Hi folks, the following is a list of most significant sightings for Port
Alberni (mid Vancouver Island) on Saturday Oct. 11 (along with some
speculation and anecdotes).

American Coot 450 (last week I saw only one bird!)
Merlin 1
SS Hawk 1
Steller's Jay 14 (altitudinal migration suspected here, birds flying singly
or in very small clusters all in same direction over a few brief minutes,
flying approx. twice tree height)
WWScoter 1 very unusual this far up the inlet
Lapland Longspur 23 two flocks flying over, only one bird was seen well,
this species is new for the valley checklist (surprisingly)
Lincoln's Sparrow 7 (so much for my earlier remarks that last week was tail
end of migration...)
White-crowned Sparrow 6, no adults yet
GC Sparrow 20 , 1 adult

Warblers:

Yellow-rumped Warbler 15 - all myrtles
Yellow Warbler 5 - an amazing number for the date (and they were together)
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Townsend's Warbler 4 - another amazing number for the date (only 2 were
together)
Common Yellowthroat 1

All in all , a pretty good day and the sun even came out for a while!
cheers,

Don Cecile
dcecile at cln.etc.bc.ca