Hi Tweets,

Out to the tip of the S Jetty at Iona Island to see if the Brown Pelican had
obliged by sticking around another day. Nope. Still need it for Canada, drat.

Highlight beside a stunning sunset was the arrival of a number of Common
Loon family groups with juveniles. Very large flocks of Common Terns,
especially to SW, working the drop-off upwelling about 1 km beyond the jetty
tip.

It's that time: at Jericho earlier in the day I watched flocks of Mallards
and American Wigeon actually arriving from high above Georgia Strait and
Burrard Inlet, likewise with juvs, and immediately putting distance between
them and humans along the edge of the W Pond. I imagine these are wild
Mallards who have wintered at Jericho before and remember how easy the
livin' can be there, and tame down very quickly.

Conditions: Temp: 20 C; Wind: W-NW 10-15 km/hr, decreasing; Barom: rising;
Cloud: 2/10, cumulus caps on mountains; Visibility: unlimited, horizon
clear, no heat-haze; Tide: slack, very high; Sea: light W ripple, wide
smooths near sunset.

Common Loon 26 19a, 7jv; 4 family groups
Horned Grebe 4
Red-necked Grebe 8 4 alt, 1jv
Double-cr. Cormorant 58 some juvs, most on beacon
Pelagic Cormorant 1
Surf Scoter ~700
scoter sp. ~4000
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 jv roosting on rocks at end
Western Sandpiper 42 jvs " " "
phalarope sp. 16 too far out to ID
Bonaparte's Gull 35 incl 6 jv
Mew Gull 3 3a
Ring-billed Gull 25
California Gull ~30
Glaucous-winged Gull 18 incl 2 jv
gull sp. ~100 offshore
Common Tern ~600
Sterna sp. ~1500 *large* flock to SW


Sea Island, in dusk

Killdeer 2
UPLAND SANDPIPER 1
Barn Owl 1
Savannah Sparrow 2



Jericho W Pond, mid-afternoon

Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 1 ad
Canada Goose 8
Mallard ~60 wild family groups arriving
Northern Pintail 3 1 ecl m, 1f, 1jv
American Wigeon 5 3a 2jv
American Coot 6 2a 4y
Rock Dove ~60
Northwestern Crow 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Savannah Sparrow 4
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
Red-winged Blackbird 1 m
American Goldfinch 1


Michael Price The Sleep of Reason Gives Birth to Monsters
Vancouver BC Canada -Goya
mprice at mindlink.net