This is Wayne Weber with Nature Vancouver's Rare Bird Alert for Saturday,
July 10th, sponsored in part by Wild Birds Unlimited, with stores in
Vancouver and North Vancouver. The RBA telephone number is (604) 737-3074.



If you wish to leave a rare bird report, please press the star button at the
end of this message to go back to the menu, press "2" for the rare bird
reporting line, and follow the instructions given there.





RARE BIRD ALERT for an INDIGO BUNTING captured and photographed at the
Colony Farm Park banding station on July 3, and a WESTERN SCRUB-JAY at and
near the intersection of Cliff Avenue and Cliff Place in Maple Ridge, which
has been present now for more than a year. Also of note are recent records
of CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR, COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD, BLACKPOLL WARBLER, and
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT.



I apologize for the long gap in Rare Bird Alert coverage. This resulted from
a major computer breakdown in mid-June; although my computer is up and
running again, I still have not recovered full functionality, but hope to do
so very soon.





Sightings for Thursday, July 8th



Two WHIMBRELS were at the lagoon near the tip of the Tsawwassen ferry jetty
in Delta.





Sightings for Wednesday, July 7th



The PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER was seen again near the foot of 96th Street ion
Boundary Bay in Delta, as was a LONG-BILLED CCURLEW.





Sightings for Monday, July 5th



The flock of summering BRANT at the foot of 41B Street in Delta had
increased to 15 birds.





Sightings for Saturday, July 3rd



A second-year male INDIGO BUNTING which was captured, banded, and
photographed at the Colony Farm banding station in Port Coquitlam was the
second record for the year.



An AMERICAN REDSTART was singing along the Fraser River just west of Hope, a
very unusual locality for this species.





Sightings for Friday, July 2nd



A BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON seen flying overhead in the 15300 block of 21st
Avenue in South Surrey was highly unusual.





Sightings for Thursday, July 1st



Early southbound shorebirds seen on Boundary Bay near the foot of 96th
Street in Delta included a PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER, 35 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS,
and a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, as well as 2 summering DUNLIN.



The resident WESTERN SCRUB-JAY was seen again near the intersection of Cliff
Avenue and Cliff Place in Maple Ridge.





Sightings for Wednesday, June 30th



Ten summering BRANT were seen near the foot of 41B Street in Delta.





Sightings for Tuesday, June 29th



A male AMERICAN REDSTART was seen along the Grant Narrows nature dyke in
Pitt Meadows, and the LEAST FLYCATCHER was still singing at the east end of
Thompson Road.



North of Vancouver, 6 TURKEY VULTURES were seen near Britannia Beach, and
another one at Squamish.





Sightings for Saturday, June 26th



The singing LEAST FLYCATCHER and 4 SANDHILL CRANES were seen along Thompson
Road in Pitt Meadows.



A BRANT and 6 BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS were seen along the Tsawwassen ferry
jetty in Delta, and 4 early migrant SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS were at the Beach
Grove lagoon.



A WESTERN KINGBIRD, along with a more-expected EASTERN KINGBIRD, was seen
near the west end of Seabird Island east of Agassiz.





Sightings for Friday, June 25th



The male COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD in Vancouver was last reported on this date.





Sightings for Tuesday, June 22nd



A YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT photographed in a slightly different area of Colony
Farm Park was likely the same one reported on June 17th.



A LONG-BILLED CURLEW and a WHIMBREL were observed along the Iona Island
causeway in Richmond, and the EARED GREBE was still being seen in the Iona
outer pond.





Sightings for Monday, June 21st



A BLACKPOLL WARBLER seen and heard singing near the Iona Island sewage ponds
in Richmond was only about the second or third well-documented record for
Vancouver.



Two EASTERN KINGBIRDS and a VIRGINIA RAIL were seen near the north end of
224th Street in Maple Ridge.





Sightings for Sunday, June 20th



A male COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD seen and photographed in the Dunbar area of
Vancouver was one of fewer than a dozen records ever for B.C.





Sightings for Saturday, June 19th



A singing LEAST FLYCATCHER, 6 SANDHILL CRANES, and an AMERICAN KESTREL along
Thompson Road in Pitt Meadows were all noteworthy, as was a breeding-plumage
EARED GREBE at the outer pond in Iona Island in Richmond.



The WESTERN SCRUB-JAY was seen again near Cliff Avenue and Cliff Place in
Maple Ridge.





Sightings for Friday, June 18th



Two EASTERN KINGBIRDS at the Maplewood Conservation Area in North Vancouver
were unusual.





Sightings for Thursday, June 17th



A singing YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, a species reported only once or twice a year
from Vancouver, was seen and photographed near the banding station at Colony
Farm Park in Port Coquitlam.





Sightings for Tuesday, June 15th



The WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, now present for almost a year, was seen for the first
time in a while near the intersection of Cliff Avenue and Cliff Place in
Maple Ridge.



Five LAZULI BUNTINGS (4 males and a female) were seen north of the Boundary
Bay Airport in Delta, and 6 EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES were seen not far away
along 88th and 96th Streets. In Surrey, a female BUFFLEHEAD in the
Serpentine River near 176th Street was unusual, and 20 BLACK SWIFTS were
overhead there.



At Surrey Lake Park on 152nd Street in Surrey, 5 RED-EYED VIREOS, a GREEN
HERON, and an OSPREY were noteworthy.



Two AMERICAN BITTERNS were noted near Brunswick Point in Delta.





Sightings for Monday, June 14th



A male INDIGO BUNTING was seen and photographed at the west end of River
Road in Delta, near Brunswick Point, but could not be found on later dates.



A WILLET and a WHIMBREL near the foot of 41B Street in Delta, between the
Roberts Bank and Tsawwassen jetties, were both out of season.



A GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, singing and apparently on territory about 200
metres north of the west end of the Westminster Highway in Richmond, was
quite unusual.





Sightings for Saturday, June 12th



A singing YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and a WESTERN KINGBIRD were seen at the Hope
Airport near Hope, but there was no sign of the CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR.





Sightings for Friday, June 11th



A VESPER SPARROW, a very rare species for Vancouver, was seen along Rannie
Road in Pitt Meadows about 1 km from Pitt Lake, and about 100 VAUX'S SWIFTS
and several BLACK SWIFTS were seen from the Grant Narrows dyke trail.



Five COMMON NIGHTHAWKS were reported from West Vancouver, near the
intersection of 15th Avenue and Highway #1.



An AMERICAN KESTREL, a locally-rare breeding species, was seen eating a
swallow at 28th Avenue and 52nd Street in Delta.



A female WILSON'S PHALAROPE was seen and photographed at the Iona Island
sewage ponds in Richmond.





Sightings for Thursday, June 10th



Two CHIPPING SPARROWS at Inter-River Park in North Vancouver were noteworthy
for this now-rare breeding species.





Sightings for Wednesday, June 9th



Two male LAZULI BUNTINGS and a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE were seen in the abandoned
residential area north of the Boundary Bay Airport in Delta.





Sightings for Monday, June 7th



A CHIPPING SPARROW along the Cypress Bowl Road in West Vancouver, near the
start of the trail to Eagle Lake, was quite unusual.



The CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR was seen again by several observers at the
Hope Airport near Hope.





Sightings for Sunday, June 6th



In the Pitt Meadows area, a female AMERICAN REDSTART, a GRAY CATBIRD, 12
BULLOCK'S ORIOLES, and 6 EASTERN KINGBIRDS were seen along the Grant Narrows
"nature dyke" trail.



A LAZULI BUNTING in the former residential area north of the Boundary Bay
Airport in Delta was unusual. This area is accessed by a trail leading east
from 72nd Street, just north of the BC Railway tracks.





Sightings for Saturday, June 5th



A female CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR, a casual visitor to BC, was found along
the north side of the Hope Airport near Hope.











A brief account of 31 of the best birding locations in the Vancouver area
can be found on the Nature Vancouver website at
http://www.naturevancouver.ca/Birding_Birding_Sites





If you have any questions about birds or birding in the Vancouver area,
please call Wayne at 604-597-7201, Viveka at 604-531-3401, or Larry at
604-465-1402.



Thank you for calling the Vancouver Rare Bird Alert, and good birding.





Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net