Hi Tweets

Searched this AM from Kitsilano Beach to Point Grey for the first-winter
male Common Eider, no luck, but had a post from a Washington birder who saw
the bird this morning.

> We watched it
>from first light until about 8:30 or so when it took off toward the False
>Creek inlet at English Bay (name eludes me).

Instead of flying W, it flew NE toward False Creek. Interesting change of
direction.

In PM, Graham Sunderland (who I met at Spanish Banks) & I looked pretty hard
through Scoter Island (the name Karen Irving and Duncan MacLellan gave the
immense scoter flock at W Spanish Banks), no luck but *lots* else,
especially Red-throated Loons, Long-tailed Ducks and Common Murres whose
(counted, not eyeballed) numbers are astoundingly above the usual for this
time of year in Burrard Inlet, while Western Grebes have all but vanished
from this wintering area--there's rumors of thousands being killed in nets
in Georgia Strait each year with little oversight; could anyone from the
Canadian Wildlife Service or BC Wildlife Branch who may be on this list
comment on this allegation? Following are the numbers of birds from Kits
Beach to W Spanish Banks.

Red-throated Loon *816*
Pacific Loon 2
Common Loon 8
Horned Grebe 20
Red-necked Grebe 2
Western Grebe 6
Double-cr. Cormorant 3
Brandt's Cormorant 1
Pelagic Cormorant 4
Great Blue Heron 1
Mallard 2
American Wigeon 265
Greater Scaup 48
Harlequin Duck 2

'Scoter Island':
Long-tailed Duck *91* 30%-40% ad Basic m
Black Scoter 25 22f 3m
Surf Scoter *16-18,000* 60%-75% ad or subad m
White-winged Scoter 500 75% ad or subad m

Rest of Survey Route:
Surf Scoter c120
White-winged Scoter c300
Common Goldeneye 110
Barrow's Goldeneye 95
Bufflehead 66
Common Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 43
Bald Eagle 11
Merlin 1
Dunlin 25
Mew Gull c250 8jv
California Gull 1 ad
Ring-billed Gull 24
Western Gull 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 22
'Olympic' Gull 17
Common Murre *101* 10 would be avg
Rock Dove 25
Pileated Woodpecker 1 f
Steller's Jay 1
Northwestern Crow 60
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Winter Wren 17
American Robin 7
European Starling 75
Song Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Red-winged Blackbird 115
House Finch 40
Pine Siskin 60

loon sp. c150
grebe sp. 5
cormorant sp. 10
scaup sp. 30
scoter sp. 5,000
goldeneye sp. 50
gull sp. 6
alcid sp. 40

Whatever's going on with the large scoter and loon incursions, these are
*not* migratory staging flocks; our seabird staging doesn't even begin to
happen for another three to eight weeks, depending on species. Neither are
these birds congregating for the annual herring run: that doesn't begin for
several weeks yet. I'm wondering if they haven't been displaced from another
wintering site. Also, there's slightly more juv Mew Gulls than usual.

Cheers

M

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada When I found out that seven of my years
(604) 668-5073 vx was only one of theirs,
(604) 668-5028 fx I started biting absolutely everything.
mprice at mindlink.net
michael.price at istar.ca -Max Carlson (Ron Carlson's dog)