Subject: Iona Settling Ponds & South Jetty, July 31 1997
Date: Jul 31 23:51:54 1998
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

Out on the South Jetty on a slack high low tide (a low tide which didn't get
very low) was a flock of small gulls heading south over the tip which
contained six BONAPARTE'S GULLS Larus philadelphia, two in Def Alt plumage,
four in fresh juvenile with a fresh juvenile FRANKLIN'S GULL L. pipixcan (no
possibility of confusion with the LAUGHING GULL there a couple of days
ago--on details, that was an Alt 2 bird, not a juv). a SHORT-EARED OWL Asio
flammeus, and the OSPREY Pandion haleatus was sitting on a deadhead formed
by a stranded tree off the N side of the jetty about 400 meters out (is this
a lone adolescent whiling away its summer, or is it one of a pair nesting
somewhere alng the S side of Point Grey?). Two Alternate-plumaged RED-NECKED
GREBES Podiceps grisegena were off the tip to the NW, possibly arrival birds
out to the coast, with a molting COMMON MURRE Uria aalge further out. At the
end on the N side was a very sick adult male SURF SCOTER Melanitta
perspicillata.

An anatum-type adult female PEREGRINE FALCON Falco peregrinus was on the
rocks of the breakwater from the outflow pond on the S side of the road
leading to the base of the S Jetty, and later spent a good deal of time
trying to intimidate a begging juvenile Peregrine into leaving the area; the
two were last over the N Jetty circling together very high up after perhaps
twenty minutes of adult stoops and near-misses and juvenile importuning. The
ruckus was echoing the earlier and similar 'feed me!' calls of the juv
RED-TAILED HAWK Buteo jamaicensis who was overhead with a parent.

In the settling ponds themselves were three juv BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS Calidris
bairdii, four Def Alt adult PECTORAL SANDPIPERS C. melanotos and 53
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, all but two juveniles (a further adult and several
juvs were on the rocks of the S Jetty), along with typical numbers of juv
WESTERN SANDPIPERS C. mauri and LEAST SANDPIPERS C. minutilla. Four LESSER
YELLOWLEGS Tringa flavipes were one Def Alt bird with three juvs. The SE &
SW ponds are currently the most active, but the small slough in the NE
corner of the NW pond sometimes has some interesting birds, and would be
ideal for those skulky shorebirds such as RUFF Philomenus pugnax and
SOLITARY SANDPIPER Tringa solitaria which don't care as much for the wide
open spaces of the others.

The arrivals of the juvenile Bonaparte's (7/27) and juv Franklin's Gulls
(7/29), and the Baird's Sandpipers (7/26) are each within a couple/few days
of their average arrival dates; the Red-necked Grebes were almost three
weeks early (8/19), although more careful long-term monitoring of Iona, a
staging area for them in either direction, may show late July/early August
as the more typical arrival window.

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)