Birders,

Things are hopping in the Vancouver, BC area. For a start, a MCCOWN'S
LONGSPUR was found late in the afternoon on October 10th in Vancouver's
Stanley Park. It was present all the next day in the same place, and was
seen and photographed by dozens of birders. The location is along the
Stanley Park seawall beside Coal Harbour, just east of the Vancouver Yacht
Club and west of the turnoff to the Aquarium in Stanley Park. The bird was
feeding on weed seeds close to the paved walking path and bike path along
the seawall, and was almost oblivious to the hordes of walkers, joggers, and
cyclists in the area. This is only the 4th record of this species in B.C.,
and the first since 1930. Congratulations to local birder Mike Boyd for
finding and correctly identifying this bird.

Yesterday afternoon, another bird which is almost as rare, a LARK BUNTING,
was found along a gravel path just east of the Museum of Anthropology at the
University of BC in Vancouver (at the top of the Point Grey cliffs). This
bird was present at least from 3:30 to 4:45 PM, and was also photographed.
Credit is due to Peter Candido for finding this one. I haven't seen the
bunting yet, but I'll be looking today!

Good luck to anyone from Washington who wants to look for either of these
birds-- the traffic across the border will be very busy today (Thanksgiving
Day in Canada). It seems likely that the longspur, at least, will still be
present today.

Good luck and good birding,

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net