Hi Tweets,

So I stood right out at the tip of the Iona South Jetty in the rising wind
and dropping temperatures looking at this bird messing around in the
dried-out sweet clover and on the ground, got the scope on it and thought,
oh jeez, not an empid in October, puh-leeze not an empid in October. ID'ing
empids is nerve-wracking for me at the best of times, and this is the season
for mirror (northward) migration in some individuals and a good time for any
weirdo from Central America or the southwestern US to show up. No one else
there. Help. Panic.

So, did it by the book. Wrote down fieldmarks, then looked it up. Heh,
turned out to be an easy ID: a juv LEAST FLYCATCHER. The bird was--with
innocent intentions, I hasten to add--hanging around the Port-A-John toilets
and frequently alit on the gravel around their bases to feed on some insects
there. Sometimes it flew with some of the Lapland Longspurs there, sometimes
alone. Quite active. Usually one or two visits a year to Vancouver BC. As
well, there seems to be a pattern of late summer-to-mid-fall of Least
Flycatchers on the Cascadian coast.

Jon Anderson asked about Snow Geese at Reifel. I didn't get a chance to call
John Ireland today, but there were almost 1000 on the foreshore along the
edge of Vancouver International Airport, which stands directly athwart the
migration route of millions of birds large and small, keeps the grass around
its runways short, which attracts the large geese and ducks to graze, and
then deals with the self-created problem by getting a permit to shoot them.
Boy, talk about pitching your tent between the railway tracks and then
wondering why you have to derail so many trains. Small groups of geese were
migrating S over Georgia Strait, so it's a good bet there's a good number at
Reifel as well.

Also off the tip was a adult Herring Gull--don't see a lot of these outside
the big landfill at Burns Bog in Delta (and which the staff take extra pains
to show that it is *strictly* off-limits to birders)--and lots of
jaegeractivity: 4 light-morph Parasitic Jaegers, 3 Dark-morph, 1 juv.;
several Lapland Longspurs, a couple of Song Sparrows and a big (~200) flight
of Bonaparte's Gulls about 1 km out. A strong and *cold* northwesterly blew
up ahead a hulking black cloud coming over from Vancouver Island.

Red-breasted Mergansers are back bigtime: 128 in one large flock along the N
Jetty, and a single flock of Common Mergansers a little further on contained
137. About 75 Lapland Longspurs were in a small meadow between the dikes
where the N Jetty narrows down a couple of kilometers out.

A Sharp-tailed Sandpiper bright enough to stand out in flight in a flock of
Pectoral Sandpipers flew aver the Outer Pond a couple of times before
heading out over the river. A couple of American Golden Plover overflew the
Outer Pond, where there were a baker's dozen newly-arrived Ring-necked
Ducks, more Horned Grebes (7) than I've ever seen on the pond, and the male
Redhead.

At the Outflow pond were the two Peregrines.

Cheers.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net