Trip around the farming country southeast of Prince George in
central B.C. this afternoon with Cathy Antoniazzi looking for
signs of spring. They are there big time.

Sky - overcast altostratus ahead of weakening occluded front
approaching from west; some sprinkles by end of trip.
Winds - light outflow easterly around shoulder of Cariboo Mts.
Temperature - 8-11 degrees C (47-52 F)
Snowcover - recent rains have wiped out most of snowcover; down to
just patches on north-facing and/or shaded slopes.
Standing water - fair amount in the fields.
-------------------
GR. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE - one in with Canadas near airport; earliest
record for this species in area.
CANADA GOOSE - 498, including two _minima_ near airport; we usually
do not see _minima_ here.
GREEN-WINGED TEAL - one pair.
MALLARD - 5
N. PINTAIL - 70; good numbers for the first rush.
AM. WIGEON - six, a fairly low number for the first arrivals.
BALD EAGLE - 11 ad. 4 imm. - numbers thinned out the past few days.
RED-TAILED HAWK - "jailbird" pair back at their nest near the jail
were busy trying to run off another; is it possible that this
interloper was a young bird from previous years from the same
nest?; this pair (beautiful dark fem. and smaller light male)
has been at this site for the past 7 years.
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK - 3 dark morphs, at least two of which were
adults; have been one or two light morphs around the airport the
past week.
BUTEO sp. - one, distant and perched (smart money on RLHA).
** GYRFALCON ** - 1 ad. male gray morph - broad base to wings and
tapered tail; flew right over road in front of car; thought it
had jesses for a minute but it turned out it had a rodent whose
tail was sticking out from its left talons; perched on
fencepost and ate rodent then just sat there digesting; we left
after about 10 minutes; support for Week 1-2 March being best
time to run into northbound Gyrs in the area.
KILLDEER - 1 in flight; back right on time.
AM. CROW - 22
COM. RAVEN - 150-200 (unavoidable double-counting).
BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE - 12; one pair at nest already.
AM. ROBIN - 23; all males.
N. SHRIKE - 1 singing ad. male; always a treat to hear this
unappreciated songster; shrikes did not overwinter here this past
winter so must be an arrival from farther south.
EUR. STARLING - 12
HOUSE SPARROW - 1; low number.
---------------------------
All in all, an outstanding day with quality making up for quantity.
Key to a lot of the carnivorous bird distribution in the area seems
to be an explosion in rodent numbers in the fields which began about
a month ago. Ravens, crows, hawks, and even the Gyrfalcon all were
seen taking advantage of the boom in vole (likely Meadow Vole)
numbers. No Mountain Bluebirds yet but they cannot be far off.

- Jack





--------------
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca

cc: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sandra Kinsey <ae457 at pgfn.bc.ca>