Subject: Vcr BC Outer Harbor, 10/20/96
Date: Oct 20 21:57 PD 1996
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

Out in the Outer Harbor of Vancouver BC this morning as part of the Burrard
Inlet Environmental Action Program (ah, these federal agencies' names fall
off the tongue like music; of course, the damn thing's shortened to 'BIEAP',
pronounced 'Beep' ) once-was-quarterly survey of the Inlet. First Narrows to
False Creek on the E to Points Grey & Atkinson to the W. Habitat is open
saltwater, rocky shoreline on the N, sand & rock beaches to S & E, the open
Strait of Georgia to the W.

As they've done for the last year, the Canadian Coast Guard was cool enough
to lend one of their rescue vessels and crew to help the survey (these guys
are really co-operative, and we have a heap of laughs on these surveys), the
CGV 'Manyberries'. Before anyone begins the inevitable snicker, the town of
Manyberries in the province of Saskatchewan is the birthplace of k d lang,
the reknowned vegetarian.

One highlight was a *cloud* of Surfbirds over the western Grebe Islet just W
of Lighthouse Park in W Vancouver. Average wintering flock size range of
this species in Vancouver BC is 175-250, usually only at this location, with
a few scattered around other rocky shorelines to the S, while 300 would be
at the very high end. We counted *550* with as many as 75-100 more tucked
away in the crevices we couldn't see (dangerous rocks and reefs in the area
made it impossible to view the islet from all sides). This may be the
highest number ever recorded for Vancouver BC; if not, darned close.

Though the Islets are not in the official survey area, they're immediately
adjacent to its NW corner, and they've been included since they're an
important gull colony & roost as well as being a roost site for many of the
birds which use the western section of Burrard Inlet. It's also nice to
check up on how well the oystercatchers are doing since they're rare in the
area, and this constitutes one of three known breeding sites in the Greater
Vancouver (BC) Checklist area --the other two being Bird Islet, also off the
W Vcr shoreline, and the Tsawwwassen Ferry Terminal Jetty 40 km S in S
Delta. Another site, Pam Rock, in the northern part of Howe Sound, used to
have a pair but it hasn't been surveyed for a long time. The Grebe Islets
are also the best place to see Surfbird and Rock Sandpiper in the checklist
area between mid-October and mid-March.

A second was an mostly Alt-plumaged Arctic Tern in a flock of Basic Common
Terns out near the freighters in the middle of the harbor. Looks like Al J.
was right: any Alt-pl. Sterna tern at this time of year will likely be an
Arctic. Finding it, though, was a case of seeing a pale, graceful ghost of a
tern in with the Common Terns.

Thirdly, 5 Marbled Murrelets is a good sign, after seeing only one or none
on the previous surveys of the area.

The Buffleheads and both goldeneye species blew in this week with the last
big coldfront.

Conditions: Temp: 8 degrees C; wind: E-SE 2-30 km/hr; barom: dropping as
Pacific Low moves in from NW; precip: nil; cloud: cumulus & stratocumulus,
broken, high overcast thickening by late-afternoon; visibility: unlimited,
apparent horizon 20 km; tide: short flood; sea-state: 1 m easterly chop.

Species totals marked with an asterix (*) are ballpark figures from memory
as someone else was recording. Unusual species or numbers double-starred.

Red-throated Loon 5
Pacific Loon 1
Common Loon 15*
Horned Grebe 8*
Red-necked Grebe 8*
Western Grebe 300*
Aechmophorus Grebe sp. 30*
Double-crested Cormorant 25*
Brandt's Cormorant 20*
Pelagic Cormorant 10*
Canada Goose 6 (resid.)
Mallard 75*
American Wigeon 75*
Harlequin Duck 15*
Surf Scoter (3 lge flx) 3,000*
White-winged Scoter 100*
Common Goldeneye 5
Barrow's Goldeneye 40*
Bufflehead 20*
Common Merganser 8*
Red-breasted Merganser 5
Bald Eagle 3ad
Northern Harrier 1f (migr. over Inlet)
Bl. Oystercatcher (2 locs.) 6 3a 3jv
Surfbird 550 (a big !) all Basic
Bonaparte's Gull 80*
Mew Gull 30*
California Gull 60 ( a small !)
Herring Gull 1 Def Bsc
Glaucous-winged Gull 200*
Common Tern 3 Bsc
*Arctic Tern* 1 Alt
Marbled Murrelet 5 2pr, 1 single
Rhinoceros Auklet 1 jv
Northwestern Crow 35*


Michael Price If asked "What is Man?" a biologist might
Vancouver BC Canada answer, "Well, 99% a Chimpanzee..."
mprice at mindlink.net -The Economist