June: The Halfway Point

June is a good month to catch up to any breeding birds that may have been missed during spring migration. Some years it can be a good month for vagrant eastern passerines holding territory, but this year did not produce any such surprises. However, there are always a few scarcities that require a concerted effort to see.

American Redstart is one of these. Pitt Meadows is really the only reliable location within the Vancouver checklist area where redstarts occur annually on territory. There are usually one or two territorial males somewhere along the Grant Narrows Nature Dyke or along the Pitt River Dyke south from the Pitt Lake boat launch. This year, a walk along the Pitt River Dyke yielded 3 singing males.

#223 - American Redstart - June 7, 2015 - Pitt River Dyke (a.k.a. Catbird Slough), Pitt Meadows.

Another pseudo-rarity I was happy to catch up to was House Wren. I find their near absence in the Vancouver checklist area quite puzzling considering they are common in a variety of habitats across their range, and are not an uncommon breeder in urban areas of southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. I observed this one on private property in the eastern reaches of the Vancouver checklist area.

#225 - House Wren - 9 June 2015

Perhaps somewhat counter-intuitively, June can also be an interesting month for shorebirds. It is often difficult to know whether these birds are coming or going, but that is part of the appeal, which also lends tantalizing possibility. During the first few days of June, some of the straggling northbound migrants are still passing through our area. Some first year birds do not migrate all the way to their breeding grounds and spend their first summer on their wintering grounds or somewhere in between.   Small flocks of summering Black-bellied Plovers in Boundary Bay and Roberts Bank are one such example. Many of these birds skip their alternate moult and wear their subdued winter colours all summer long while their adult counterparts are looking spiffy in the high arctic. Straggling migrants will often associate with small concentrations of summering shorebirds, like the adult breeding plumaged Red Knots at Brunswick Point, making these flocks worthwhile to check.

#226 - Red Knot - 13 June 2015 - Brunswick Point, Delta. Look for them in the vicinity of the pink flag. 

By late June, though just a trickle, southbound migration is already underway. Shorebirds that were unsuccessful in their breeding attempts are the first to appear, then adults that 'got the job done' following later in July. I usually start shore birding early, often too early, but sometimes the early season has its surprises. Kicking off my fall shorebirding on June 27, I arrived at Boundary Bay with Mel to find Kevin Louth looking at a Ruff!

#228 - Ruff - 27 June 2015 - Boundary Bay, Delta.

Excitement slowly gave way to concern, as we noticed this bird sporting colour bands. Resighting colour-banded shorebirds is fairly uncommon, let alone when they are on the wrong side of an ocean! (Consider probability: what are the odds of a few randomly selected [banded] individuals from a much larger population ending up straying off course?)  However, this in itself would not have been such a concern if we didn't know that there was a captive breeding program at Simon Fraser University, only some 20 km away. In fact, the captive breeding program at SFU is the largest Ruff aviary on the planet, and by contacting the appropriate researchers we received confirmation that our bird had escaped their captivity. You can read more about SFU's Ruff study here. Unfortunately, this meant that this Ruff was removed from my year list as promptly as it was added. Meanwhile, I'm hoping a wild Ruff will take the scenic route south later this fall.

Count update: 227 species on June 30.

East Meets West at Colony Farm

Ask and you shall receive! The birding Gods must have read my last post and sent on to me a Western Kingbird.

Western Kingbird (#221) - 4 June 2015 - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam.

Eastern Kingbird - 4 June 2015 - Colony Farm Regional Park, Coquitlam.

Look! A Blog Update!

It's certainly been a long hiatus from blog updates, but the overwhelming number of fan letters enquiring about the progress of my big year have finally prompted me to update this derelict blog. "Are you still doing a big year? What's your number?" said no one.

Well, the lack of updates stems primarily from being out of town for most of May. In fact, due to work and personal travel, I have been in Vancouver for only three full days since May 5. Formerly I used to announce a rare bird moratorium when leaving town, but eventually learned that it only encouraged my "friends" to look especially hard for rarities in my absence. Now I prefer to slip away on the sly, which still works only sometimes.

Fortunately, the few days I had in town were timed impeccably. I returned home from field work on May 10, the day a Ross' Goose was found, and nabbed it the following morning, before leaving town again on May 12.

Ross' Goose (#209) - 11 May 2015 - Brunswick Point, Ladner.

I was then gone until May 25, coming back for only two days which coincided with a territorial Least Flycatcher, and then left again for the remainder of the month. Amazingly, during my absence, there was not a single chaseable CMF in Metro Vancouver! My biggest miss was Western Kingbird, which I had anticipated and prepared for sufficiently well that birding suicide was never considered. And there continues to be a trickle of WEKI sightings which gives me hope that I still have a slim chance to connect with one.

Least Flycatcher (#217) - 26 May 2015 - Minnekhada Regional Park. The flycatcher offered no views, so this sonogram is the best I have to offer. Its che-BIKs are within the red boxes, with a Wilson's Warbler between the red boxes and a Swainson's Thrush wip-ing below.

Some might question the strategy of leaving town for extended periods of time during a big year, especially during late May which typically yields a hot bird or two. While it certainly is a gamble, when timed right it could earn substantial bragging rights such as this: "I was out of town for n days in (pick the most impressive month) and still got x species." And now with that card in my back pocket, the big year goes on.

Count update: 219 species on May 31.

Spring Migrant Medley

Spring migration is one of the most exciting periods for birding: new species arrive daily, there is an explosion of bird song, the excitement of mixed-species flocks, and the tantalizing possibility of finding some unexpected wayward traveller. There is a handful of species that pass through Vancouver in fairly small numbers during the spring, but connecting with them can sometimes be quite challenging. I present a few photos of some local spring scarcities below.

Chipping Sparrow (#190) - 22 April 2015 - Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver.   

Nashville Warbler (#193) - 25 April 2015 - Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver.

Townsend's Solitaire (#197) - 26 April 2015 - Grant Narrows

Dusky Flycatcher (#202) - 30 April 2015 - Maplewood Conservation Area

Spring Bonus: Lapland Longspurs

I greeted the sunrise on April 21 on the Iona poo pipe hoping to nab the previously reported Lapland Longspurs before work.  I found the birds enjoying the morning rays of sun around the 1.5 km mark where I spent some time photographing them. It's an uncommon treat to see them locally in their breeding colours, since they generally pass through in late fall. 

Count update: 188 as of April 21.

Kitsilano Action

The first three weeks of March were quite uneventful, but then a quick succession of hot birds popped up in Kitsilano within the last week and I was lucky to connect with all three. The first was a PALM WARBLER at Jericho Park which showed itself for all of 3 seconds during 4 hours of searching on March 22, and then, with a pump of the tail, flew overhead and out of sight. To lend further credibility to my sighting, I was standing next to two very skilled birders at the time, neither of whom got on the bird despite my calm, precise description of its whereabouts. What can I say, maybe I just wanted it more?

Next were a MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD and a SAY'S PHOEBE at Locarno Beach. Mountain Bluebirds have a fairly reliable, but short, passage window through Metro Vancouver in late March/early April when they turn up at a handful of regular locations. However, expecting to be away in early April, I was fairly eager and glad to get my bluebird. 

phonescoped Mountain Bluebird - 26 March 2015 - Locarno Beach, Vancouver.

The Say's Phoebe was the result of the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect when someone found it while looking for the bluebird. Say's Phoebes also show up in Vancouver annually, usually around late March/early April, but in very small numbers and are notorious for remaining in an area for just one day or less. Luckily, I was notified by several people that it was found and used my powers of persuasion on YOAT to get us from the office to Locarno Beach by whistling some phoebe-like "pidiweews" within his earshot. True to the phoebe trend, it was not seen the following day.

phonescoped Say's Phoebe - 26 March 2015 - Locarno Beach, Vancouver.

I wonder where the phoebe is?

Count update: 172 as of March 26.

Winter Wrap-up

It is now March and winter is over. While the rest of society still has another 21 days of winter to endure, for birders spring officially starts on March 1st. It’s no secret that birding customs are odd, so the fact that birders don’t follow the Gregorian calendar should not come as a surprise. For birders, winter spans the period from December 1^st to February 28^th and equally as fascinating as the birder’s calendar is the ‘winter’ list.

I did not understand winter listing during my initial forays in to the mysterious world of birding. I wondered why spring lists or lists for any other season were not kept? At the time, a mentor offered the explanation that since winter days are short and there isn’t much daily turnover in the bird community, winter listing is more manageable compared to hectic migrations. At the time this seemed like a reasonable explanation, however it took moving to Alberta to discover the real reason behind winter listing. 

Living on the coast we sometimes forget that much of the rest of the country gets blanketed with that gross white stuff, temperatures plunge below subzero and bird life is largely absent during the winter months. At times like these, additional motivation is often necessary to get outside and look for the few birds that are regretting the decision they made in November when instead of migrating they thought, “this isn’t so bad, I think I’ll stay.”

Townsend's Warbler - 31 Jan 15 - Shoreline Park, Port Moody. One of the relatively few TOWAs reported locally this winter. It represents a good 'winter bird' and anybody who went to Port Moody specifically to see it needs help; I was looking for redpolls at the time, so I'm ok. 

But I digress. For me the significance of winter’s end is the relief it represents by marking the end of my mistake of participating in a “big 2/3 winter” list (January 1 to February 28) competition, which up until now had caused me undue stress. But now, with just a flip of the calendar I no longer need to worry about searching for trivial things that will become common at the appropriate season. There will be no more prowling around suburban areas for Mourning Doves or walking along stagnant ditches for Wilson’s Snipe. I can now leave common birds to be common birds and get back to birding, pausing to chase only significant year birds along the way. Naturally, with such an attitude I lost the little competition I was in, and by quite a significant margin too. Final score: ILPO 165 vs. MITO 170. Not a bad haul for two months of winter birding, I suppose. Equally as impressive is that at least three other birders tallied Metro Vancouver lists in excess of 160 for the same last two thirds of winter. For perspective, the two biggest Metro Vancouver winter lists (i.e., three whole months) I was previously aware of were 173 and 162. But then, I never paid much attention to winter listing and probably never will again. Or at least certainly not for another nine months.

White-throated Sparrow - 21 Feb 15 - Windjammer Slough, Ladner. Giving me that same look that I always get from non-birders. 

Count update: 165 as of Feb 28