On Sunday, a trio of birders from Johnsons Landing ,BC joined a trio of birders from Nelson, BC for a day of historical birding. From an article by Samuel N. Rhoads in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1893, we were able to piece together a list of birds either collected or seen in Nelson in the summer of 1892. One member of the group was also able to research what the town of Nelson was like in 1892. Rhoads visited Nelson from Aug 16th to the 23rd. Unfortunately, the entire group of today's birders had only one full morning. We decided to try to get a reasonable sample of the Nelson bird habitats rather than hunting for the species seen by Rhoads.

The Rhoads' list contained 36 species. Unbelievably, we also recorded 36 species for our day. Only 11 species appear on both lists. The highlight of the day was a Stilt Sandpiper which we all labored to identify. Being inland types, shorebirds weren't anyone's forte.

Our list, with the Rhoads' species designated with[R], included:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Common Merganser
Osprey
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
STILT SANDPIPER
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Dove
Vaux's Swift
Rufous Hummingbird[R]
Belted Kingfisher
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow[R]
American Crow[R]
Steller's Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Veery
Swainson's Thrush[R]
American Robin[R]
Gray Catbird[R]
Cedar Waxwing[R]
European Starling
Red-eyed Vireo[R]
Yellow Warbler[R]
Common Yellowthroat
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco[R]
Pine Siskin[R]
House Finch
House Sparrow

Gail Spitler
Johnsons Landing, BC
gspitler at awinc.com