Hi Tweets,

Early Saturday morning at Cecil Green Park in the University of British
Columbia campus at the west end of Point Grey, a good little migrant spot.
About 100 meters up, it offers an cliff-edge offshore vista facing west
showing the confluence of Burrard Inlet, the outlet of the North Arm of the
Fraser River and outer bay of Iona, and Georgia Strait. Lots of migrant and
wintering seabirds, and about the only place left in Vancouver BC where
they can get a little peace from jet-skis and kayaks.

Conditions: temp: 10 Celsius; wind: E 20 km/hr; barom: rising; cloud:
overcast, breaking up later and clearing; precip: nil; sea: rippled.

Red-throated Loon 57
Pacific Loon 2 both Def Alt
Common Loon 1 Def Alt
Horned Grebe 1
Red-necked Grebe 12 6 pairs; vocal!
Western Grebe 2
Aechmophorus grebe sp. 425
Double-crested Cormorant 3 2a 1 im
Brandt's Cormorant 1 a
Canada Goose 2
American Wigeon 1 m
Scaup sp. 44
Surf Scoter 750
White-winged Scoter 87
Red-breasted Merganser 2 pair
Mew Gull 8 6a 2 im
California Gull 8 2a 6 im
Glaucous-winged Gull 21
Rock Dove 1
Rufous Hummingbird 1 f
Belted Kinfisher 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1 m
Violet-green Swallow 11
N. Rough-winged Swallow 6
Steller's Jay 1
Northwestern Crow 8
Black-capped Chickadee 3 1m
Bushtit 5
Brown Creeper 1 m
Bewick's Wren 2 2m
Winter Wren 6 6m
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6 4m
American Robin 23
Varied Thrush 1
American Pipit 23 fly-over flock
European Starling 5
Hutton's Vireo 1 m
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 2m
Spotted Towhee 8 6m 2f, 1 pair
Fox Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 6 4m
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2 both singing migrants
Dark-eyed Junco 7 5m 2f, 1 'cismontanus'
Red-winged Blackbird 1 m
Brown-headed Cowbird 4 3m 1f
Purple Finch 1 m
House Finch 8 5m 3f, 2 pair
Pine Siskin 6
House Sparrow 1 f

Many birds grabbing and carrying nesting material: crows, House Finches,
starlings, even the siskins.

About 3 km to the E along Spanish Banks were a male Eurasian Wigeon, 9
Bonaparte's Gulls (3 Def Alt, 5 pre-Alt molt, 1 Basic), and a mile-high
group of 7 Bald Eagles (5a 3 im) that may have been migrants.

Along about 3 km of roadway, many (about 35) singing male Bewick's Wrens in
the forest on the bluffs backing the Spanish Banks tidal flats. Never heard
so many.

Late in the day over my house, against the 'Castles in the Air'-type
cumulus build-ups so beloved of early part of the century illustrators (oh,
alright, *artists*--anything to keep the peace ;-) like Maxfield Parrish
and Howard Pyle, a flock of 5 VG Swallows contained 1 Barn Swallow. Nice.

Cheers


Michael Price The only alien planet is Earth.
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net - J. G. Ballard