pier (Nov 8, 2024)

Over at Blackie Spit, small flocks of Black-bellied Plovers from Boundary Bay continued gathering on the pilings at high tide, each time bringing something different. On the 5^th I found two Red Knots with this flock and on the 16^th a late Short-billed Dowitcher. Both species continued to be seen sporadically throughout the month. The now resident Willet would often roost with this group, sometimes joined by the second Willet from Boundary Bay. A lingering Lesser Yellowlegs also continued throughout the month. 

Short-billed Dowitcher at Blackie Spit (Nov 16, 2024)

Chapter 10: October

Blackie Spit remained the focus of my birding in October. My targets consisted of a mix of regular late fall migrants such as Northern Shrike, possible but unlikely October rarities such as Tropical Kingbird, and unprecedented mega rarities such as Tundra Bean-Goose. 

Cackling Geese continued to gather in Mud Bay in good numbers throughout the month, peaking at an estimated 3,600 on the 13^th, and joined by hundreds of Snow Geese later in the month. Despite the promise that these flocks contained, the only other species I could pick out was Greater White-fronted Goose; eighteen on the 10^th and four on the 13^th.  The nearest Tundra Bean-Goose bypassed the Semiahmoo Peninsula 650 km to the east. 

Tundra Bean-Goose outside the Semiahmoo Peninsula (Oct 18, 2024)

On the 3^rd another Horned Lark was present at Blackie Spit, about two weeks after the last report in September. On the 5^th, a late Osprey was a year bird and one that I had accepted missing since I only have a handful of October records from anywhere in Metro Vancouver. A trickle of late migrants continued into early October, with a Black-throated Gray Warbler on the 5^th, a Hammond’s Flycatcher and a Yellow Warbler on the 10^th, and best of all a Nashville Warbler on the 11^th.  On the 16^th, a Mountain Bluebird was found at Blackie Spit, but I could not make it out there that same day. While searching unsuccessfully the next day, I found a Swamp Sparrow in the reed canary grass by the base of the spit. This was just the second record for the SemiPen and at the exact same location and time of year as the first record, almost a decade ago. A second year bird that same day was a juvenile American Golden-Plover, which I saw again on the 22^nd along with my second American Kestrel of the year.  Blackie Spit is typically not a hotspot for owls, but on the 24^th and 25^th I managed to see three species in two days there: Barred, Great Horned, and Short-eared Owls. Lapland Longspurs were also a reliable feature of Blackie Spit throughout the second half of October, including a high count of eight on the 25^th. Much to my relief, a Black-crowned Night-Heron, which I had missed earlier in the year, returned to Nicomekl Portage Park on the 29^th. 

Nashville Warbler at Blackie Spit (Oct 11, 2024)

American Golden-Plover (right) at Blackie Spit (Oct 17, 2024)

Short-eared Owl with friends at Blackie Spit (Oct 24, 2024)

Black-crowned Night-Heron at Nicomekl Portage Park (Oct 29, 2024)

Throughout October I started visiting to the White Rock waterfront more frequently as there was a small handful of target birds that are most reliable there. Several thousand Western Grebes gather in Semiahmoo Bay from late September to mid-November, and among these flotillas there are sometimes Clark’s Grebes. In addition to the inherent challenge with this needle in a haystack scenario, the grebes spend a lot of time sleeping or well offshore which further diminishes the odds of finding the one in one thousand Clark’s Grebe that may be present. Indeed, these were the challenges that I encountered throughout October and during each visit I felt like I had adequately seen only a small fraction of the grebes present. On the 13th I attempted to kayak out to the distant grebes, which was also not without its challenges. Although the sea state started out calm, a slight chop gradually developed. Given the low vantage point when seated in a kayak, even a slight chop hides grebes remarkably well in its troughs. More frustratingly, it also rotated my kayak in undesired directions whenever I stopped paddling to scan the grebes. I picked out one Clark’s x Western Grebe hybrid but the real measure of success was returning to land without having submerged my optics. 

Clark's x Western Grebe hybrid off White Rock west beach (Oct 13, 2024)

Several days later, on the morning of the 21^st, ROFO texted to notify me that many grebes were feeding relatively close off the end of the White Rock pier and showing well. Seizing the opportunity, I headed to the pier and an hour later picked out at a Clark’s Grebe! A female Redhead, found by ROFO was mingling with scaup west of the pier. The day before I had a male east of the pier. This was another of my target birds. 

Clark's Grebe (front) with Western Grebe (back) at White Rock Pier (Oct 21, 2024)

Chapter 9: September

September is the peak of southbound migration in Vancouver and there were still lots of reasonably easy targets, at least at the Metro Vancouver scale, that I still needed for my SemiPen year list. Blackie Spit seemed like the place with the best potential for most of these, as well as anything unexpected, so I focused my birding there for most of the month, visiting it twenty times. 

Things started off hot with a Lark Sparrow found by CVWE on the 2^nd, which was seen by many including me. There were now two Stilt Sandpipers at Blackie Spit on the 2^nd and 3^rd. On the morning of the 10^th, there was a Red-necked Phalarope and two Baird’s Sandpipers, just my second sighting of each this year. However, the real highlight was a Palm Warbler present briefly in the northeast corner of the Saveneye area before launching itself northeast over the Nicomekl estuary. There was a good morning flight of warblers that day, all of which passed through the Saveneye area in quick succession and onward to the northeast (in the opposite direction of the prevailing southbound migration). Migration was so good that morning that I returned in the evening to see if anything else had touched down and stayed. I found a Horned Lark on the spit and a couple Chipping Sparrows near the entrance to the Saveneye area. The lark stayed for several days and was eventually joined by a second bird. 

Lark Sparrow at Blackie Spit (Sep 2, 2024)

Palm Warbler at Blackie Spit (Sep 10, 2024)

Chipping Sparrow at Blackie Spit (Sep 10, 2024)

By mid-September variable sized Black-bellied Plover flocks started coming over from Boundary Bay during very high tides. On the 14^th there was a golden plover with them, but I only saw it in flight so could not identify it to species. That same flock contained a couple Sanderling, which were an overdue year bird. On the 16^th the plover flock brought with it two Red Knots but no golden plovers. On the 17^th there was a Mourning Dove, just my second for the year, and another on the 29^th. I also saw my first Lapland Longspur of the year on the 17^th, then again on the 18^th, 20^th, and 21^st. Also On the 20^th the Willet appeared for the first time this fall and a Common Nighthawk flew over at dusk. The next day I finally saw a Vaux’s Swift and the day after a flock of twenty; just as I was beginning to worry about missing this species. Another Red-necked Phalarope and my first Pectoral Sandpipers of the year, a flock of ten, were also present on the 22^nd. But the best bird that day was an American Redstart, again, in the Saveneye area and another SemiPen first for me. A week later three California Scrub-Jays, along with many Steller’s Jays, were flying back and forth between Blackie Spit and the Crescent Beach neighbourhood on the 27^th. A flock of five Pectoral Sandpipers that day were just my second and last sighting of that species this year. 

American Redstart at Blackie Spit (Sep 22, 2024)

California Scrub Jays at Blackie Spit (Sep 27, 2024)

On the 29^th, I finally saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk, which was my 200^th year bird. I was starting to worry about this one too, since mid to late September represents their peak migration on the north shore mountains, where it is not unusual to see upwards of twenty in a single day. Such raptor migration does not occur on the Semiahmoo Peninsula, so encounters with Sharpies are chance events, unless one is stalking your bird feeder.  Large numbers of Cackling Geese started to gather in Mud Bay, usually loafing on the mudflats at dawn than flying northeast to the fields within a couple hours of sunrise. They numbered in the hundreds by the middle of the month and in the thousands by its end. On the 29^th, I picked out two Greater White-fronted Geese from this flock in flight while at Elgin Heritage Park. I saw my first White-throated Sparrow of the year there that day as well.

A frustrating miss in September was an ibis, which was seen flying over the spit by PHWR and DEHL on the 19^th. Perhaps that was for the best since temptation to count it as White-faced Ibis would have been very great. If one is strict, most juvenile ibises cannot be identified to species in flight, or perched for that matter, although the odds here are heavily weighted (like 99.9%) towards White-faced Ibis.

Chapter 8: August

By early August, the southbound shorebird migration is in full swing and there were still many species that I needed for my SemiPen year list. However, it seemed that the shorebird flocks were not visiting Blackie Spit much, other than yellowlegs which were often present in impressive numbers. I saw only small numbers of peeps and the plover flocks seemed to roost on the living dykes – the new flood protection structures – at Boundary Bay instead of gathering on the saltmarsh across from Blackie Spit. While birding at Boundary Bay, it was not unusual for me to see two or three shorebird species that I still needed for my SemiPen year list with the Semiahmoo Peninsula in the background. 

On August 10, I was pleased to find a Stilt Sandpiper with the yellowlegs at Blackie Spit.  The next day, I finally connected with a single Semipalmated Sandpiper there. On August 14 and 15, I noticed a sudden influx of Baird’s Sandpipers at Boundary Bay, so figured now was the time to try for one at Blackie Spit. In my experience they are most reliable on the actual spit during very high tides, which flood the remainder of Mud Bay. On such a tide on August 16, I observed two Baird’s Sandpipers at the end of the spit. As a bonus, there were also four Red-necked Phalaropes and a juvenile Franklin’s Gull visible from the end of the spit.  The latter was the same bird I found at Boundary Bay the day before and I saw it again on August 19, this time among a gull roost at Crescent Beach.

Stilt Sandpiper at Blackie Spit (August 11, 2024)

Elgin Heritage Park has good potential for three key SemiPen target birds in August. The first, Green Heron, I was lucky to observe on my first visit there on August 4. Solitary Sandpiper quickly followed on August 7.  Both birds stayed for over a week and I saw them repeatedly. My third key target was Northern Waterthrush. One has never been seen there, at least according to eBird, but there is a predictable passage of waterthrushes through Metro Vancouver in the second half of August and the habitat at Elgin Heritage Park seems perfect. Despite eight visits to Elgin Heritage Park throughout the month, and another two to Crescent Park which is where I have seen my one and only waterthrush on the SemiPen, I never connected with one. In fact, the fall of 2024 turned out to be very poor for Northern Waterthrushes throughout Metro Vancouver, with much fewer reports than in previous years.

Green Heron at Elgin Heritage Park (August 4, 2024)

Solitary Sandpiper at Elgin Heritage Park (August 7, 2024)

A much more common bird that I still needed, and one that time was running out for, was Cliff Swallow. Except for Barn Swallows, the other swallow species tend to disappear from Metro Vancouver early and inconspicuously. I was beginning to see large numbers of Barn Swallows feeding over the saltmarsh across from Blackie Spit, and with a scope could occasionally pick out all the other species except for Cliff. I suspected that most of these Barn Swallows roosted in the corn fields along 40^th Avenue and an evening visit to Elgin Heritage Park confirmed this when I saw several hundred swarming above and descending into the corn stalks across the river for the night. I was surprised to see a Short-eared Owl fly over, but still could not pick out a Cliff. Finally, on August 11, I again observed several hundred Barn Swallows wheeling above the same corn fields while scoping from Elgin Heritage Park. However, on this day, they frequently landed on the dirt bank of the newly raised dyke on the north side on the Nicomekl River. This allowed efficient scope views and I was able to pick out a single Cliff Swallow; a sooty brown and poorly patterned fresh juvenile that barely resembled a Cliff Swallow save for its buffy rump. This flock also contained many Bank Swallows. I counted nine perched on a single scan and there were surely more among the swallows that were airborne. I ended up seeing Cliff Swallows again on August 21, this time at Blackie Spit when many swallows were landing at the end of the spit on a blustery morning.

Cliff Swallows at Blackie Spit (August 21, 2024)

Bank Swallows at Blackie Spit (August 21, 2024)

Other notable odds and ends from August included a Bullock’s Oriole at Blackie Spit on the 10^th, a Chipping Sparrow at Blackie Spit on the 11^th, and a Great Horned Owl at Alderwood Park on the 14^th. 

Bullock's Oriole at Blackie Spit (August 10, 2024)

Chapter 7: July

As expected, birding quieted down in July. There was not a lot of potential year birds to search for and I only turned up two: a juvenile Mourning Dove at Blackie Spit on July 13 and the first southbound Lesser Yellowlegs on July 22. 

Mourning Dove at Blackie Spit

Perhaps more notable was the absence of some birds. Mourning Dove, which were once reliable at Elgin Heritage Park throughout the summer months, were seemingly absent this year. As were Marsh Wrens; turns out I was very lucky to find one at Blackie Spit on March 17. The marsh at Elgin has previously hosted Virginia Rails during most summers, but there were no reports this year. My only sighting of a Virginia Rail on the SemiPen this year turned out to be a vocal bird on April 18 in the ephemeral wetland that has formed on the old Riverside Golf Course. On the other hand, the Sora that was first reported at Elgin Heritage Park in late April remained until at least early July. There were a couple eBird reports of two Soras at Elgin, so perhaps they nested, though I’m not aware of any sightings of chicks. 

Chapter 6: June

The little woodlot next to the parking lot at Blackie Spit always struck me like it should be a migrant trap. The tall black cottonwoods, fringed by red alder and birch, create an island of habitat that is unlike its surroundings. I’ve often imagined some eastern warbler overshoot setting up a territory there – perhaps a Chestnut-sided Warbler as often happens in Metro Vancouver. But that had never happened, at least not until June 7^th of this year. 

As I entered the woodlot that morning, a rising buzzy trill in the background of the dawn chorus caught my attention. “Huh, that sounds like a Northern Parula” I thought. I managed a faint recording before it went quiet. I wandered about the woodlot back and forth but there was no further sign of the bird. There was a good push of late migrants with several other warbler species on the move as well as a singing Red-eyed Vireo, a SemiPen first for me. Then, exiting the woodlot on the east side, I could hear the suspected parula singing from the oaks at the corner of Dunsmuir and Gilley St., less than fifty meters from where the Oriental Turtle-Dove was first found. This time the bird was right in front of me, but again I failed to see it, and again after a few minutes it went quiet. But it had also switched its song type to another Northern Parula song type. At this point I was sure it was one, but still had not seen it. A Bullock’s Oriole distracted me briefly as it flew over chattering; another good SemiPen bird. After some fifteen minutes of silence, which felt like an eternity, I returned to the woodlot and to my relief, again heard the suspected parula singing from the birches near where I first heard it. This time I managed some brief glimpses, enough to confirm the identification, and put the word out. A handful of birders managed to see it that morning before it sang for the last time around 11 am. Remarkably this was not the first parula for the SemiPen; CAGI had found one at near-by Elgin Heritage Park on May 30, 2007. 

Northern Parula at Blackie Spit (June 7, 2024)

Throughout the remainder of June, I was pleased with multiple sightings of Black Swifts and Common Nighthawksover the SemiPen, the latter over my yard on a couple occasions. On the morning of June 25, I scoped from Kowmais Point. The water was glassy and the sun directly behind me, perfect conditions for picking out distant alcids on the water. I counted nineteen Rhinoceros Auklets, which are fairly reliable here in summer under the right conditions. I was more lucky to intercept two flying Pigeon Guillemots, which are a tough bird to find on the SemiPen. The auklet was my 180^th year bird, meaning I had reached my modest target halfway through the year. Two hundred began to feel like a feasible, but still distant, possibility. 

Chapter 5: May

I have a ritual for the first day of each month, one that is practiced by even fewer birders than SemiPen listing. This ritual is the AMAT list, which stands for All the Months Added Together, but can be simplified as monthly life listing. When the month rolls over, I attempt to find all staked out rarities that I have never seen in that calendar month. One of my nemesis birds for the month of May is Willet. For the last several years, one has wintered at Boundary Bay but typically disappears sometime in late April. This year he had lingered into the final days of April, having been seen at Blackie Spit on April 26 and Boundary Bay on April 28 and 29. However, by moving between both locations, the Willet complicated my decision regarding when and where I should look on the first of May. Tides are an important factor. The morning high tide was suitable for Boundary Bay, whereas the evening high tide was not sufficiently high to bring the shorebirds close enough to the dyke for careful study. Such a high tide is not essential for Blackie Spit, therefore, I decided to go to Boundary Bay in the morning, and if the Willet was not there, I figured I could still look for it at Blackie Spit that evening. With this strategy, as long as the Willet stayed at either location for the entire day, I should be just about guaranteed to see it.

While I was at Boundary Bay that morning, the Willet was at Blackie Spit. Adding insult to injury, so was a flock of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches, another great would-be SemiPen year bird. I could not relocate either bird that evening. A Short-eared Owl sitting in the saltmarsh across from the spit and a Northern House Wren at Dunsmuir Gardens offered some consolation, both being good SemiPen year birds and the owl also being a May lifer. However, that sighting of the Willet on May 1 was the last one of the spring, and so it remains my May nemesis bird. 

Northern House Wren at Blackie Spit (May 1, 2024)

Things improved on the morning of May 3 when I found SemiPen’s first Black-and-White Warbler at Blackie Spit. My camera battery happened to be dead, but MEHA managed to snap a photo. Good birds kept coming to Blackie Spit. Early on the morning of May 11, while I was at Brunswick Point, a flock of American White Pelicans were found. When I went to search for them the tide had already fallen leaving very little water in Mud Bay. With no pelicans in sight, I continued my search around the bend to Crescent Beach where scoping the tideline many kilometres away I found a different big white bird – Great Egret. It turned out that MITA had actually found it less than an hour earlier at Blackie Spit, but those news had not reached me so I was pleasantly surprised to “find” it on my own. However, it seemed that the rising thermals carried the pelicans away to their next destination.

Great Egret off Crescent Beach (May 1, 2024). This one is somewhere near that broken red line along the west boundary of the SemiPen checklist area.

On May 16, ANFO found a Heerman’s Gull at White Rock Pier; a spectacular spring record. This species is typically seen in Metro Vancouver in August and September after dispersing north from their nesting colonies off Mexico, but in very small numbers and rarely on the SemiPen. On May 17 it was relocated by ROFO and I wasted no time to go see it. 

Heerman's Gull at White Rock Pier (May 19, 2024).

On May 22, while scoping the mudflats from the end of Blackie Spit, I noticed three godwits across Mud Bay that wore a strikingly similar plumage to the three Bar-tailed Godwits that MEHA and I found at Brunswick Point two days earlier. Two birds had rich rufous underparts and one was quite pale, but they were more than 800 m away and details were difficult to discern. Eventually they made a short flight and those views confirmed that they were indeed Bar-tailed Godwits, likely the same ones. This spring proved to be exceptional for barwits in Metro Vancouver. They moved between Blackie Spit, Boundary Bay, and Brunswick Point, with eight at the latter representing an all-time high count for BC. My personal high was five at Blackie Spit on May 28, the same day as an American Avocet. Two avocets were found here by ROFO and PHWR on May 23, but were not seen again until my sighting, which was presumably of one of those two birds. In addition to the barwits, on May 22 I saw two Franklin’s Gulls and two Red Knots at Blackie Spit. On May 29, I saw a Turkey Vulture circling over King George Highway, which would be my only sighting of this species all year. 

                       Franklin's Gulls at Blackie Spit (May 22, 2024). Comfortable scope views. 

Bar-tailed Godwits at Blackie Spit (May 28, 2024). They were far.

American Avocet at Blackie Spit (May 28, 2024). It was even farther.

Chapter 4: April

By April, his zugunruhue had set in. He did not know precisely where he was or exactly how to get back, but endogenous processes signaled that it was time for him to go north. During his journey, he would need to rely on innate navigational mechanisms, the star compass, the Earth’s magnetic field, patterns of polarized light. But these navigational systems had previously faltered and now he was on the wrong continent. He may have been flying for hours or maybe for days when he decided it was time to touch down. Why he chose the location that he did is as much of a mystery as how he got here. Perhaps it was the change in landscape below him that he found appealing, perhaps he noticed the Eurasian Collared-Doves that resembled him, or perhaps he needed to drink from a freshwater source. Whatever it was that compelled him to land at Blackie Spit on April 17, he happened to do so ahead of CVWE. This intersection between bird and birder sent a shockwave through the birding community. 

I raced out to Blackie Spit that the evening as soon as news broke but in the waning daylight could not find the Oriental Turtle-Dove. The actual location of the original sighting, a grassy slough margin, did not seem like a spot that would hold a vagrant dove. I thought that it would much more likely be in the residential areas of Crescent Beach, if it stayed at all, where it may be attracted by bird feeders and the presence of Eurasian Collared-Doves. Along with many other birders, I searched the area the following morning, alternating between where it was found and the near-by streets. Although nobody found the dove that morning, the birding was very good with migration in clear evidence. Of the 70 species that morning, highlights included twelve Ring-necked Ducks, three Canvasbacks, the Willet, a Townsend’s Solitaire, and a Chipping Sparrow.

Willet at Blackie Spit (April 18, 2024)

I returned that evening to continue searching. This time I brought my bike and planned to simply cycle the streets of Crescent Beach until sundown, in the hopes of serendipitously intersecting the dove just as CVWE did. MEHA joined me and stationed herself at ground zero in case the dove returned to where it was first discovered. More than an hour into the search, I was cycling along Agar St. when a dove walked across the road some hundred meters ahead. By now I had seen so many Eurasian Collared-Doves that I did not feel like braking to look at this one, but did so anyways, and was in disbelief when the image of the Oriental Turtle-Dove resolved itself as I turned the focus dial of my binoculars. After crossing the road, the dove settled under some bird feeders and fed on spilled seed. MEHA hurried over and saw the dove minutes before it flew to the southeast. Fortunately for birders, and less so for neighboring homeowners, the dove kept returning to this feeder over the next seven days where it was seen by many. 

Oriental Turtle-Dove at Crescent Beach (April 18, 2024)

Although paling in comparison to the Oriental Turtle-Dove, there were a number of other good SemiPen birds throughout April. A Sora was reported from Elgin Heritage Park, which I saw on April 21 and 23. A pair of Cinnamon Teals were also present on both days and an American Kestrel flew over the park on the 21^st. This was an over-due SemiPen lifer for me. At daybreak on the 23^rd, I exited my car at Blackie Spit to the raucous song of a male Yellow-headed Blackbird. Another SemiPen lifer and only the second SemiPen record according to eBird. 

Yellow-headed Blackbird at Blackie Spit (April 23, 2024)

On April 24^th I finally connected with Wood Ducks at Elgin Heritage Park. They had been reported on eBird over the preceding days, but I kept missing them. On April 26^th, I saw the Yellow-billed Loon at Blackie Spit for just the second time this year. Although it had been present since January, sightings were very infrequent and unpredictable. Some believed this was the same juvenile that also frequented Point Roberts, which would mean it covered a very large winter territory. 

Wood Ducks at Elgin Heritage Park (April 24, 2024). The lousy quality of this photo, taken with my phone through my binoculars, conveys the rarity of Wood Duck on the SemiPen.

Chapter 3: March

The focus in early March was gulls and owls. A gulling session at the mouth of the Campbell River on the 7^th finally produced an American Herring Gull, along with a few more Iceland Gulls. This was also my 100^th SemiPen year bird. I had two unproductive nocturnal owling outings at Crescent Park and Sunnyside Woods before finally having success at the latter on the 4^th in the form of simultaneously calling Great Horned Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owl (recording here). Later in the month, I heard a Barred Owl from my backyard. 

American Herring Gull at the Campbell River estuary (March 7, 2024)

March 17 proved to be a productive outing at Blackie Spit, which started off with a Marsh Wren chattering from the equisetum in the understory of the woodlot behind the tennis courts – an odd location. This common bird throughout much of Metro Vancouver is surprisingly difficult to find on the SemiPen. Some years they are present at Elgin Heritage Park, but (spoiler alert) as it would turn out, this would be my only Marsh Wren for SemiPen in 2024. At the time, I was a lot more excited by a Tundra Swan, only my second ever for SemiPen, that flew over with a flock of Trumpeter Swans, briefly landing on Mud Bay. Trumpeter Swan migration was in evidence that morning with several flocks passing overhead, none of which carried a Whooper Swan with them (it was on this day in 2022 that one made landfall at Trout Lake on its way north from Washington, where it had been wintering again in 2023/2024).

As daylength increased, I started doing more morning birding before work, focusing on the waterfront and trying to intercept some seabirds. There were large congregations of sea ducks and loons at 1001 Steps and on the 21^st I observed several fly-by flocks ofBrandt’s Cormorants, totalling 21 birds. 

Chapter 2: February

I tried to conjure up a Pygmy Nuthatch at Alderwood Park a few more times while there was still insufficient daylight to venture father afield before or after work, but it was not to be. A Red-breasted Sapsucker working its wells on the same pine trees offered some consolation. They can be a tricky bird to catch up to on the SemiPen some winters. For good measure, I also tried twice more for Black-crowned Night Heron and Rusty Blackbird at Nicomekl Portage Park, dipping on both. 

Red-breasted Sapsucker not on a pine tree at Kwomais Point (February 4, 2024). 

Winter is the season for gulls and Metro Vancouver offers some of the worst gulling in North America! I have several reasons for this contentious claim: 

(1) We are in the heart of the Glaucous-winged x Western Gull hybrid zone. Up to 75% of some Western and Glaucous-winged Gull colonies in Washington comprise hybrids¹, which is likely representative of the gull scene around Metro Vancouver. The range of phenotypes shown by these hybrids and their back-crosses make identification problematic. 

(2) There are so many Glaucous-winged and Olympic Gulls that other large Larids constitute <1% of any flock. Actually, 1% might be generous and 0.1% might be more typical. 

(3) There are no locations where large gull flocks can be reliably observed at close range. Most gulls gather in large, densely packed flocks in the middle of fields around the Delta landfill or way out on the mudflats of Boundary Bay, where viewing conditions, for lack of a better word, suck. 

The SemiPen is no exception to terrible gulling. In fact, finding a pure American Herring Gull can be challenging. There are no fields on the SemiPen, so gulling must be done at the beach. The best gull spot is the mouth of the Campbell River, where gulls sometimes gather in modest numbers to loaf and bathe during evening low tides. My first gulling attempt here produced a single Iceland Gull, but not the hoped for American Herring or Western Gulls.

The best and most unexpected bird in February was a calling Barn Owl flying over my neighboorhood on the rainy night of the 4th. A crummy recording of that bird can be listened to here. 

¹ Howell, SNG and Dunn, J. 2007. Gulls of the Americas. Boston, NY: Hougton Mifflin Company.