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

Area: VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA (abbrev-VCR)
Period: MON OCT 24 1994 to SUN OCT 30 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:

**DUSKY THRUSH**
**WHITE-WINGED DOVE**
FRANKLIN'S GULL
TUFTED DUCK
EURASIAN WIGEON
CONNECTICUT WARBLER
BLACK OYSTERCATCHER
PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER

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):

The annual Snow Goose Festival at the Reifel Refuge in Ladner is slated for
the weekend of Nov. 05-06, and needs volunteers, in particular, birders
with scopes to lead walks, folks to cook hot food, people to help park cars
and direct people. These categories are not mutally exclusive. If you want
to help, please call the Refuge at 946-6980

SUN OCT 30 RARE BIRD ALERT 1 In a single-observer sighting, a **DUSKY
THRUSH** in either female or immature plumage was seen today at Tofino on
the W Coast of Vancouver Island at the W end of Provincial Highway No.4.
The bird was associating with a small flock of 10 AMERICAN ROBINS at the N
end of the Tofino Airport, a small local airstrip. Anyone relocating this
bird is requested to notify this Alert at 604-737-9910 and the Victoria
Rare Bird
Alert at 604-592-3381. As this is a working airstrip, please observe all
safety precautions.

The **WHITE-WINGED DOVE**, only BC's 2nd-ever was present for a eighth
consecutive day at Ucluelet on the W coast of Vancouver Island. The bird
has been visiting a feeder at 346 Holly Crescent, the best time early in
the day. If you're interested in seeing this bird, please call for updates
either the homeowners, the Christiansens, at (604) 726-2713 or the Victoria
Rare Bird Alert at (604) 592-3381. To reach Ucluelet, take a ferry to
Vancouver Island, take Provincial Highway 4 beginning at Parksville and go
W about 140 km across the Island to the Ucluelet turnoff.

Up to 7 ANCIENT MURRELETS were seen in mid-Georgia Strait from the BC Ferry
between Nanaimo and Tsawwassen.

Locally, a possible immature-plumaged CLAY-COLORED SPARROW was visiting a
feeder in the laneway between W 2nd & W 3rd Avenues in the 3900-block in
VCR.

An immature FRANKLIN'S GULL in basic 1 plumage was at Blackie Spit in a
roost of MEW and RING-BILLED GULLS, and also here were two-thirds of the
Three Amigos, the LONG-BILLED CURLEW and the MARBLED GODWIT.

To see RING-NECKED DUCKS at close range, the display pond at Ambleside Park
in W VCR is the place to go; today there were 36 there, as well as an adult
female EURASIAN WIGEON which has been there for several weeks.

A BARRED OWL was reported from Ravine Pk in VCR's Kerrisdale district. 2
feral MUTE SWANS can still be found at Katzie Marsh, just S of the Pitt
Lake Dike in Pitt Meadows.

SAT OCT 29
The WHITE-WINGED DOVE was present for a seventh consecutive day at
Ucluelet.

Locally, the adult female TUFTED DUCK was relocated on the Outer Pond at
Iona Is in Richmond, as well as 2 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS, a PEREGRINE FALCON,
and an EARED GREBE, and 11 SNOW BUNTINGS were seen at the end of the Iona S
Jetty. Also seen of the end of the jetty was a single JAEGER, however
identification of the species was not possible. Another 2 WESTERN
MEADOWLARKS were along Grauer Rd on Sea Island just to the E.

An immature NORTHERN SHRIKE was in the vicinity of the Boundary Bay
Airport.

The male EURASIAN WIGEON was again at the SW corner of Lost Lagoon in
Stanley Pk; this bird is molting into adult male plumage from juvenile and
is as scruffy as the adult male Eurasian at Jericho Pk's W Pond is spiffy.

Finally, very large numbers of DUNLIN & SANDERLING are currently moving
through the Greater Vancouver Checklist Area.

FRI OCT 28
RARE BIRD ALERT A *CONNECTICUT WARBLER*, extremely rare anywhere
outside of the NE section of the province at Comber's Beach in Pacific Rim
National Pk on the W coast of the Island to the N of Ucluelet.

The WHITE-WINGED DOVE was again present at 346 Holly Crescent in Ucluelet
on
Vancouver Island.

Locally, the first SNOW BUNTINGS of the winter appeared at the end of the
South Jetty at Iona. A BARRED OWL entertained office workers in the
downtown core. Two BARN SWALLOWS could still be found near the entrance to
the Reifel Refuge on Westham Island in Ladner, and 3 BARN OWLS were along
Grauer Rd on Sea Island in Richmond.

THU OCT 27
The WHITE-WINGED DOVE was present again today for a fifth consecutive day
in Ucluelet. Locally, a roosting flock containing a possible record-high 21
BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS were on Bird Islet off W VCR, along with 8 SURFBIRDS.
A bird believed to be a YELLOW-BILLED LOON was in Deep Bay on Bowen Is. A
single TURKEY VULTURE was over Pt Roberts, Washington, where there were
also 5 HEERMANN'S GULLS. Two definitively-plumaged male EURASIAN WIGEON
were at Centennial Beach Pk in Tsawwassen and Jericho Pk's W Pond,
respectively, and the EURASIAN X AMERICAN WIGEON hybrid was also at Jericho
Pk. Up to 6 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were in the sandy area N of the Outer Pond
at Iona Is Regional Pk in NW Richmond, while the 9 TUNDRA SWANS were still
on the pond itself.

Well, we're used to thinking of PEREGRINE FALCONS as pretty noble birds. As
a reminder that they're still just birds, an observer in Ladner passed on
the following story: he observed a MERLIN carrying a small bird first use
his moving vehicle as a cover from a Peregrine intent on attacking it, then
literally fly into a barn to escape the larger falcon. The Peregrine hung
around, circling above the barn until the Merlin figured the coast was
clear and re-emerged, whereupon the Peregrine pounced, the Merlin dropped
its prey, the Peregrine said thanks a bunch, picked it up off the ground
where the Merlin had dropped it, perched with the swag from its barefaced
robbery and devoured it. So much for PR.

And there's a story in today's Vancouver Province daily in which a
hummingbird is getting an airplane ride south from Anchorage, Alaska, to
Chula Vista, California. Not a RUFOUS, not a CALLIOPE, not even an
ANNA'S, but a *COSTA'S* HUMMINGBIRD. The article says, with unwitting
understatement, that it's rarely seen in Alaska.


WED OCT 26
RARE BIRD ALERT A **WHITE-WINGED DOVE**, extremely rare anywhere in Canada
and accidental in BC has been frequenting a feeder at 346 Holly Crescent in
Ucluelet on the W coast of Vancouver Island since Sunday, Oct 23. While it
is not known whether this is an escaped captive bird, its identity has been
confirmed and its occurrence in this part of the Pacific Coast at
this time of the year does fit the known period of vagrancy for this
species in the wild. If confirmed, this will be BC's 2nd-ever record.

In local sightings, there was no report of relocation of the female TUFTED
DUCK seen yesterday, Tuesday Oct 25, at the Outer Pond at Iona Is Regional
Pk in NW Richmond, but 4 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were near the parking lot of
that park, and another 4 were along the Vancouver International Airport
fence on Grauer Rd on Sea Is to the E of Iona Is. The definitive-plumaged
male EURASIAN WIGEON was at the W pond at Jericho Pk and has become quite
used to humans. If you've ever wanted a close look at a male of this
species in immaculate plumage, you should check this bird out. Also at
Jericho Pk, a flock of newly-arrived wild MALLARDS contained two hybrid
males which appear to be MALLARD X AMERICAN BLACK DUCK hybrids.


TUE OCT 25
The first *TUFTED DUCK* of the southbound migration, a female bird, was on
the Outer Pond at Iona Island in NW Richmond, just W of the sewage
treatment plant. Also on the Outer Pond were 9 TUNDRA SWANS, 8 adult & 1
juvenile bird.

The first *ROCK SANDPIPER* of the southbound migration was at Whytecliffe
Pk in W VCR associating with 28 BLACK TURNSTONES. Still in W VCR, a large
flock of cormorants on the Grebe Islets just W of Lighthouse Pk contained 6
BRANDT'S CORMORANTS.

A single PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER was in a tide-displaced flock of 70
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER on the N side of Mud Bay at the E end of Boundary Bay.
A rufous-morph female and a male EURASIAN WIGEON molting into adult plumage
can be easily found in the SW corner of Lost Lagoon in Vancouver's Stanley
Pk; the male's a messy-looking bird but easily identifiable as a Eurasian,
while ID of the female is a little more challenging. Look for a female
wigeon with a reddish-brown head offering little contrast with the brownish
body, unlike female AMERICAN WIGEON whch have a greyish head contrating
with a brown body. Finally, in the display ponds of the Zoo in Stanley Pk,
there was a male hybrid duck which is an AMERICAN WIGEON crossed with
either a MALLARD or a NORTHERN PINTAIL.
MON OCT 24
Up to 6 EURASIAN WIGEONS were seen in a large mixed flock at Beach Grove at
the E end of 12th Ave in Tsawwassen, while the adult male Eurasian and the
EURASIAN X AMERICAN WIGEON hybrid drake were on the W and E ponds
respectively of Jericho Pk on W 4th Ave in VCR. The 5 TUNDRA SWANS at Iona
Island's Outer Pond were replaced today by 4 new swans of the same species;
this group contains at least 1 juvenile bird. The adult female AMERICAN
KESTREL was at its usual location on the wires along Grauer Rd on Sea Is
just N of Vancouver International Airport in Richmond.

Single SNOW GEESE were at Beach Grove and W Spanish Banks along NW Marine
Drive in VCR, the latter bird wearing one of the red neck collars put on by
Russian ornithologists on Wrangell Island of the coast of N Siberia. Birds
separate from their flocks for a number of reasons including exhaustion,
sickness, or injury.

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!