Tag: Stanley Park

Barred Owl at Stanley Park

Stanley Park had a breeding pair of Barred Owls this year.

Barred Owl

Barred Owl (seen near Lost Lagoon)

More and more of Stanley Park

Getting up at 8am is more pleasant than getting up at 7am. Therefore I haven’t changed my clocks to winter hours. Well, not all my clocks.
This payed dividends today, when I was heading to a waterfowl bird count scheduled to 10am. When I arrived I was a tad surprised to find it is actually 9am, but then, Al Grass was already there and we had a lovely guided bird walk around Lost Lagoon. At the end of the walk someone mentioned that there’s also a bird count today! Only then did I realize what has happened. I caught up with the bird count at Second Beach. Everything worked out better than planned…

Al Grass gets excited of every Song Sparrow and every American Coot as if he is seeing them for the first time in his life. Right at the start he stopped to admire a Great Blue Heron, a common sight at almost every bird trip here in Vancouver, and produced a truly lovely photograph of his subject. We stopped to admire all the more common birds afresh, and it was a delight.

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

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