Subject: [Tweeters] Status of crows and Mute Swans around Vancouver,
Date: Jan 20 09:47:05 2013
From: Wayne Weber - contopus at telus.net


Tweeters,



Many of you have visited the Vancouver area in the last few days to see the
Red-flanked Bluetail, Brambling, and other rare birds. Quite a few of you
are eBird contributors, and we appreciate your reports. However, please note
the following:



CROWS: ALL the crows in the Vancouver area are Northwestern Crows, and the
same is true for a fair distance south into Washington, according to my
careful observations. American Crows HAVE NEVER BEEN RECORDED in or anywhere
near Vancouver. Please DO NOT report American Crows or American/Northwestern
Crows, or these sightings will be invalidated. The situation here is very
different from the southern Puget Sound area, where most or all of the crows
are intergrades between these two "species".



MUTE SWANS: I continue to get reports of Mute Swans in Stanley Park
(Vancouver) and Ambleside Park (West Vancouver). These are NOT WILD BIRDS,
and should not be included on any lists submitted to eBird. They are
captive, wing-clipped birds which cannot fly and are fed by parks staff.
There are wild Mute Swans around Vancouver, but they are found mostly along
the Fraser River from New Westminster to Westham Island, and in the Pitt
Meadows/Pitt Lake area. It is ok to count and report the latter Mute Swans,
which have been established here for at least 20 years, but not the
wing-clipped birds in Stanley Park and Ambleside Park.



Yesterday alone, I received about 70 sightings which were "flagged" in eBird
(including sightings of the Bluetail and the Brambling, which of course are
being routinely approved). Your attention to the comments above will make
my job as the local eBird reviewer much easier!



Good luck to all in your pursuit of rare birds, both here and elsewhere!



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net

eBird reviewer for Metro Vancouver, BC