Hi,

yesterday evening 7pm I got a big cloud, ..ehm, flock of Bushtits right at
the bus loop at UBC/Vancouver (must have been 2 dozen or more). Only 15
minutes later, I saw another flock at MacDonald St/8th in Kitsilano,
and some additional ones from the kitchen window, some streets over. Taken
together with the flock on University Blvd/along the golf course last
Sunday, it becomes clear that they are not any more in their "pair only"
mode, but out again foraging in big groups. I have to check my notes when
I last saw a big flock before the breeding season.

Additionally, yesterday morning a Peregrine over Macdonald
St/8th, a Sharp-shinned Hawk (seen by Jason Dubois) mobbed by swallows at
UBC, and a Bald Eagle circling over UBC at lunchtime -> is the raptor fall
migration starting?

Reto Riesen
Dept. Chemistry, UBC
Vancouver, B.C.