Hi All

Things started off kind of quiet last night when I worked up to North
Bend BC on an empty sulphur train. We left Port Coquitlam BC at about
10:30 PM and arrived at our destination at about 3:00 AM. The only
critter that we saw on the way up was an Opossum that wandered across
the track in front of us.

As there was no train to work back on until around noon we managed to
grab some rest and it was later on in the morning when things got
interesting.

After I woke up there was some time to kill so I wandered around the
rail yard and some of the local roads to see what was around. At one
point I caught a flash of black wings, close to the ground, that were
too large to be a crow or raven so I thought I would get closer to see
if they were Turkey Vultures.

As I neared the field where I thought they might be two of them suddenly
took off for no apparent reason. I looked over the area to see what
might have caused them to be alarmed and discovered a rather large Black
Bear sitting at the edge of the forest about 100 yds from my location.

I had several options available if the bear became aggressive so I
stayed where I was and watched it for about 10 min. It sat sniffing the
air as if trying to locate something and looked like it was trying to
decide whether to venture further away from the safety of the forest and
track down whatever it was that had attracted it's attention. I suspect
it was the same thing that had attracted the TVs. I didn't rush over and
try to locate it.<g> After several cars drove by on the road that
passed near the field that it was in the bear slipped back into the
forest.

I guess when one is checking to see what has attracted the attention of
turkey vultures one should also take the time to make sure that it
hasn't attracted anything else.

As far as birds were concerned I think it's safe to say that Spring has
finally arrived in the Fraser Canyon. The following list is from both
North Bend and the engine (at track speed).

Great Blue Heron *
Turkey Vulture--2 with the bear & 4 soaring near the mountain top abt
2500'
Canada Goose *
Wood Duck *
Mallard *
Ring-necked Pheasant *
Killdeer *
Rock Dove *--flock of 20+ that are usually at the S end of the rail
yard.
Band-tailed Pigeon *--flock of 20+ that are usually at the N end of the
rail yard.
Rufous Hummingbird *--all over the place.
Belted Kingfisher *
Northern Flicker *
One very noisy Empid whose call I could not attach to a bird I never did
see.
Steller's Jay *
American Crow *
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow *
Barn Swallow *
Cliff Swallow *
Veery--heard but seldom seen.
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow Warbler--heard
Western Tanager--f
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow *
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
American Goldfinch *
Evening Grosbeak--flock of 20+ flying noisily overhead.

* from the engine on the trip home.

The ground list could be bigger if I bothered to carry binoculars but I
have to pack enough stuff as is.

Good birding.

Roger Craik
Maple Ridge BC
east of Vancouver