Hi all

Well, I finally got a chance to see what winter birding is like this
year. The train trip started on Wednesday at 4:00 PM and we arrived at
North Bend BC at around midnight. It was not too eventful on the way up
but as the weather was clear and the moon was out in all it's glory it
was quite spectacular when we started to hit the remnants of the
previous heavy snowfall that took place earlier this week. North Bend
had between a foot and a foot and a half lying on the ground.

We wound up having to spend the night in the bunkhouse and in the
morning as we were being driven across the Fraser River to work back on
a west bound train there was a small flock of RED CROSSBILLS in the
middle of the road collecting crop grit from the sand that had been
spread for traction. We almost ran over them. They were that slow in
getting out of our way.

Once we got moving down the canyon the two most common birds sighted
were DARK-EYED JUNCOS and VARIED THRUSHES. They were scattered along the
right-of-way throughout all the wooded areas. The count for the thrushes
could easily have exceeded 200. The heavy snow seemed to have moved them
out of the forest and into slightly more open areas alongside the
tracks. They were constantly flying out of our path. The juncos were
almost equal in number.

Other birds seen were STELLER'S JAY, PINE SISKIN (flock of about 50)
AMERICAN CROW (usual large numbers), COMMON RAVEN, MALLARD, BUFFLEHEAD,
BALD EAGLE (now thinly scattered), RED-TAILED HAWK, AMERICAN WIDGEON,
GADWALL, GREAT BLUE HERON and large numbers of COMMON MERGANSERS and
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS off the mouth of the Stave River where it flows
into the Fraser.

Not a great variety but the numbers of some were unusual.

Good birding.

Roger Craik
Maple Ridge BC

PS For those new subscribers to 'Tweeters' and those who subscribe to
'bcvanbirds' let me introduce myself. My job is Conductor in freight
service for Canadian Pacific Railway and most of my bird sightings
(recently) are made while traveling at up to 60 mph. Hence the Header
"Birding at track speed". My territory covers both sides of the Fraser
River from Roberts Bank and Vancouver to North Bend and Boston Bar (in
the Fraser Canyon) as well as Burrard Inlet. These are all eyeball
sightings and if I am not sure that I have correctly ID'd a bird I will
include that fact in my report.