Hi Everyone,

I spent the last two days driving to Dawson Creek, BC, the official start of the Alcan Highway. The days were mostly driving so I had only a small amount of time to bird. In Williams Lake, BC (home of the 'world-famous' Williams Lake Stampede), there is a wonderful marshy nature sanctuary at the north end of the lake (Scout Island Nature Reserve). Interesting birds seen there included a RED-NECKED GREBE that had a nest within a few yards of the access road, multiple AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, COMMON LOON (after all, this is Canada, home of the 'Loonie') an assortment of breeding ducks looking rather ratty as they are molting, and quite a few YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

I hadn't expected the Pelicans this far north. I met the caretaker for the reserve and he indicated there is only one breeding colony of AWPE's in BC and that immatures only began to show up on Williams Lake four or five years ago.

I was also a bit surprised by the Yellow-headed Blackbirds, although on checking their range does (barely) extend this far north. What was nice about the blackbirds here was that they were spending time feeding very close to the parking area, so I got some good images. The following link shows a rather harried male and a fledgling that was relentlessly badgering dad for food. It appeared the adult was trying to force the young bird to do some foraging on its own, but it did occasionally feed it while I watched. The link is at http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=6522879&cat=38993. Between the long days of driving and a gusty 25-30 mph wind both days, the rest of the birding was pretty marginal. Tomorrow I am going to wander around in the spruce woods to see if I can stumble across a Boreal Chickadee which in theory should be a relatively easy find here.

[PS for Russell Link - the caretaker at the sanctuary was interested in the construction used for the floating/covered Common Loon breeding platforms. They have installed one platform at the Scout Island reserve which has been used, but they have lost broods to waves when a storm blows up - perhaps the covered version would help this issue for them. I didn't have Ginger and Daniel's contact info with me, so suggested he reach you through WDFW. Thanks in advance.]

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com