Hi Tweeters,

A trip up to Cypress Bowl above West Vancouver BC today had some
interesting birds. The site is about 1300 m. The Main Lookout overlooking
Vancouver is at about 800 m. Here's the highlights.
(*personal first sightings for Cypress Bowl; unusual for the location)


Main Lookout

1 ad. Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk* (dark, white tail marbled grey toward grey
terminal band) 3 ad. Red-tailed Hawks
2 Bald Eagles (incl. a juv so tubby and comparatively stub-winged we
mistook it for a bizarre buzzard at first)
1 Amer. Kestrel

Cypress Bowl

3 ad Bald Eagles (incl 1 pair)
1 ad Sharp-shinned Hawk, female
1 Merlin
20 Evening Grosbeaks
10 Hermit Thrushes
2 Amer Dippers using same pond; 1 ad, 1 juv (buff-fringed coverts/tertials)
4 Gray Jays
1 subadult Northern Shrike*
1 Belted Kingfisher* (*very* odd location; certainly a migrant, though
another 'wallpaper' species we don't think of as having a migration)
1 Crow sp.*

The last species was a large crow; unfortunately silent. To my knowledge,
this is the first crow sighting for this location or for this altitude in
the Greater Vancouver Checklist Area. Since Northwestern Crows have never
shown the slightest inclination to eschew the shoreline and go much more
than 150 m up the mountain, any crow at this altitude at this time of the
year is a good candidate to be the other, migrant, species: Amer. Crow.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net