Howdy,

Activity in our backyard has toned down somewhat - no flycatchers or
warblers other than Yellow-rumps, but here are a few things to report from
recent days.

My brother, Chris Shepard, just returned from a few days up in Strathcona
Park. There was apparently lots of action above tree line up on Mt. Albert
Edward on Sunday September 26. There were literally hundreds of sparrows,
mostly SAVANNAHS and GOLDEN-CROWNS. He did find 2 LAPLAND LONGSPURS and two
WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN (one of which was banded).

Back in Victoria, Chris still had a WESTERN TANAGER feeding on his grapes
yesterday (September 27).

On Sunday (September 26), I was lazing around near Jordan River, and didn't
find much of note. There were two BARROW'S GOLDENEYE present. I think they
were juveniles. I've posted an image of them at
www.birdinfo.com/Accounts_B/BarrowsGoldeneye_0003.html The one on the left
appeared larger and with a puffier head so could well be a male, with other
most likely a female. Comments appreciated.

Near Gate 4 west of China Beach were three HUTTON'S VIREOS calling
simultaneously - no songs. I wonder if it was a family group still
together.

Yesterday (September 27), a LINCOLN'S SPARROW, normally a skulking species,
spent about 15 minutes out in the open, foraging on our lawn in Fairfield,
Victoria.

And finally, today (September 28) at about 4:30 p.m., a lone VAUX'S SWIFT
whizzed over our house at low elevation.

I'm starting to have a bit of trouble with my web site server as there are
now over 6,000 files there. I'm going to be switching the location of some
files, so there may be a few broken links turning up. If you find any of
those, I would much appreciate hearing about it so I can make a fix quickly.

Cheers,

Michael G. Shepard
North American Bird Information Web Site: www.birdinfo.com
Check out recent updates at www.birdinfo.com/recentpostings.html