Hi Tweeters, 10.22.94

Some birdnotes fron Vancouver BC Canada.

First, thanx for the note on a possible flock of Blue Jays in the area--I'm
trying to track this down. If so, it'll be the first flock in VCR history:
up to now, they've always come into the area singly.

A Tyrannus'-genus flycatcher was here 10.18, no definitive ID, no
relocation. Timing suggests a possible Tropical//Couch's. Found at the
Reifel Refuge in Ladner.

Another Yellow-billed Loon, this one off the White Rock Pier

First Tundra Swans (TUSW for those jut-jawed, steely-eyed, taciturn birders
from the north) came in today, 10.22, though a rumor of some early in the
week; recent cold front behind a Pacific low brought in a ton of both scaup
species, Ring-necked Ducks, coots, Barrow's Goldeneyes, Bufflehead,
Canvasback, more Eurasian Wigeon (incidentally, since recent comments in re
'white-faced' American Wigeon, I've been counting them since--after
assuming for years they were no big deal--and turned up 5 in three flocks
totalling 536 birds. Since each of these flocks contained roughly equal
numbers of males to females, this gives a rough ratio of 1 definitive
'white-face' male to just over 50 conventional definitive males. BTW, these
flocks also contained 3 male EUWI, plus 1 hybrid. I don't know if this
generally true, but whenever I've heard hybrid wigeon call, they've
invariably given the EUWI call). To tie in with the 'Albino' thread, one of
the female AMWI on Lost Lagoon looks pretty leucistic.

Interesting sidebar: every (c. 75) newly-arrived coot on Lost Lagoon in
Stanley Pk--equivalent to Green L. in Seattle--had from 1 to 3 attendant
wigeon. No coot was without at least one. As the coot dived for the long,
gucky threads of algae, the wigeon would await on the surface and would
feed more or less co-operatively from the coot's bill. Sometimes the wigeon
would head-bob to the coot, which seemed to placate the coot, which would
occasionally head-bob back. Normally coots are pretty cranky, so this
'peacable kingdom' feeding has me puzzled. Not a one-shot, either: this
shared feeding has been going on for several weeks with the few coots which
stayed on Lost Lagoon this summer, and it's just the wigeon--none of the
other ten waterfowl species present seems interested. Are the wigeon
somehow able to fool the coots into some kind of courtship feeding? Anyone
else noticed this? Also, some wigeon would start diving on their own with
varying degrees of competence. One female was very competent, diving
several times a minute for 20 to 25 min at a stretch, remaining submerged
for up to 4 or 6 seconds at a time. As well as being behaviorally unusual,
she's a rather strange-looking bird, with a very high, domed forehead, an
oddly attenuated neck, and a look-down-the-nose profile. Hybrid? With?

Most waxwings seem to have cleared the area, a few Evening Grosbeaks
kicking around, siskins bouncing around in sometimes large flocks but not
what you'd call abundant, robins still numerous but clearly beginning to
move on after scarfing up every mountain ash berry in town. About 17 to
20,000 Snow Geese at the Reifel Refuge.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca