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

Tufty

Previously on the Vancouver Big Year blog, the ptarmigetters were loafing in the warm glow of success when Daniele noticed a rare bird alert had been issued: "Tufted Duck is back at Iona" he says. So much for "if some of Vancouver's most active birders are clambering around mountain peaks with me, they're not turning up rare birds elsewhere".

The Tufted Duck was first found on January 31st, but was dipped by those who twitched the following day, myself included. At the time we were under speculation that this was the same bird as last year, which also turned up mid-winter and was initially quite unsettled and difficult to find before settling at the Iona ponds until mid-March. However, after it could not be located on subsequent visits during the following two weeks, I had parted with that theory and dismissed it as a one-day wonder.

Meanwhile, there was only one person who did not respond to my ptarmi-ptrek APB. Naturally I took the opportunity to gloat by phoning him from the summit: "Hey Mike, I'm on top of Seymour and I need help identifying this all white bird with feathery feet." In retaliation to this poor birding etiquette and under the assumption I was still on the mountain,  Mike went and re-found the Tufted Duck.

Fortunately there was still daylight remaining and I justified going right away as follows: 1) There was risk that this was another one day visit; 2) I would have very little time for twitching during the work week; 3) I would be very unproductive at work with my mind occupied by Tufty. So there I was at Iona, where Daniele quickly found the bird in the NW pond making for a pretty spectacular finish to the day.

Tufted Duck - 2/15/2015 - Iona Island inner ponds.

Count update: 162 as of Feb 15.

Ptarmigan Ptrek

Ptarmigan are a bit of a mythical creature within the Vancouver checklist area. Suitable habitat is quite limited and the likelihood of encounter is greatest during the winter months when high elevation snowfall moves these mountain chickens around on adjacent peaks. However, for this same reason, accessibility in to this habitat becomes difficult and few birders make the effort to look for them. The Checklist of the Rare Birds of the Vancouver Area lists 11 records of Rock Ptarmigan and 4 records of White-tailed Ptarmigan, though I have been recently made aware of a couple additional observations of White-tailed Ptarmigan that are unaccounted for on this checklist.

There are enough records that ptarmigan are a possibility and one that I figured needed to be explored during a big year. The traditional approach for local ptarmigan seekers has been a late fall hike following the first snowfall, but our unseasonable winter with hardly any snow prompted me to organize this effort in February. I anticipated this proposition would require the most foolish of birders and would take some convincing still. But to my surprise everyone responded with a resounding “yes” and our group progressively expanded to 16 individuals. I was quite pleased with our group size for these reasons:

• the more eyes looking for these cryptic chickens, the better the chance of success; 
• it would be a fun success to share with a good group of friends; and 
• if some of Vancouver’s most active birders were clambering about mountain peaks with me, they would not be turning up rare birds elsewhere. 

At the start of the day some had remarked that our good luck was used up simply picking a suitable day for a mountain hike two weeks in advance. But we received some encouraging news that suggested otherwise when we stopped some backpackers to ask if they had seen any white chickens. Surprisingly, they said they had (being Australian, they actually said “white dove”) and even showed us an iphone photo of a White-tailed Ptarmigan strutting about their camp site on Mount Seymour!

I had clambered up some rocky outcrop just before pump peak when I heard someone shout “I got it!” from up above. I could see Rob looking at something across a saddle, but could not see the white blob in front of him. This meant it was scampering time. I took the most direct route (not advisable) and got to the peak to find most of the group having lunch with a WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN in front of them.

Chicken ptarmigana for lunch.

Between our group, there was probably over 200 combined years of Vancouver birding experience, and yet this was a new Vancouver bird for everyone but one member of our party! Brilliant views were had before the bird gradually descended down a chute on the back side of the peak, where it would have been invisible had we passed through an hour later. This really put in to context just how lucky we were to come across this chicken.

White-tailed Ptarmigan - 2/15/2015 - Pump Peak, Mount Seymour

"The Ptarmigetters" excited by success and having temporarily forgotten that they still need to get down.

A celebratory coffee was had in North Vancouver where the fine points of how wing-clipped Kakapos gain enclosure ingress were debated, when Daniele noticed a rare bird alert had been issued. To be continued….

Strix nebulosa

As the weekend approached, there were no critical year birds to chase and I was looking forward to birding wherever I wanted rather than where my year list dictated. However, that did not last long once a couple reports of Great Gray Owls popped up on Saturday. The first report came from a rather inconvenient location relative to my residence, and naturally my reaction was: "For flock's sake, I'm going to have to drive all the way over there again". But then, saving grace came in a second report from a much closer and considerably unlikelier location, and so with a healthy dose of skepticism I decided to follow up on that one instead. After a little bit of looking, a lot of standing around, and then returning after birding somewhere else, the Great Gray Owl had materialized! 

Great Gray Owl - 2/8/2015 - This nest box appears to be its favourite perch; perhaps it will stay to nest in it this spring?

Count update: 159 as of Feb 8.

Rock 'Piper & Rosy-Finch Combo

It sort of felt like Rob ready my last blog post and thought to himself, “You know what would really gripe Ilya off? If I went out mid-week and found the two birds he whined so emphatically about missing.” And so he did just that, first finding two Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches at Mount Seymour on Tuesday, then finding a Rock Sandpiper at Whytecliff Park on Wednesday!

You can probably imagine what happened next: a lot of humming and hawing between Mike and I, before we eventually pressured each other in to being at Whytecliff Park first thing Thursday morning. As I found myself staring at some turnstones and surfbirds foraging along a very distant shoreline, waiting for them to spread their wings in order to make an identification, I began to wonder if Mike hadn’t come to his better senses and stayed in bed. As a matter of fact, he had just simply timed thing better because about 10 minutes after his arrival the ROCK SANDPIPER flew past with ~15 Surfbirds and landed out of view on the back side of Whyte Islet. Although we waited almost an hour for the tide to encourage the birds to move in to view, they never did. It was frustrating to get such brief views, but at least they were got.

Since I was already on the north shore, I decided the only sensible thing to do was to make a stop for the Rosy-Finches on my way to work, which represented only a slight detour up a mountain. Rob had sent me a photo showing the gang lined up with optics pointed at the Rosy-Finches, captioned "how to find a Rosy-Finch". This was exactly how we found them; by walking the perimeter of the parking lot until we encountered a horde of admirers watching our rare alpine visitors.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch - 1/29/2015 - Mount Seymour. Tephrocotis subspecies.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch - 1/29/2015 - Mount Seymour. Littoralis (a.k.a. Hepburn's) subspecies.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch - 1/29/2015 - Mount Seymour. Littoralis subspecies.

Count update: 155 as of Jan 30.

Competition?

On January 10, right around the time when I was at 132 and unsuccessfully looking for Redheads, I received a text message from a friend’s tech center informing me that he had cracked 140. Its hard enough competing against myself, let alone against others, and so I almost ended my big year then and there. However, I often find it difficult to explain to non-birders what I do, and the idea of having to explain that I was also a quitter at it seemed unbearably worse. And so instead, I was now competing not only against myself and “260-something”, but also against his pace.

The duration of this competition is yet unknown. It seems to have evolved in to a “big 2/3 of a winter”, but I’m concerned it may carry on past the end of February since we apparently both like the idea of being ahead of each other. To this end, we both expended some effort searching for unseasonal birds. Below, I present photos of two species that are not guaranteed every year in Vancouver, both of which were observed for the second time while searching for considerably commoner winter birds.

Rusty Blackbird, 1/16/2015, Hornby Dr. & 112th St., Boundary Bay. Note distinctive lack of cowbirds in photo. 

Bohemian Waxwing, 1/16/2015, Alaksen National Wildlife Area.  There were many robins, Cedar waxwings and a few Bohemians feasting on the berries along the entrance road, but nary a Hermit Thrush.

Since a big winter is not the mission at hand, I don’t mind placing second so long as I’m beat with birds that become common later on at the appropriate time of year. However, allowing my competitor to gain an edge with difficult winter species is not a favorable prospect since it could also translate in to a long-term edge and foster ideas of big years.

One such difficult winter specialty is the Rock Sandpiper, and there have been a couple reports from Klootchman Park this winter. This species is not only difficult due to its rarity but also because the turnstone flocks they usually associate with are often hit and miss depending on tide state. If one of us was to luck out and see a Rock ‘piper, it would likely represent a lot of head ache for the other, for whom numerous repeat visits to Klootchamn would then be in order to try and close this gap. This holds especially true for me considering my proximity to Klootchman Park. My local birding habits generally avoid bridges and tunnels, and getting to Klootchman requires at minimum crossing two. To save ourselves this undue stress we made a pact to not look for Rock Sandpiper without each other. Having given up on Palm Warblers and having largely run out of common birds to search for south of all bridges and tunnels, the time to honor our pact had come, and on Jan 25 we headed for Klootchman and then the hills. 

Our effort represented arguably the lamest attempt at Rock Sandpiper ever, as the tideline was rather high against the Grebe Islets and not a shorebird was in sight. I suppose we could have checked the tide tables beforehand, but neither of us would probably be able to interpret them for that area anyhow. We also searched for a previously reported Gray-crowned Rosy Finch at Whytecliff Park, dipping on that too, but seeing a Hutton’s Vireo brought my year list to 150.

We had another key target in mind for the hills, and this one represented our day’s big success, albeit not at our first stop. Many of the birding forums have recently been saturated with full frame portraits of Northern Pygmy-Owls taken at a location east of the Vancouver checklist area. In contrast, I offer this more unique image.

Northern Pygmy-Owl, 1/25/2015, Coquitlam. 

Although the pygmy-owl is a bird that shouldn’t be missed in Vancouver with sufficient effort, I don’t tend to bump in to many due to the whole bridges and tunnels thing. Getting this one early and not having to worry about it for the remainder of the year represents a sigh of relief, especially considering I still have another 107 species to stress over.

Count update: 153 as of January 25.