Hi Tweets,

Up to the UBC Campus and the forests in the area of the TRIUMF labs with
Mike Beck this AM to try to relocate the male THREE-TOED WOODPECKER Picoides
tridactyla located there last weekend. Habitats included a dog's-breakfast
of mature mixed forest, scrubby plantings, gardens and nurseries, mature
coniferous forest, built-up office and laboratory spaces, and various types
of disturbed grounds.

No luck, but we found some other interesting species not usually known to
breed at sea level in Vancouver BC: territorial WESTERN TANAGERS Piranga
ludoviciana, several locations; YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS Dendroica coronata,
at least 2 males, one visually ID'ed as 'Audubon'-type; and 1 singing male
DARK-EYED JUNCO Junco hyemalis, 'Oregon'-type. Several weeks ago, Evelyn
Whiteside, that indefatigably acute observer, located a brood of three
still-downy junco young in branching phase, and showed us the location
--which was close to the place where the male junco was singing this cool,
overcast morning. That he was was in full, non-degraded territorial song
this morning so late after the first brood fledged, indicates that this far
south and at sea level, they can start nesting early enough to lay a second
clutch.

My guess is that that these species nested throughout the current checklist
area from sea level to the local mountains' higher slopes before the era of
European colonisation began in this region, the UBC forests in the
university Endowment Lands and Pacific Spirit Park being relict forest from
that age.

A male/female pair of CROSSBILLS were problematical; though each perched at
the tops of adjacent trees in the area of the landfill, both were much
obscured by foliage, and the one possible look at the male showed only the
lower back and rump, both of which were a bright pink-red. Their calls were
not of the usual soft 'jitjitjit' type normally heard uttered by the local
race/species of Red Crossbills Loxia curvirostra but a hard, loud,
deliberately-spaced triplet, a smacking 'dit. dit. dit.' almost electric in
quality. The call and the back-color --seeming brighter than the dull
greenish-red of the local Red Crossbills-- suggest either a non-local type
of Red Crossbill or the more infrequent and sporadic White-winged Crossbill
Loxia leucoptera. We found a SONG SPARROW Melospiza melodia feeding an
insistently-importuning juvenile BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD Molothrus ater, and on
the roof of a nearby building watched a small group of cowbird males
displaying in 'neck-craning' to each other and bowing to females, and were
lucky (?) enough to see one female give that lightning-quick sign of
approval and acceptance to one displaying male, the quick flip-up of one
wing. Later, at another location, we saw the equally fleeting mating of a
pair: the female landed on a branch, the male landed on her back and two
seconds later flew away. Talk about yer furtive romance, they didn't even
take time for a cigarette.

Great Blue Heron 3 overflight
Bald Eagle 1 jv
Red-tailed Hawk 3 1 pair, plus interloper booted out
Glaucous-winged Gull 5 overflight
Rock Dove 1
Band-tailed Pigeon 5
Rufous Hummingbird 2 2f
Downy Woodpecker 3 1 pair
Pacific-slope Flycatcher ~12 calling, singing males
Hutton's Vireo 1? possible
Warbling Vireo 3 singing m's
Northwestern Crow 5
Violet-green Swallow ~6 incl. 2m 1jv
Barn Swallow ~35 incl. jv's
Black-capped Chickadee 4 inc. jv's
Chestnut-backed Chickadee ~15 inc. jv's
Bushtit 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 2 singing males
Bewick's Wren 2 singing males
Winter Wren 5 singing males
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3
Swainson's Thrush ~12 11 singing males, 1 silent
American Robin ~10 inc. jv's
European Starling ~20 incl jv's
Cedar Waxwing 8 2 nesting pairs?
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 2m Audubon
Western Tanager 4 1 pair, 3 other singing m's
Spotted Towhee ~12 2 pairs, remainder singing m's
Song Sparrow 4 1 feeding jv cowbird
White-crowned Sparrow 7 singing males
Dark-eyed Junco 1 singing male
Black-headed Grosbeak 2 singing males
Brown-headed Cowbird ~12 6m 4f 2jv
House Finch ~20 incl. jv's
crossbill sp. 2 pair
Pine Siskin 6 at least 1 pair, poss 3
American Goldfinch 8 3m, 5 overflight birds

Cheers

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery, and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)



cc: boom at islandnet.com