Subject: Stanley Pk, Vancouver BC, Oct 17 1997
Date: Oct 19 09:43:30 1997
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

With Don Cecile and Max Gotz first to Third Beach in Stanley Park to look
for, then at, the male Common Eider, a brief fruitless chase around West
73rd and Hudson to look for Don C's lifer Crested Myna, then down to
Lighthouse Marine Park on the SW corner of Point Roberts WA (following post).

Third Beach, Stanley Park Highlights: the male COMMON EIDER is in about 90%
full Alternate, just some dusky mottle on its nape and hindneck, easily
visible in the flock comprised of large numbers of Surf Scoters, some
White-winged and Black Scoters, many Barrow's Goldeneyes, some Long-tailed
Ducks, Greater Scaup, Harlequin Ducks, etc. And let us here take a quiet
moment and pray for the soul of an adult female kayaker who to the polite,
shouted requests ("Could you please go around the flock? You'll frighten
them if you go any closer.') to leave the flock undisturbed yelled back
something too evil to quote and then deliberately evicted 5,000 birds.
Where's a rolled-up newspaper when you need one? Any advice on how to
housetrain kayakers who refuse to allow wild things their space? Or does
that task fall into the 'life is too short to even get started on such a
futile goal that Mother Teresa herself couldn't start to make a dent' category?

Stanley Park Conditions: Temp: 17 C; Wind: calm to very light W 5 kph;
Barom: rising; Cloud: 1/10; Visibility: unlimited, sea/sky horizon crisp;
Sea: calm, some offshore tidal turbulence; Tide: ebb from high High.

(collective sspecies list, D Cecile, M Gotz, M Price)

Pacific Loon 1 jv
Common Loon 4
Horned Grebe 6
Red-necked Grebe 1
Western Grebe 11
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Pelagic Cormorant 3
Brandt's Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Green-winged Teal 1 f
Mallard 21
American Wigeon 17
Greater Scaup 56
COMMON EIDER 1 m, completing pre-Alt molt
Harlequin Duck 4 1f 3m
Long-tailed Duck 3 2f/jv 1m
Black Scoter 1f
Surf Scoter ~4000
White-winged Scoter 4
Barrow's Goldeneye ~75
Bufflehead 7 6f/jv, 1m
Red-breasted Merganser 1 f/jv
Ruddy Duck 7
American Coot 1
Mew Gull 17 a
Ring-billed Gull 2 a
Glaucous-winged Gull 11
'Olympic Gull'* 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northwestern Crow 4

Aechmophorus grebe sp. 1
cormorant sp. 3
accipiter sp. 1
gull sp. ~20

*Western X Glaucous-winged Gull hybrid


Cheers,

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