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

Area: VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA (abbrev-VCR)
Period: MON OCT 10 1994 to SUN OCT 16 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:

SNOW GOOSE
SAY'S PHOEBE
SANDHILL CRANE
EURASIAN WIGEON
SNOWY EGRET
YELLOW-BILLED LOON
N. PYGMY OWL

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):

SUN OCT 16
At the Reifel Refuge in Ladner there were approx. 17,000 SNOW GEESE and 2
NORTHERN SHRIKES.

2 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were at Iona Is Regional Pk in Richmond and another
in the settling ponds just to the E, while 1 EARED GREBE was still on the
Outer Pond at Iona Is; up to 20 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS were still on the SE
settling pond, the same location where a NORTHERN FLICKER was observed
dive-bombing a juv MERLIN.

At least 1 and possibly a second BARRED OWL was observed in Cougar Canyon
in N Delta. A PEREGRINE FALCON and another MERLIN were along 72nd St in S
Delta.

SAT OCT 15
RARE BIRD ALERT: a *SAY'S PHOEBE* was in the vicinity of MacDonald and
Grauer Rds on Sea Is in Richmond.

A migrating flock of 16 SANDHILL CRANES was seen over S Surrey in the 21st
and 24th Ave and King George Highway area. Also at Blackie Spit for the
last week have been 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS and 2 EARED GREBES.

FRI OCT 14
A definitively-plumaged male EURASIAN WIGEON was on the E pond at Jericho
Pk in VCR, and a female EURASIAN WIGEON was on Lost Lagoon.

At the Outer Pond in Iona Is Regional Pk, there was a male MALLARD X
NORTHERN PINTAIL hybrid and 2 EARED GREBES. THU OCT 13 A female AMERICAN
KESTREL was along Grauer Rd on Sea Is. in Richmond. A single adult SNOW
GOOSE decided to drop in on the relatives at Jericho Pk, and was present
most of the day there. WED OCT 12 NPOW
2 NORTHERN PYGMY OWLS were at the summit of Mt Fromme just to the E of
Grouse Mtn in N VCR.

TUE OCT 11
RARE BIRD ALERT: a SNOWY EGRET, rare in the province of British Columbia,
has been frequenting the shoreline of Shuswap L in Salmon Arm on the
TransCanada Highway E of Kamloops.

A basic 1 plumaged *YELLOW-BILLED LOON* was at Blackie Spit on Tuesday,
Oct. 11.

A *SPOTTED OWL* was hit by a car on Sunday October 09 along the Lougheed
Hwy (Hwy 7) between Agassiz and Hope in the E Fraser Valley; the bird,
which suffered a broken wing, survived and is being cared for.

Locally, an unusually dense concentration of up to 13 male and 11 female
HARLEQUIN DUCKS was along the Stanley Pk Seawall about 1 km W of Prospect
Pt., and a large flock of about 800 SURF SCOTERS contained 1 male OLDSQUAW;
another OLDSQUAW was on Lost Lagoon in Stanley Pk. A small flock of 3 birds
believed to be EARED GREBES was also on the Lagoon, and the 2 eclipse-
plumaged male REDHEAD were still there today. Several BRANDT'S CORMORANTS
were on or around the Burnaby Shoal marker about 300 meters E of Brockton
Pt on the E side of the park. Still in Stanley Pk, 1 BLACK OYSTERCATCHER
was on the rocks at Ferguson Pt, between 2nd & 3rd Beaches on the W side of
the park.

At the Iona Is. Sewage Treatment Plant in NW Richmond, there was 1 NORTHERN
SHRIKE, and a WESTERN MEADOWLARK was on the S Jetty at Iona.


MON OCT 10 SACR
Well, it's that time of year to put on your bulletproof vest and hard hat
when you go birding in the municipality of Delta. If you are going to look
at the SANDHILL CRANES on 68th St in S Delta, for your own protection stay
on the roadside and use extreme caution as the field in which the cranes
have been feeding over the last few days has today been planted with CANADA
GOOSE decoys, and the hunters are using the farm buildings as cover from
which to shoot the incoming geese.

Also in the district of Delta, the SE section of the Reifel Sanctuary has
been closed due to the danger posed from shot falling from areas to the S
and W of the Refuge where intense hunting of the migrating SNOW GEESE
occurs. The geese don't know what they're getting into. Approximately
15,000 arrived last night in the wake of the weak Pacific storm which
passed through yesterday, and one notable feature is that there are
extremely few juveniles in the flocks, further supporting the finding that
the geese had a disastrous breeding season last summer, with very few young
surviving. Welcome back. Also at the Refuge today were 3 PEREGRINE FALCONS
and 1 MERLIN.

Two WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, one a classic black- and-white striped bird,
the other of the tan-striped morph have been frequenting a feeder at 506
Brand St. in the Upper Lonsdale section of N VCR.

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!