An adult EMPEROR GOOSE was seen today in the vicinity of the pumphouse
along the Boundary Bay dike at the Beach Grove Lagoon at the E end of 12th
Ave. in Tsawwassen, presumably the same bird that was released back to the
wild on Thurday Jan.19 after 6 weeks in rehab at Wildlife Rescue for a leg
injury. At Blackie Spit in Crescent Beach today there was a EURASIAN RACE
GREEN-WINGED TEAL in Farm Slough, the tidal lagoon just W of the Burlington
Northern Railway tracks. There's currently 2 others in the area besides
this one--one at Maplewood in N VCR, and another in Canoe Pass, the mouth
of the S Arm of the Fraser R, at the W end of River Rd. in Ladner.


An adult male grey-morph GYRFALCON was once again present on a power pole
on 36th Ave., 200 meters to the E of 64th St in S Delta. This may be the
same bird as one seen last week on the power poles just east of the Roberts
Bank Coalport Jetty. Another, perhaps northbound, grey-morph bird was in
Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley yesterday.


Also, there's word that the male *FALCATED TEAL* was seen again today, Jan.
24, in Tofino on the W side of Vancouver Island. It's important to look for
this bird at *low* tide only, as it hightails off to an inaccessible area
when the tide fills in the channels in which it likes to play. For updates
call Rory Patterson in Tofino at (604) 725-3783 (no late/early calls,
please) or the Victoria Bird Alert at (604) 592-3381.


Lastly, has anyone noticed any northbound movements of either California
Gulls or Eurasian Wigeon? A bunch of Californias in pristine alternate
plumage just showed up at a location where there were just a couple of
scruffy basic birds overwintering. And there seems to a few more EUWI than
has been here most of the winter showing up coincident with this *great*
weather. A February/March spike in distribution isn't that unusual here as
birds at the very beginning of their migrations arrive while we've still
got a pile of wintering birds that won't be getting off their keisters to
go north for several weeks yet. The result is an upsurge of numbers of the
sort we may be seeing now in the Eurasian Wigeons and Eurasian-race
Green-winged Teals. And *where* are those Violet-green Swallows right now?
I thought it was already spring :-)

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