Hi Tweets,

This evening at about 5 PM PDT, the CASSIN'S AUKLET Ptychoramphus aleuticus
was in the cruise-ship berth along the E side of Canada Place at the N end
of Howe Steet in downtown Vancouver BC. You can get good views from the
Promenade Deck which runs along the E side of Canada Place, the big
white-sailed convention center, from which you can look down on the bird
from a height of about twenty or thirty meters, sometimes gaining
surprisingly close views. IN a scope at highest power, it was a frame-filler.

John Chandler writes:

>The bird often travels up to 100 feet underwater
>when diving and can therefore be difficult to relocate.

This is odd to read: on Sunday, when I located the bird, I noted the
durations, distances and directions of its dives over an hour and a half,
looking for typical patterns, if any. In over 70 dives, the bird invariably
surfaced in the same direction it was pointing when it dived---making it
relatively easy to relocate---and the furthest the bird travelled in that
entire time was no further than approximately 15 meters (45-50 feet), with
the overwhelming majority (~95%) of its dives at about 10m (30 ft); its dive
duration over that period ranged from 8 seconds to a maximum observed
duration of 22 seconds with the vast majority (~95%) of the dive durations
being 16-18 seconds. When further witnesses arrived and had observed the
bird, we were able to joke about setting our watches to the exact 17-second
average set by this bird in several consecutive dives.

Tonight, three dives, all with the bird surfaceing in direction of dive, all
three dives covered about 10m distance, and the timed durations were 16
seconds, 17 seconds and 17 seconds.

At no time did we see a dive of the quoted distance; when we thought we had,
I would think it was invariably as a result of this intrinsically
inconspicuous, tiny bird surfacing unseen and diving again before being
noticed. Even knowing the approximate area of re-emergence, it was/is
extremely easy to overlook or lose it on grey water with the slightest
rippling or chop or poor lighting conditions. As we've consistently had
fairly strong winds for the last several weeks, there is rarely a time when
the bird can be seen against a calm surface unless directly in the lee of
one of the artificial structures there.

Granville Clint, the male Peale's Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus which
winters on the Pacific Press building at the N end of Granville Street, has
adopted a new perch before turning in for the evening. When on same
Promenade Deck, look not only on the window sills above the eighth or ninth
story (say two or three below the mid-building louvres) but also at the
colored and illuminated 'Harbour Centre' sign on the Sears Tower, the
building with the large restaurant and white spire, about two blocks to the
E of the Pacific Press building. Our little pal likes to sit on the letters.
I guess he's waiting for---what, exactly? Warmer weather? Southerly winds? A
female to come by and c'mon-big-boy him away from here to wherever he goes?
Or does he follow one of the migrant gulls when they clear out of southern
BC? What's he waiting for? Wish I knew.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net