Hi Tweets,

At the Iona Waste-Water Treatment Plant settling ponds in NW Richmond BC,
which is just S of Vancouver, the first southbound shorebirds --LESSER
YELLOWLEGS Tringa flavipes, WESTERN SANDPIPER Calidris mauri and LEAST
SANDPIPER C. minutilla, with an Alternate-plumaged GREATER YELLOWLEGS T.
melanoleuca and a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER C. semipalmatus present again last
night, the 26th-- are arriving. These first dates compiled from sightings of
Ken and Kris Klimko and John Kalman.

Species Arrival Date +/- Days, Average Arrival
1998

Lesser Yellowlegs June 19 -1

Western Sandpiper June 23 -2

Least Sandpiper June 26 -3

Semipalmated Sandpiper June 24 -2

Greater Yellowlegs June 26 n.a.

The discrepancies between actual and average arrival dates at Vancouver BC
are well within usual variation (3-5 days either side), suggesting that
whatever effect El Nino may have had on the northbound migration, it's
having none on this year's return journeys of these shorebirds.

According to Ken, the YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
have fledged their young and so may be absent from their usual Iona sites on
the N side of the Outer Pond to the W of the settling ponds. This species
normally migrates S a few days after the young fledge. In previous years,
some of the juveniles will head out to the rocks of the Iona jetties to be
fed by their mothers (the males seem not to be part of the post-fledging
feeding process) for three or four days before heading S themselves, the
first checklist-area species to leave its breeding area.

Very unusual for the checklist area between early May and early October was
a Definitively Alternate-plumaged male LONG-TAILED DUCK Clangula hyemalis
with SURF SCOTERS Melanitta perspicillata off the tip of the Iona South
Jetty, with perhaps another further offshore, both seen by Mike Beck, Ken
Klimko and myself; there have been three in that immediate area for the last
few weeks: a fully-Alternate male, a subadult male and a female. Lots of
immature CALIFORNIA GULLS Larus californicus --no adults-- in various
stages of ratbag plumages, worn Alt 1-3, on the rocks at the jetty tip last
night at high tide. KILLDEERS Charadrius vociferus with chicks on SE, SW and
NW settling ponds offering aw-ain't-that-cute looks when the fuzzball young
tunnel under the standing parent's wings. Under the overcast, the BLACK
SWIFTS Cypseloides nigra were down low, almost on the deck, doing their best
to look like tiny shearwaters.

BTW, the lock on the Birders' Gate at Iona has been removed, so no one has
to worry about any more screwball weirdness around trying to get keys from
impossible-to-find sources. Once again, it's time to give thanks to
management & staff at the Iona plant, and whoever arranged the removal with
them, for allowing birders unhindered access to their site.

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)