Playing Catch-Up

A number of good birds had accumulated in my absence. My first order of business upon returning to town on August 3rd was the morning high tide at Boundary Bay. The main objective: Bar-tailed Godwit. I had read reports about this bird in agony for ten days, but with reports continuing through to August 1st, it seemed that I had a reasonable chance of seeing this bird.

The morning tide was perfect and thousand of peeps fed close to the dyke in the soft morning light. However, only about 200 plovers were present at 104th St., whereas up to 900 had been reported accompanying the godwit. With no other plovers to be seen in either direction, I feared that many birds had moved out in the last two days. A Red Knot was with the plovers and the Franklin's Gull flew past back and forth a few times; a good year bird, but not the primary target.

#229 - Franklin's Gull - 3 Aug 2015 - 104th St., Boundary Bay

I was joined by Mel and Yousif and we decided to walk west towards the mansion as the tide began to recede. A mixed flock east of the mansion had my first Baird's Sandpiper of the year (#230). Then, coming from the other direction, the Tabak brothers alerted us that the Bar-tailed Godwit was present with a large plover flock west of 88th Street. At this distance, hundreds of tiny heat-distorted blobs were all that was visible through the scope. It was time to boogie. As we drew nearer along the dyke, the flock moved further away in pursuit of the falling tide. It seemed as if we were't getting any closer and I considered aborting and returning on the rising evening tide instead, but was persuaded otherwise. Just when we got as close as we would get, without fail the flock took flight, wheeling back and forth above the mudflats. Serendipitously, I quickly locked on to a larger bird and we were soon all watching it in flight among the plovers. Definitely a godwit... with a plain barred underwing, barred tail, and no cinnamon tones; this was it, the object of my despair! We watched it land and decided to walk out on the flats for better views, but turned back because heat distortion proved too intense. As lousy as those views were, I remember it as clearly as the photo below. 

#231 - Bar-tailed Godwit - 3 Aug 2015 - 88th St., Boundary Bay. (Photo from Cairns, Australia; because nothing makes a sighting more credible than a photo from somewhere else.)

I returned on the evening tide hoping for better views of the barwit, and to try for a hudwit that we learned was seen in overflight the previous evening. The Hudsonian Godwit was present with plovers in front of 104th St., completing my godwit slam quite early in the year and distracting me sufficiently long that I did not make it to 88th St. to look again for the barwit until after the tide had risen.

#232 - Hudsonian Godwit - 3 Aug 2015 - 104th St., Boundary Bay.

The following morning's high tide at Boundary Bay did not produce either of the godwits, though one Pacific Golden-Plovers was still kicking about, as was the Franklin's Gull. It now seemed I was quite lucky to have seen the barwit. Meanwhile, hot shorebirds continued with the arrival of a Stilt Sandpiper at Reifel, feeding in the company of two Red-necked Phalaropes and three Lesser Yellowlegs. All three species were year birds! 

#233 Red-necked Phalarope, #234 Lesser Yellowlegs and #235 Stilt Sandpiper - 4 Aug 2015 - Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

My latest addition came from acting upon a call about a Solitary Sandpiper at Iona; this is a bird I generally bump in to at some point in the year, but was very relieved to get because I don't like the idea of "bumping" during a big year.

#236 Solitary Sandpiper - 6 Aug 2015 - Iona inner ponds.

Although none of these are mega-rarities, it is quite a good start to the shorebird migration for this early in August. There are still many weeks of it ahead and almost endless possibilities.

Count update: 236 + 1 as of August 6.

The Start of the Shorebird Migration

July is a great month to spend at the beach and observe the amazing shorebird migration. In Metro Vancouver, we are lucky to be situated along the Pacific Flyway in an area that offers some of the country's best shorebird viewing opportunities: the Fraser River Estuary. The Fraser River Estuary is designated as a site of Hemispheric Importance in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). Several million shorebirds pass over the estuary each year in migration and tens of thousands remain for the winter. Shorebirds form enormous concentrations at such key staging areas along their migration route. Each area provides an abundance of food resources that enable birds to quickly replenish their energy reserves and complete the next leg of their journey. These staging areas underpin their entire migration system, but also lend great vulnerability to their users. Such enormous concentrations of birds at relatively few, widely spaced locations break the usual relationship between a species' abundance and its immunity to extinction, while highlighting the conservation value of these special places.

Western Sandpipers lead the shorebird migration throughout much of the fall on the Fraser River Estuary.

Semipalmated Sandpipers move through in small numbers and their migration through our area will largely be over by the end of August. 

Least Sandpipers forage in small flocks in drier and more vegetated areas compared to Westerns, which dominate the open mudflats.

Fall shorebirds can make or break a big year in Metro Vancouver. There are numerous locally uncommon species that require determined and routine circuits of the local shorebird hotspots to see, plus almost endless possibilities for unexpected vagrants.This year, the fall shorebird season started off slowly with a pair of Pacific Golden-Plovers on July 19 being the only notable species I've observed thus far. Naturally, five days after leaving town for work, the first truly rare shorebird of the season showed up on July 24: Bar-tailed Godwit. I'm hoping its a really tired and hungry one and needs at least another 9 days to build up its fat reserves.

#228 - Pacific Golden-Plover - July 19, 2015 - Boundary Bay, BC. 

"koWIT" said one golden-plover to the other. (Translation: "race you across the Pacific".)

Being just a spectator from afar for the remainder of July, it seems 228 will be my month-end total. While finding another 22 species in five months doesn't initially seem like an unreasonable prospect, reviewing my "Target Species" on eBird suggests fairly limited opportunity. Here are the 30 most frequently reported species in Metro Vancouver between now and end of December that I still need for my year list.




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.