Hi tweeters,

Another seawatch from the end of the Iona South Jetty, 4 km (2.5 mi) out in
Strait of Georgia. *Much* better weather (back of winter finally broken, it
seems). Highlight was a close-by pass of an adult Pomarine Jaeger after
some California Gulls along with a couple of Parasitics, a species (the
Pom, that is) for which there are few records in Vancouver BC for the
northbound migration, though rare and semi-regular southbound -- probably
because more people look in 'traditional' jaeger season Sep-Nov than May.

Another highlight was watching an adult Great Blue Heron fly majestically
westward *into* the howling wind until I lost sight of it several miles out
in the Strait. Apparently, it's routine for some GBHE's to make the flight
over 30 km of open water from either Vancouver Island or the Gulf Islands
heronries to the mainland tidal flats. Their flight looks so labored, we
often forget how hellishly efficient those huge wings are. I'll never
forget the night I was taking a ferry back to Vancouver from Victoria and
saw in mid-straight that dark shape slogging along the moon-road on the
water, back to its Island rookery.

Conditions: temp: 15 Celsius; wind SE 15 km/hr to NW 50 as High moved in;
cloud cover moderate overcast clearing to scattered light cloud; precip:
trace; visibility unlimited except heat haze brought the effective horizon
in to apprx 7-8 km. (5-6 mi); tide high, ebbing.

Red-throated Loon 2 Def Alt
Pacific Loon 2 " "
Common Loon 9 8 Def Alt, 1 Bsc
Aech. Grebe sp. 31
Pelagic Cormorant 2 1 Def Alt, 1 Alt1
Brandt's Cormorant 2
Double-cr. Cormorant 49 41 on beacon
Great Blue Heron 1
Mallard 2 1 pair
Greater Scaup 5 3m 2f
Surf Scoter 10 5m 5f
White-winged Scoter 135
Red-breasted Merganser 1 Alt1
Bald Eagle 4 2a 2im
Parasitic Jaeger 3 2 light, 1 intermed-morph
Pomarine Jaeger 1 light morph
California Gull ~75
Glaucous-winged Gull ~250
Caspian Tern 21
Barn Swallow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1

Cheers

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