Hi Tweets,

This started off as an addition to Chris Hill's post on Scaup, but sort of
grew like Topsy in Chernobyl. Didn't mean it to turn into a monster.

Chris Hill writes of the opportunity to study scaup at close range.

The best place in Vancouver BC to study at close range the differences
between scaup and goldeneyes species, as well as almost every other duck
species in the genera Aythya and Clangula, is Lost Lagoon, a small fresh-to
brackish body of water in Stanley Park. They are both numerous and very
tame (after their initial arrival shyness). Even Tufted Ducks -- which are
regular two-way migrants and sometime winter residents -- have fed from
the hand here.

Between early to mid-October and late April there are large numbers (in the
case of Lesser Scaup from four to six thousand birds) of these ducks in
virtually every conceivable state in their molt sequences. Besides allowing
one to compare and contrast differences between, say, Lesser and Greater
Scaup or Barrow's and Common Goldeneyes, the Lagoon offers superb
opportunities to observe these species over the term of their winter stay
as they move through their molt sequences -- to compare, for example,
juvenile-plumaged young scaup with adult females, or to watch subadult
males molting into definitive plumage from their Basic plumage. One can
study not only differences between, but also within, species.

*

I've listed the waterfowl species which frequent Lost Lagoon in checklist
order, and included the average numbers that an observer *could* see on a
given day of that species' stay on the Lagoon, and the average arrival and
departure dates for that species for Vancouver BC, where known. The data I
have used includes records of birders of the Vancouver Natural History
Society collected from 1982 to 1992 for the quarterly American
Birds/Audubon Field Notes by Wayne C. Weber and W. Doug Kragh; observations
contributed to the Vancouver Rare Bird Alert 1989--1995; and personal
observations and surveys. Anyone is free to use the material herein, with
the courtesy of appropriate acknowledgement.

TUNDRA SWAN
Extremely rare as a drop-in migrant individual, attracted either by the
rehabbed Trumpeter Swan released onto the Lagoon or the several introduced
Mute Swans.
Average arrival 10/27
Average departure 3/16

TRUMPETER SWAN
Rare as a drop-in migrant individual or small group.
One flightless, crippled bird, rehabbed onto the Lagoon; especially in the
northbound migration period noisily attracts the occasional drop-in single
or small group of migrant wild Trumpeters.
1-3 wild birds when present
Average 10/29
Average departure 3/19

MUTE SWAN
10 introduced birds. There have been occasional observations and reports of
free-flying feral MUSW briefly joining the resident birds.

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Extremely rare on Lagoon; occasional drop-in individual; quickly becomes
very tame. There was an instance of a wild GWFG arriving within the
southbound migrational window and feeding from the hand within 12 hours;
sometimes stays.
Average arrival 9/05
Average departure 5/02

CANADA GOOSE
Common resident, small groups of migrants, noticeably Cackling and Aleutian
Canada Geese. As Lost Lagoon is a molting lake, numbers can peak at circa
2,000, but are otherwise usually in the 200-400 range. There have been
attempted population controls on the Lost Lagoon CAGO.

WOOD DUCK
Resident, previously common but becoming very uncommon to rare on the
Lagoon as a result of predation by raccoons, which have had an enormous
population increase (encouraged by human feeding) at the west end of the
Lagoon. Average population: down to 8 from about 20-30 several years ago.
Migrant influx: October. Also, influx out to coast when small bodies of
water in Fraser Valley freeze.
GREEN-WINGED TEAL
Rare to uncommon wintering and migrant species on the Lagoon, but very
abundant in other locations.
A.c.carolinensis:
Average arrival mid- to late August, not precisely established due to lack
of records. Average departure late April to early May, not precisely
established due to lack of records.
A.c.crecca:
Average arrival 11/26
Average departure 4/18

MALLARD
Abundant resident. Local abundance masks migrational numbers, but sudden
appearance of very shy Mallards with fresh juveniles in August and
September indicates arrival of migrant birds. Do the migrant birds stay?
No-one knows.
Average pop. 400-700
Average arrival mid-August, not precisely established due to lack of
records
Average departure not established due to lack of records

NORTHERN PINTAIL
Rare migrant or wintering bird, very common to abundant elsewhere.
Average arrival early September, not precisely established due to lack of
records
Average departure late April to early May, not precisely established due to
lack of records

BLUE-WINGED TEAL
Rare northbound migrant on the Lagoon, though can be common elsewhere.
Average arrival 4/23
Average departure 9/27

CINNAMON TEAL
Rare northbound migrant on the Lagoon, though common elsewhere.
Average arrival 4/05
Average departure 9/08

NORTHERN SHOVELER
Rare to common migrant and winter resident, common to abundant elsewhere.
Migrational pattern difficult to ascertain.

GADWALL
Rare to uncommon migrant and winter resident, common elsewhere.
Neither arrival nor departure of migrant populations can be established due
to lack of records

EURASIAN WIGEON
Rare migrant and winter resident, rare to uncommon (very occasionally
common) elsewhere.
Average pop. 1
Average arrival 10/02
Average departure 4/19

AMERICAN WIGEON
Uncommon to fairly common migrant and winter resident, abundant elsewhere.
Average range 20-50
Average arrival 8/28
Average departure 4/25

CANVASBACK
Fairly common migrant and winter resident, can be common elsewhere.
Average range 60-110
Average arrival 9/29
Average departure 5/01

REDHEAD
Rare migrant and winter resident
Average range (migrant, usually April) 1-4

RING-NECKED DUCK
Rare to uncommon migrant, rare to uncommon winter resident; common in the
Fraser Valley, influx to Lagoon in freezes.
Average range 2-12
Average arrival 9/13
Average departure 5/14

TUFTED DUCK
Rare migrant, rare winter resident; regular south- and northbound staging
species through the Lagoon; best chance of seeing multiple TUDU is in
period late February--mid-March.
Average range, migration 1-3 Average arrival 11/09
Average departure 3/15

GREATER SCAUP
Fairly common migrant and winter resident, rare summer resident (usually
sick birds)
Average range 50-200
Average arrival 9/16
Average departure late April/early May, not precisely established due to
lack of records
LESSER SCAUP
Abundant winter resident, abundant migrant, rare summer resident (usually
sick birds)
Average range 3,000-5,000
Average arrival 9/17
Average departure late April/early May, not precisely established due to
lack of records

LONG-TAILED DUCK (Brit name for Clangula hyemalis)
Rare northbound migrant, very occasional in winter; comes into Lagoon
usually as female or two being courted by several males in April/early May:
*beautiful* to see and hear, sometimes just a few feet away!
Average arrival 10/10
Average departure late April, not precisely established due to lack of
records

COMMON GOLDENEYE
Common to very common migrant and winter resident, rare summer resident,
usually sick birds
Average range 100-250
Average arrival 10/12
Average departure late April, not precisely established due to lack of
records

BARROW'S GOLDENEYE
Rare to extremely abundant winter resident on Lagoon, usually uncommon to
fairly common. Normally on the saltchuck, BAGO uses the Lagoon as a
preening/drinking location, and sometimes comes in after dark in large
(3,000+) numbers.
Average range (day) 1-50
Average arrival 10/08
Average departure late April/early May, not precisely established due to
lack of records

BUFFLEHEAD
Fairly common migrant, rare to uncommon winter resident.
Average range 5-15
Average arrival 10/11
Average departure 5/10

HOODED MERGANSER
Rare to uncommon migrant and winter resident, rare summer resident.
Average range 1-6
Average arrival 8/26
Average departure 5/10

COMMON MERGANSER
Rare to uncommon migrant and winter resident, common elsewhere;
occasionally fairly common in northbound migration.

RUDDY DUCK
Uncommon to common migrant and winter resident
Average range 4-45
Average arrival mid- to late August, not precisely established due to lack
of records
Average departure early to mid-May, not precisely established due to lack
of records

*

As well as an unparalleled display resource in the heart of a large city
where one can acquaint the general public with the above species (and the
Stanley Park Nature House is taking the first steps in doing this with
long-overdue signage and interpretation), Lost Lagoon is in my opinion an
ideal, convenient, and totally unused (from my observation) laboratory for
short- or long-term study of resident, wintering, and migrant waterfowl.

Besides plumage difference, one can examine many other intra- and
interspecies behavioral aspects: courtship, feeding, aggression;
segregations by species, age, sex, or habitat within the Lagoon,
migrational chronologies, daily (and nightly) local movements to and from
feeding sites, relationships of various species' use of the Lagoon's
freshwater environment and their use of immediately-adjacent saltwater
environments, and a hundred other things. The long-term statistics of the
Lagoon are mainly limited to Christmas Count totals, and by themselves fail
to give a coherent picture of the great complexity and richness of this
location in downtown Vancouver BC.

The sole value of Lost Lagoon, heretofore, it seems, has been that it is a
place where one can search for, and sometimes find, rarities such as Tufted
Ducks, with the thousands of other birds being treated merely as
obstructions in front of, or as wallpaper behind, the rarity, to be ignored
or noticed only for the purpose of a Year List tick. Shamefully, I have
followed the available peer group modelling, acquired and held this same
attitude of callous usage, and for far too long. Better late to
enlightenment than never, though: there is more joy in heaven, etc ;-)

Such an attitude is reflected in the local 'official' record-keeping where
observations of Lesser and Greater Scaup, Common and Barrow's Goldeneyes,
Bufflehead, and most other common migrant species are *so* lacking as to
make impossible the derivation of accurate arrival and departure dates (ten
years is really all you need to get a pretty accurate average arrival,
departure, or average peak abundance dates). I have tried through personal
observation to fill the holes therein, and to draw out whatever likely
patterns from what data there is.

There is a new urgency to establishing the value of this site to Vancouver
BC's avifauna: the construction of the Third Crossing between Vancouver and
the municipalities of West Vancouver and North Vancouver. According to
government engineers, the Lion's Gate Bridge (built 1930's), the cities'
only link to West Van, is in such decay that it must be drastically
upgraded or replaced in the near future. The road to the Lion's Gate Bridge
runs alongside Lost Lagoon, and any construction, whether on the Bridge or
any other link whose southern terminus will be close by, will likely have a
strong impact on the Lagoon. There's a possibility that construction may
even alter the Lagoon permanently.

In Vancouver BC, there's a long, virtually unbroken history of not knowing
what we've got in the way of local populations and how they work (though
we're fireballs on identifying rarities, yesirree!) and losing them to
development or to non-wildlife use of the habitat before anyone bestirs to
wonder or care. To me, it's like reading accounts of the death of the last
old man or woman who spoke a language that no-one ever wrote down or taped,
and it died with them. Once gone, it's gone forever, and we'll never know,
and that leaves an ugly emptiness all the more squalid for being easily
avoidable. Hope that doesn't happen here. Again.

But if it does, please consider the above post as an attempt to record what
is there before the change or loss.

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