Month: October 2010

Splendid Stanley Park

An American Dipper chose the Beluga pond in the Vancouver Aquarium as its habitat. The Dipper feeds on small flies who visit the algae at the edge of the pond.
The earliest mention I found of this Beluga pond bird was on winter 2007.
One of the Beluga whales, who is a bird watcher, like me, shows interest in the Dipper. Here’s a video of the Beluga whale observing the American Dipper.
The Beluga and the Dipper can be watched from the periphery of the Vancouver Aquarium for free.

Thanks to a fellow birder, I saw my first Long-tailed Duck among over two thousands Surf Scoters off the shores of the Stanley Park peninsula.

A variety of other ducks were present, males parading their striking breeding plumage: Wood Ducks, Buffleheads, Harlequin Ducks, Hooded Mergansers and Barrow’s Goldeneyes.

A Black Oystercatcher was pecking at the rocks, and an adult Golden-crowned Sparrow was well decorated as his name suggests.

Great Blue Heron

Ring-billed Gull

Harlequin Ducks

Pelagic Cormorants on Siwash rock

Irresistable ducks en route Jericho Park

In Granville Island a passionate pair of Mallards were nodding their heads up and down in synchrony, and soon engaged in a brief copulation.

In the small pond at Charleson Park, among the Mallards and the Glaucous-winged Gulls, there was a male Hooded Merganser in breeding plumage; three other Mergansers, a drake and two hens, were floating nearby at False Creek.

A viewpoint to English Bay from Volunteer Park revealed 37 American Wigeons, a Northern Pintail, a pair of Grebes at the distance and ten Harlequin Ducks, 3 males in breeding plumage among them.

In Jericho Park I flushed all the shorebirds and was left with the Geese. 5 Snow Geese, too good for the Geese crowds at Reifel, were on the north lawn; on the west side of the park, among 39 Canada Geese were 7 Cackling Geese.

As I was about to leave, the Crows got all excited. Their nemesis this time turned out to be a Racoon, perched midway up a tree, who gave me an uncomfortable look.

On the way back I ran into a group of people who were operating a stand for free grilled cheese sandwiches. The business model was simple: hand out scrumptious sandwiches to passerby, on a road full of ravenous cyclists who can use any extra calorie. If someone offers you money, refuse. That’s the kind of economical model you learn at the Burning Man festival. Go figure. I had four of these sandwiches. Thanks guys!

Shoreline Park, Port Moody

A one way 3km trail hugging the east end of the Burrard Inlet. The trail was busy with dog owners, but birds were still to be seen. The Ducks were a bit far – the Burrard Inlet is not a pond – but one can do without a scope. I was treated to a few male Hooded Mergansers in breeding plumage as well as a Red-breasted Merganser. A female Belted Kingfisher with a fish in her beak was smacking the fish body on a tree branch she was perched on. Multitude of Crows gathered just before dusk, probably due to the presence of a Barred Owl. Dusk brought over 3 hundred Canada Geese who were flying west to roost.

The weather’s great… if you’re a duck

After two days taking cover indoors and checking the weather forecast every half an hour, I figured clouds and drizzles is the best I’m going to get, so I ventured outside in 9oc for a test run, and birded Maplewood flats.

I arrived at high tide. There were three good spots:

1) The east-most viewpoint of Maplewood Flats looking over the mudflats and the Burrard Inlet (you can’t get there from the trails going from the Nature House, you have to continue east along Dollarton Hwy. That was the first point I visited with my bicycle, then I headed back and parked near the nature house).
At this viewpoint I had 5 Common Mergansers, 2 Hooded Mergansers, a Greater Yellowleg, 20+ Mew Gulls and some other Gull who didn’t identify themselves.

2) The Nature House window, where I was warming up. I had 12 species just looking out the closed window, including a Belted Kingfisher and a Varied Thrush.

3) The inner pond. I was delighted to see a variety of ducks there, the few dabbling ducks I saw on the mudflats were too far for me to identify. Three male bachelor Ring-necked Ducks were among them (I point that out for the benefit of all bachelorettes Ring-necked Ducks who may be reading this blog).

Other pleasing sights were a couple of Pine Siskins visiting the bird feeders and a flock of about 200 Canada Geese flying south in two arrowheads.

I was wearing 6 layers that would keep me roasting on any sunny day… but thankfully there was a kind volunteer at the Nature House who provided me with hot tea and cookies when I stepped inside shivering. Looks like I should adjust my attire in future birding trips. I’m just not sure how at the moment.

The Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats is preserved thanks to the Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia. Free birding trips happen every second Saturday of the month. Here are the list of reported birds and a site guide for Maplewood Flats.

Hastings Park Conservancy

It has a 6 lane traffic vain to the south known as Hastings Street, and an amusement park on the east known as the PNE. Yet, the habitat was created with birds in mind and birds who have heard of the park visit and stay.

The MacGillivray’s Warbler has been seen there for the last month (I was delighted to see him today personally for the second time, and fairly late in the season for our region).

The Hastings Park Conservancy offers free guided birding tours once a month. Our tour this morning started with two Cooper’s Hawks chased by a small flock of concerned Crows, ample of Golden-crowned Kinglets who wanted to see how pretty we were from a close range, a Belted Kingfisher who showed us one of his acrobatic maneuvers, and more.

It was after our group of birders dispersed when I got to see the MacGillivray’s Warbler; I also had the privilege of spending some time in the company of a new and exciting park visitor: an American Dipper, a black songbird who dives into water streams and feeds on small fishes and aquatic invertebrates. Below is an image of the same bird, taken a week later by H.D. Cooper; with permission.
American Dipper

After birding I joined a demonstration by the Friends of Hastings Park who are striving to expand the natural habitat of the park.

Here’s the birds’ list for Hastings Park.

eBird Guide

eBird is a wonderful on-line system that allows you to keep track of your bird sightings as well as make them available publicly.
You can view your own and other users’ bird sightings in different birding spots by date. This can help you decide which birding spot to visit next.

  1. Creating an account and submitting a checklist of birds
  2. Exploring data – The feature I found most useful is viewing the summary of bird reports for specific regions.
    • Click on the tab ‘View and Explore Data’.
    • Click on ‘Bar Charts’.
    • Select a region. For example, select ‘Canada’ and then ‘British Columbia’ on the left.
    • Select a subregion.
      To see the birds reported for a single birding spot (e.g. a specific park) check ‘Hotspots’ on the right. Press ‘Continue’. You’ll get a long list of locations. Check one of them (e.g. ‘Stanley Park, Vancouver’) and press the ‘Enter’ key.
      Alternatively, to see the birds reported for a whole region, check ‘Counties in British Columbia’. You’ll get a list of counties. Select one (e.g., ‘Metro Vancouver’) and press ‘Continue’.
    • Now you’ve got a barchart of birds reported in your selected location by date. To narrow down the list only to birds that were reported on a specific month, click on the month name on the very top row.
      To get more elaborate data for a specific bird, click on the bird’s name on the left. Wait for a map to load. You’ll see bubbles on the map representing the locations where that bird species has been reported. Click on one of the bubbles and you’ll see the exact dates that species was viewed on, the number of individuals viewed and the viewer user name.
  3. Sharing a checklist – in ebird terminology, sharing a checklist means you both went bird watching together. The person you share a checklist with can edit his own copy of the checklist (in case you didn’t see exactly the same birds) without altering your copy of it.
    If you just want to show someone the birds you saw on a trip he wasn’t on, click the ‘Email’ link instead of the ‘Share’ link. This will email the list to the owner of the ebird account (i.e., you), then you can forward it on. Or you can click ‘Print’ and save the resulting page, for a better looking format. For more on checklist sharing click here.

Who’s afraid of Virginia Rail

Well, I was afraid of getting up at 5:30am, but that’s what getting to Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary by bicycle + public transit entails (giving myself some extra time).

This sanctuary is a duck’s Mecca and a birder’s Jerusalem. A hundred thousand birds were keeping me entertained.
About 2000 Snow Geese were flying in formation in the morning and rested on the field alongside the sanctuary at the end of the day.

11 Sandhill Cranes letting people feed them on the trail? ridiculous.
Not at all like the four Cranes who stood a field away from me, making me work hard and challenging the power of my binoculars at Grant Narrows a month and a half ago.

The multitude of birders out there (they were all looking for a lost Wood Sandpiper who didn’t show up) provided help: I got a look at the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (a rare visitor from Asia!) through someone’s scope.

The Marsh Wrens, who evaded me yesterday at Boundary Bay, did not evade me today. They were better looking than I expected.
I also got notified of Virginia Rails, and some patience paid off!
Day Summary: 40 species, 3 lifers. Not bad at all.

Lifer #141: American Pipit!

The American Pipit is a small brownish bird who “Breeds in arctic and alpine tundra. In migration and winter uses coastal beaches and marshes, stubble fields, recently plowed fields, mudflats, and river courses.”
On a trip to Boundary Bay we had a couple of dozens of them.

As the guided trip came to its end, a Peregrine Falcon hovered over a mixed flock of Black-bellied Plovers and Western Sandpipers, startled them all to flight and left with a Sandpiper in its claws.

A notice to small birds out there

Warning: if you’re a small bird or a rodent and you’re reading this post, stay away from Hastings Park! A Great Horned Owl has been seen there since mid September. He’s still there. The crows will alarm you of his whereabouts at day time, but not at night – they leave to roost. Also, there’s an immature Cooper’s Hawk at the park. Beware.

A day in Iona

Epic day. Took my bicycle on the skytrain to the airport and from there – a ride to Iona Island – where I spent the rest of the day (8 hours).

Walked about half the jetty. Blue sea on four sides below, blue sky above.

A Peregrine Falcon gave me and a few other passersby a good show on the jetty, sitting and having a bird for lunch.

Dozens of Surf Scoters in breeding plumage, some in very close range.

I was surprised by a female Varied Thrush on the middle of the jetty. Hope she’ll find her way to some trees soon.

Had a nice view of a couple of Caspian Terns, a lone Snow Goose flying overhead and four Ring-necked Ducks.

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