Hi Tweets,

Judy Meredith writes:

>I will be downtown Vancouver BC next week for a couple
> of days, won't have a vehicle, but wonder if I will be
> able to do any birding. Walking a mile or so or a simple
> trip on a bus would work. My conference is 8 to 5:30 so
> early a.m. or evening birding ideas would be appreciated.

This is the slimmest time of the year for a big species list in downtown
Vancouver BC. The seabirds have dwindled down as wintering flocks take off
into the Interior and the North; the shorebirds have gone through except for
a Corporal's Guard at the Iona settling ponds and Boundary Bay; the last of
the passerine migration is tailing off. So nowadays it's the slack period
between north- and southbound migrations (the southbound one begins in about
3 weeks when the first southbound Western Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs
arrive here: that's why I no longer call it the 'Fall' migration-- it's got
the rest of June, all of July, August and 3/4 of September to go before it's
technically accurate to call it the 'Fall' migration).

Stanley Park (SP) is all-round best, or course, with its easily accessible
Lost Lagoon (may be a few immature/sick scaup &/or goldeneye of either
species lolling about, but the rest have left), deciduous plantings near the
Pitch 'n Putt and tennis courts, the various gardens towards the zoo, the
Great Blue Heron colony in the large western redcedars above the zoo
containing what must be the world's only human-habituated GBHE's. There's
the mature forest in the interior of the park, lots of paths, main paths are
pretty safe. Good restaurant at Ferguson Point, so-so elsewhere. Spectacular
view from atop Prospect Point. Go down the stairs there to a viewing area
and look under the Lion's Gate Bridge across to the other side of First
Narrows: there may still be a few summering Western Grebes and
Surf/White-winged Scoters there in a small bay beneath the bridge. Maybe
Pigeon Guillemot at Brockton Point in the Park, and if you're there, check
out the cormorants on the Burnaby Shoal beacon: there'll be Pelagic and
Double-crested, but occasionally a Brandt's or two summers there.

You may want to take the 15 minute commuter ferry, the SeaBus, across the
Inner Harbor part of Burrard inlet to North Vancouver. Grab a window seat
and look for seabirds. Between 9:30 and 3:00 your transfer/ticket is good
for 2 hrs, so anywhere for C$1.50. A staggered, zone-dependent fare kicks in
in either rush-hour. Don't know North Van very well.

Downtown includes the West End, an area of high-rise apartments and old
houses and tree-lined streets. There's some passerine listing available
there; early morning's best. Look for hummingbird feeders, sometimes Anna's
and migrant Rufous. Lots of Bushtits and House Finches nesting there.

And the Seawall, both in and leading from Stanley Park, for seabirds,
*maybe* a few Black Oystercatchers on the rocky shores from Ferguson Point
to Prospect Point.

Otherwise downtown Vancouver can be pretty sparse for anything but
Glaucous-winged Gulls, European Starlings and Northwestern Crows. There's
usually a fair number of Violet-green Swallows, a cavity-nester; the lack of
a nearby freshwater mud supply precludes Barn & Cliff Swallow nesting in the
downtown area no matter how much available nesting geometry there is. Vaux's
Swifts sometimes, much less frequently since the City cleaned out all the
nesting snags and all of the houses with roostable chimneys got knocked down
for highrises over the last two decades; Black Swifts occasionally. Bald
Eagles, usually, as at least one and possibly two pair nest in Stanley Park
(sometimes mixing it up with the eagles from the NW Marine Drive eyrie over
by UBC). A real outside chance of a migrant Common Nighthawk: they should be
arriving anytime now if not already. They used to be a fairly common nesting
bird here but vanished about ten years ago, now there's just one or two.

There's Victory Park at the corner of Hastings and Cambie, a small,
deciduous island in a built-up desert, but it's pretty scuzzy there.
Careful. It's about as far E as you may want to go along Hastings.

However, if you go a little further E along Pender St., there's Dr. Sun Yat
Sen Gardens at the beginnings of Chinatown, an *exquisite* classical Chinese
garden, the only such outside mainland China. Sometimes passerine migrants
in the shrubbery, but its the gardens themselves (costs about five bucks
admission) are worth it on their own.

Canada Place, on the Vancouver harbor waterfront has a cafeteria on the
'Cruise Ship' level at its far end (no cover) where I park myself with a
coffee and scan the waters of the Inner Harbor part of Burrard Inlet; in
winter, really good for seabirds and waterfowl, scads of wintering Baldies,
all kinds of stuff. Best, it's warm, and out of the weather.

Pelagic Cormorants nest under the Burrard, Second Narrows, Cambie and
Granville Street Bridges.

Likeliest species:

Glaucous-winged Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Caspian Tern
Great Blue Heron
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Northwestern Crow
European Starling
Vaux's Swift
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Finch
House Sparrow
American Robin
Bald Eagle (2 pair in SP, 1 pr on S shore)
Mallard (SP)
Canada Goose (SP)
Wood Duck (Lst Lgn, SP)
Swainson's Thrush (SP)
Winter Wren (SP)
Bushtit (West End)
Wilson's Warbler (SP)
Western Tanager (SP)
Common Nighthawk (outside chance)

That's about all I can think of off the top of the head. Sorry if it's
scattered; it's my last day on the job here and there's lotsa loose ends;
sure there's something forgotten. Hope it helps.

M

Michael Price
(604) 668-5000 vx When I found out that seven of my years
(604) 668-5028 fx was only one of theirs,
mprice at mindlink.net I started biting absolutely everything.
-Max Carlson (Ron Carlson's dog)