VANCOUVER RARE BIRD ALERT sponsored by the Vancouver Natural History
Society.

Area: VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA (abbrev-VCR)
Period: MON OCT 31 1994 to SUN NOV 06 1994, updated weekly
Call: 604-737-9910 (hot line updated daily, or as necessary)
To report: Same
Compiler: Michael Price
Transcriber: Same
Contact: michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca
(604) 731-4715 FEATURED BIRDS:

*SNOWY EGRET*
*WHITE-WINGED DOVE*
TUFTED DUCK
EURASIAN WIGEON
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
HARRIS' SPARROW


For sick or injured birds please call:
WILDLIFE RESCUE 526-7275
MONIKA'S WILDLIFE SHELTER 882-0908
SPCA ANIMAL EMERGENCY 879-7343
If you have a report, be sure to leave your name and telephone
number/e-mail address, for our records.
If you're calling the hotline and you want to skip the update to leave your
message, press the *STAR* button on any touchtone telephone, otherwise
please wait for the long tone at the end of the update.




TRANSCRIPT (some editing for continuity):

NOTE: Electrical problems curtailed the Vancouver Rare Bird Alert service
from Nov. 01 to Nov. 12.

SUN NOV 13
The first report of PINE GROSBEAK came today from Cypress Provincial Pk in
W VCR, with a male and female near the beginning of the road to the
cross-country ski area, and another near the end of the main cross-country
ski trail, while at the W end of the upper works yard at Cypress Bowl there
was1 NORTHERN PYGMY OWL.

A GREAT HORNED OWL was present for most of the day in the 7600-block of
Cartier St in S VCR.

The female TUFTED DUCK was again present on the Outer Pond at Iona Island
in NW Richmond.

The ANCIENT MURRELETS are on the move; small flocks can be seen flying low
over the water from Lighthouse Marine Pk at Point Roberts, Washington.

BRANT are beginning to arrive in numbers at their traditional staging areas
at Beach Grove in Tsawwassen and between the Roberts Bank Coalport and the
Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Jetties in S Delta.

A flock of GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES were just to the SE of the Cleveland
Dam, at the N end of Capilano Rd in N VCR.

Out-of-town:
A *WHOOPER SWAN*, which has returned for the 3rd consecutive year to the
Summer Lk Wildlife Management Area in eastern Oregon, was present there for
the second consecutive day. For details call the Oregon Rare Bird Alert at
(503) 292-0661.

Other out of town birds within less than a day's drive include a *TROPICAL
KINGBIRD*, first seen Thursday Nov. 10 on Vancouver Island which has been
present at Esquimalt Lagoon in the Greater Victoria municipality of
Metchosin to the W of Victoria--call the Victoria Rare Bird Alert at (604)
592-3381.

In northern Washington State, a bird corresponding to the description of a
basic-plumaged *KITTLITZ'S MURRELET* was seen off a small park on Wharf Rd
on Samish Bay in the Skagit Delta in the earlier part of the month but has
not been relocated (if confirmed this will be a 2nd record of this sp. S of
Alaska), and a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER is frequenting a feeder on
Mercer Island in Seattle. For updates on either of those two birds call the
Seattle/Washington State Rare Bird Alert at (206) 526-8266.


SAT NOV 12
RARE BIRD ALERT A female *KING EIDER* was seen this afternoon in a flock
of SURF SCOTERS at West Bay Pk on the W VCR shoreline near the S end of
Oakley St. This area is roughly halfway between the shopping village of
Dundarave and Lighthouse Pk to the W, and the park itself is in the
3500-block of Marine Drive. This may possibly be the same bird that was
believed to be associating with Surf Scoters off Ambleside Pk last week.

An AMERICAN DIPPER was also along the W VCR shoreline at the S end of
Travers St., and 4 BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS were at Sandy Cove in the
4000-block of Marine Drive; lastly for W VCR, 2 late TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS
were along Marine Drive between 27th & 28th Sts in Dundarave. A flock of 10
BLACK TURNSTONES containing 2 ROCK SANDPIPERS was at the Grebe Islets to
the W of Lighthouse Pk in W VCR, and a single Rocky was at Lighthouse
Marine Pk in Point Roberts, Washington.

There are at least *2* TUFTED DUCKS in the Greater Vancouver Checklist
Area; a virtually-tuftless, possibly juvenile female has been on Lost
Lagoon in Stanley Pk for at least the last 10 days, and the more
conventionally plumaged female was again at the Outer Pond on Iona Is. Also
on the Outer Pond wa a female OLDSQUAW and 3 TUNDRA SWANS.
A late *PALM WARBLER* was in the disturbed ground to the S of the site of
the Cora Brown subdivion on Sea Is in Richmond to the E of MacDonald Rd. A
number of SNOW BUNTINGS can still be found on the S Jetty at Iona Is
Regional Pk.

A VIRGINIA RAIL was in the unusual location of the small bird feeding area
beside the stone bridge at LOST LAGOON where the tan-morph WHITE-THROATED
SPARROW was also still present among FOX & SONG SPARROWS. A female EURASIAN
WIGEON and an EURASIAN X AMERICAN WIGEON hybrid were at the small pond at
Devonian Pk atthe entrance to Stanley Pk in VCR. A drake REDHEAD and up to
10 RING-NECKED DUCKS in a variety of plumages were on Lost Lagoon. The male
ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD was singing loudly at his usual territorial post at the
end of Pitcairn Place to the W of Lighthouse Pk in W VCR FRI NOV 11


THU NOV 10
A possible female TUFTED DUCK was with LESSER SCAUP at the Reifel Refuge on
Westham Is. in Ladner; also at the Refuge were 5 DARK-EYED JUNCOS of the
'cismontanus' hybrid form which resembles a 'Slate-colored' race junco with
a brown back, a late PECTORAL SANDPIPER, and 3 male EURASIAN WIGEON. A
careful count of the SNOW GEESE at the Refuge arrived at a total of 10,430
birds.

Up to 6 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE were seen along the Boundary Bay
foreshore between the S ends of 112th St and 108th St in S Delta.


WED NOV 09
The first GYRFALCON of the winter, a grey-morph bird, was seen following
the shoreline at Lighthouse Marine Pk in Point Roberts, Washington.

A *BLUE JAY*, part of a large influx into southern BC and the northwestern
states of Montana and Washington, was seen near the electrical substation
on Clayburn St, just N of McClure Ave in Matsqui. This is a bird to be
looked for, especially where there are congregations of STELLER'S JAYS.
Other sightings of this species over the last few weeks include single
birds last week in the Fraser Canyon at Boston Bar, Chilliwack, and a
possible flock in the Port Moody area approximately two weeks ago.


TUE NOV 08
RARE BIRD ALERT This was the final day of the four-day stay of the *Snowy
Egret* at the Harrison River Bridge in Agassiz, about 80 km (50mi) to the E
of Vancouver.
The basic 1-plumaged HARRIS' SPARROW was again present in the yard at the
W end of the lane between W 2nd & W3rd Aves in Vancouver just to the E of
Jericho Pk.


MON NOV 07
RARE BIRD ALERT The immature *SNOWY EGRET* was again at the Harrison R
Bridge in Agassiz.

Canada's first-ever *WOOD SANDPIPER* was again present at the Delkatla
Wildlife Sanctuary on the Queen Charlotte Islands today. This was its last
day.


If you have a report or a query about bird identification or
Vancouver birding please call:

Michael Price at (604)731-4715
Mark and Eleni Wynja at (604)438-6529
(Other contact names omitted on request)

Thanks for calling the Vancouver Bird Alert and Good Birding!