I had an unusual sighting on April 9. I observed a Townsend's Solitaire fly
down onto the beach on Burrard Inlet in Port Moody, B.C. and forage. The
bird worked the beach for about 30 minutes, then flew up and I lost sight of
it. Several hours later it returned and took up foraging on the beach
again. It seemed to be finding small morsels to eat in the sand between the
rocks. At one point it looked like it could have had a small crab. While I
was watching the Solitaire, 2 house finches also landed on the beach and
foraged. I have also seen starlings, crows and house sparrows on the beach
before, but no other passerines. In future I'm going to pay closer
attention to who is on the beach!

As my sightings of Townsend's Solitaires in the Greater Vancouver area are
confined to birds in Queen Elizabeth Park during spring migration, and one
fall sighting in the cemetary at Point Roberts, this beach sighting seemed
remarkable. I'd be interested to hear of other similar sightings.

Hilary Maguire
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada

hmag at infoserve.net