Hi Tweets,

Oh my, when I shoulda stayed home and done some housework, but it was just
too nice...

For those unfamiliar with it, Bayswater Beach in Vancouver BC is on the S
side of Burrard Inlet between Kitsilano Beach at its E end to the Royal
Vancouver Yacht Club and Jericho Pk. at its W end. It's a protected bay
over wide sandstone benches, and has mussel beds, aquatic grasses, and tide
pools.

Under normal conditions, it harbored a large mix of seabirds, waterfowl
and, seasonally, shorebirds. However, the large species mix and numbers of
up to just a few years ago have dropped calamitously as dog owners' pets
(as they in every natural area to which they gain ormdemand access)
displace feeding and roosting birds from the beach and intertidal zone, the
human trample rate of exposed musselbeds accelerates beyond the capacity of
the mussels' ability to reproduce, and kayakers, jet-skis, and windsurfers
evict feeding and roosting flocks from the adjacent littoral waters.
Another illustration that Vancouver BC doesn't treat its urban wildlife
well, at all. The term 'protected' becomes, in context of municipal and
nature group/conservation group/ministry politics, a weary and vacant
irony. As the various bureaucracies grind away at each other like
closely-packed ice-floes, the birds disappear.

For example, in the 25 years I've birded this location, it used to host a
winter-resident flock of 125-150 Black Scoters until about five or six
years ago, when only 40-60 birds formed the flock, then next year its was
20, and now 5 is on the high side of average. Likewise, flocks and singles
of Horned Grebes totalling 30-40 were average at Bayswater, and one could
see up to 6-10 Common Loons and 15-20 Red-throated Loons on a given winter
day, more when the northbound migrant staging began. No more, boys and
girls: those good old days are gone for good, I fear, given the
conservation and protection record in our (or should I say 'their'?) city.
I guess there's more glory in 'saving' a few token remnants while the rest
degrades into inconsequence.

This would be a good location, though, to monitor further changes in the
Burrard Inlet populations of wintering seabirds, waterfowl, and shorebirds,
and migrant shorebirds, particularly if some active conservation groups can
implement measures which materially mitigate the human impact on these
populations. Be nice to get these birds back.
Still, if you get there early enough...

Conditions:
1215--1400 PST; temp 8 C; wind calm, later to NW 15 km/hr; barom. steady;
cloud, low scattered with incoming high overcast; sea state 0-1; tide slack
high, then beginning ebb.

Red-throated Loon 5
Pacific Loon 1
Common Loon 2
Horned Grebe 10
Western Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1 (imm)
Pelagic Cormorant 1
Canada Goose 3
Mallard 2 (1f 1m, 1 pr)
American Wigeon 118
Greater Scaup 4 (4f)
Harlequin Duck 4 (2m 2f, 1 pr)
Black Scoter 7 (4f 3m, 1m subad)
Surf Scoter 38 (22f 16m)
White-winged Scoter 19 (10f 9m)
Common Goldeneye 8 (6m 2f, 2 prs)
Barrow's Goldeneye 70 (36m 34f, 3 prs)
Bufflehead 10 (7m 3f, 2 prs)
Red-breasted Merganser 3 (3f)
Sanderling 5 (bsc)
Mew Gull 8 (7a 1 imm)
Ring-billed Gull 1 (ad)
California Gull 2 (2a)
Glaucous-winged Gull 21
Northwestern Crow 12
European Starling 5
26 species

Aechmphorus Grebe Sp. 21
1 family/genus only

Dogs (leashed) 1
Dogs (unleashed) 4*
Kayak 1*

*2 instances of harassment by 2 dogs displacing appx 80 birds, mostly
wigeon, gulls, and crows; kayak displaced appx 60 birds, mostly goldeneyes
and scoters.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net