Gary and Tweeters,

The north end of Canora Road on the east side of the Victoria Airport
has been known for many years as one of the most reliable places to
find Sky Larks. There is a small cemetery next to the end of the road
against the chain-link fence which surrounds the airport. Anytime
between late February and June or early July, a few minutes at this
location is almost certain to produce 2 or 3 male Sky Larks in song
flight.

The current population of introduced Sky Larks on Vancouver Island is
probably about 200 or 300 birds-- down from about 1000 birds in the
late 1960s or early 1970s. However, the population seems to be stable,
unlike the population of Crested Mynas in Vancouver, which is near
extinction.

The Sky Larks on San Juan Island seem to have died out several years
ago (if I'm wrong, somebody please correct me!), but the birds in the
Victoria area seem likely to remain there for many years to come.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Wiles <wilesharkey at yahoo.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2002 11:00 AM
Subject: Sky Larks on Vancouver Island


> Tweeters,
>
> I know this message doesn't pertain to birdwatching in Washington
state,
> but some Tweeters readers may find it of interest since it involves
a
> specialty bird of the Northwest. My wife and I went to Vancouver
Island
> this weekend to do a combined biking and birding trip. We made it
up to
> the Victoria airport in Sidney on Saturday afternoon and had a great
time
> watching Sky Larks from 6:30-7:30 pm. We heard dozens of flight
songs,
> actually saw the birds performing their display flights 10-12 times
> including several that passed directly over our heads, and got very
good
> looks at birds on the ground. All this took place on the east side
of the
> airport at the north end of Canora Road, where the road dead-ends
into the
> airport's chainlink perimeter fence. This area is next to a large
strip
> of unmowed grass that the airport is apparently managing for Sky
Larks.
> After seeing all this, I'd recommend that everyone should go up and
watch
> this for themselves sometime. The lengthy flight displays and
continuous
> songs are VERY impressive. By the way, we can recommend a
reasonable B &
> B just two blocks away from this site for anyone that might be
interested.
>
> Gary Wiles
> Tumwater, WA
> wilesharkey at yahoo.com
>