Hi Tweets,

On Oct 05 and again today, Peter Woods and I located and photographed a
First Winter LITTLE GULL off Third Beach in Stanley Park Vancouver BC in a
flock of Bonaparte's Gulls L. philadelphia. Noticeably smaller than the
surrounding Bonaparte's, the bird is very active in flight, shuttling back
and forth above the cormorant feeding melees, and its black 'M' pattern on
the wings is conspicuous.

Also present on Oct 05 were five ANCIENT MURRELETS, though only one remained
today, vocalising its chee-rupp! call frequently. Both are extremely rare in
Stanley Park waters and these observations may constitute the first
photo-documented park records for either species.

Today, there was an Eared Grebe well into Pre-Basic molt following the the
shoreline from English Bay to Ferguson Point.

The general flock at Third Beach contained:

~20 Bonaparte's Gull*
1 LITTLE GULL
variable small numbers of Mew*, Ring-billed* and Glaucous-winged Gulls
~3,000 Surf Scoters
5 Black Scoters
1 White-winged Scoter, male
2 Greater Scaup
6 Harlequin Duck
7 Red-necked Grebe
5 Horned Grebe
3 Western Grebe
36 Double-crested Cormorant, 6a, 30 juv**
3 Pelagic Cormorant
2 Pacific Loons
1 ANCIENT MURRELET

*A termite hatch had Bonaparte's, Mew and Ring-billed Gulls hawking to
altitudes above the west side of Stanley Park which rendered them almost
invisible even in binoculars.

**most parked on a large offshore rock

A Basic-plumaged Ruddy Duck was on Lost Lagoon. Once a common wintering
duck on the Lagoon, it has been quite rare there for years, appearing only
as an occasional migrant drop-in.

Conditions varied from dead calm to a fresh westerly breeze.

As Outer Burrard Inlet (from Stanley Park/Kitsilano to Points Atkinson and
Grey) has become a bit of a desert for seabirds for the last decade or so,
with many once-common migrant and wintering species down to a handful of
individuals or none at all, this week's Third Beach crowd constitutes in
numbers, species variety and behavior somewhat of a reversion to historical
levels. Well, they're sure welcome back. It's been too long that they've
been gone and it's great to see them again.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
loblollyboy at gmail.com

"I feel like a fugitive from th' law of averages!" -- GI Willie