Birds of 2013 - March

March was an improvement over February. I added 22 species this month, none of which were life list additions.

#62 Herring Gull - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.

This may be the only questionable sighting this year. Although it matches.many of the field marks, it is possible that this Gull is a hybrid Glaucous-winged/Western Gull. However, until corrected, I am calling it a Herring Gull.

#63 Rock Dove - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.
Also known as the Feral Pigeon and seen commonly in the urban landscape.
These birds are very photogenic.

#64 White-winged Scoter - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.
Scoters are sea ducks that appear in our waters over the winter. The male White-winged Scoter is a very interesting looking duck, with the white comma below the eye. The white wings are only visible in flight.
The photo below was taken in November at the White Rock Pier. The male is in the foreground.

#65 Greater Scaup - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.
In February, I listed the Lesser Scaup, and in March added the Greater. This species favours salt water. It appears to have a shorter neck and a head that slopes from front to back. The Male is the one with white.

#66 Common Loon - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.
We see loons here in the winter when they are in their drab non-breeding plumage. Then they head inland to northern lakes to breed.
The photo below was taken in Drayton Harbor in Blaine in August and shows the familiar breeding plumage.

#67 Long-tailed Duck  - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.
Another sea duck, it has a notably long tail. The former name of this species was Oldsquaw, it was officially changed in 2000 by the American Ornithologists Union. The only sighting of the year was on this day, and the ducks did not come too close to shore. In the photo, there is one male on the left with two females.

#68 Horned Grebe  - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.
Another bird that winters on the coast, and heads inland to breed. The breeding plumage photo was taken in April on the Okanagan River near Oliver. The winter plumage photo is from Lighthouse Marine Park in Point Roberts, WA in November.

#69 Surf Scoter - Date: Mar 3. Location: White Rock pier.
This is the other common Scoter that spends the winter in our waters. This photo of a handsome male was taken in November at the White Rock Pier.

#70 Lesser Yellowlegs - Date: Mar 3. Location: Blackie's Spit in South Surrey.
This is a very common medium sized shorebird, easily identified by its orange/yellow legs. The only ID problem is telling it apart from the Greater Yellowlegs. The size difference is obvious when they are together, but difficult when only one species is present.
This photo was taken in August at Boundary Bay.

#71 Peregrine Falcon - Date: Mar 9. Location: Belmont Golf Course in Langley.
I always try to carry a small pair of binoculars and pocket camera in my golf bag. On this Saturday morning there was an adult Peregrine perched on a tree by the 7th hole. I got a couple of poor shots for ID purposes.
However, later in the year I encountered immature falcons close up at Boundary Bay in Delta. This shot was taken in August.

#72 Mourning Dove - Date: Mar 9. Location: Surrey.
This used to be our only dove with its beautiful mournful cooing. Lately, it is being displaced by the Eurasian Collared Dove, which has been spreading rapidly across North America. This photo was taken in the yard of  my golf buddy Pat Bradley after returning from our Saturday morning round. Two year birds for the golf day.

#73 Long-billed Dowitcher - Date: Mar 10. Location: Burnaby Lake Regional Park.
Here's another type of bird where there are two almost identical species, the long-billed and short-billed Dowitcher. The bill length is very subjective and considered to be a poor identifier. Generally, long-billed prefer fresh water, which is what Burnaby Lake has, so this day's sighting was most likely that species. This photo was taken at Reifel Bird Sanctuary, where they were listed on the sightings board as long-billed.

#74 American Goldfinch - Date: Mar 16. Location: our backyard.
Often called wild canaries by non-birders (guilty of this in 1982), this is one the most striking common birds. The photo below was taken at the Red Roost gift shop near Okanagan Falls in April.

#75 Pine Grosbeak - Date Mar 17. Location: Burnaby Mountain Park.
This was a very late sighting of the winter finch irruption of 2012-13. These birds may have been heading north from Northern California. The adult male is a very nice red, while the females and juveniles are duller. No red males were seen in this group.

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#76 Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Date: Mar 17. Location: Maplewood Flats Conservation Area in North Vancouver.
A common but very small and elusive bird. By the time one gets focused on them, they have moved elsewhere. I was lucky to get this shot, you can just see the ruby spot on the crown.

#77 Pelagic Cormorant - Date: Mar 21. Location: Lonsdale Pier in North Vancouver.
This cormorant can be seen locally all year, but is outnumbered by the much more common Double-crested. The best ID feature for this bird is the white flank patch. My only verified sighting this year was on my way to a dental appointment in North Vancouver. The photo is not the greatest.

#78 Belted Kingfisher - Date: Mar 24. Location: Deas Island Park in Delta.
A reasonably common bird that is excruciatingly hard to photograph. Most of my sightings are on golf courses where I have no time to grab my pocket camera and get a good shot. My sighting at Deas Island did not yield a good photo, but the one below at the White Rock Pier in October is somewhat legible.

#79 Yellow-rumpled Warbler - Date: Mar 29. Location: Burnaby Lake Regional Park.
Our most common Warbler, and also usually the first to appear in spring migration. There are two sub-species. Out West we usually see the Audubon's race (the bird with the yellow throat in the first photo taken in April at Bryden Lagoon in April).

The eastern Myrtle's race has a white throat and does occur out here.
I lucked out with one at Reifel in April.

#80 Tree Swallow - Date: Mar 29. Location: Colony Farms Regional Park in Coquitlam.
In early spring I try to make a trip out to the communal gardens at Colony Farms. Many of the gardeners put up swallow boxes and I am guaranteed to get some shots of Tree and Violet-Green Swallows. This year was no exception.
However, my best Tree Swallow photo was taken at Iona Regional Park in Richmond in May.

#81 Violet-Green Swallow - Date: Mar 29. Location: Colony Farms Regional Park in Coquitlam.
A western North America specialty, these swallows are less widespread than the Tree Swallow. The photo below shows a female.

#82 Rufous Hummingbird - Date: Mar 29. Location: our backyard.
In late March this aggressive hummer appears from the south and takes over our feeder. We don't see the Anna's hummingbird again until Fall. This photo was taken in the backyard in May.

#83 Pied-billed Grebe - Date: Mar 31. Location: Colony Farm Regional Park.
This is a fresh water grebe that breeds locally. It does not show the radical plumage changes that some of the other small grebes do. It's a nice bird to close out the month of March with.

Next up - Part 1 of April, the birdiest month of the year!

Birds of 2013 - February

The whirlwind January was a tough act to follow. February was quieter for a few reasons:

• Many of the easy species had been ticked off in the first month
• I had no outings after February 11, possibly due to weather constraints.

I did manage to add 15 species to the year list and added one life-list entry.

As mentioned in previous posts, the photo accompanying the bird is the best one I took of the bird that year, not necessarily the photo taken on the first sighting date. This is especially applicable with common birds photographed early in the year.

#47 Red-tailed Hawk - Date: Feb 2. Location: Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond.

I usually see Red Tails in locations where I can't take a picture, namely on lamp standards on our local freeways. The photo below was taken in June at Colony Farms Regional Park in Coquitlam. It is a very young hawk who was nervously sitting on a telephone wire when I drove in. It was still on the wire two hours later when I left.

#48 Golden-crowned Kinglet - Date: Feb 2. Location: Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond.
No photo of this one, they are very elusive.

#49 Cooper's Hawk - Date: Feb 2. Location: Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond.
This hawk is a member of the Accipiter group which contains the very similar Sharp-shinned Hawk, and the larger Northern Goshawk. The members of this group feed primarily on smaller song birds, even the occasional Northern Flicker.
The photos I took at Terra Nova were poor and I was not sure of the ID. I submitted them to the local birding bulletin board and the experts agreed it was a Cooper's.
This was life list addition #357.
Three weeks later we had a Cooper's in our backyard eyeing our feeder. This allowed for the much better photo shown below.

#50 Snow Goose - Date: Feb 2. Location: Terra Nova subdivision in Richmond.
This was taken in a school yard near the Regional park. You can understand why Richmond residents might be a little upset and start talking about culling the population a bit. Of course, when we lived in the area in the early 80's this was all farmland. The sub-division was opposed at the time by conservationists.

#51 Northern Flicker - Date: Feb 3.  Location: New Westminster near 7th Ave & 14th St
Normally I bird I see in our back yard, this one eluded me until I saw it while chasing a rarity described in #51 below.

#52 Western Scrub Jay - Date: Feb 3.  Location: New Westminster near 7th Ave & 14th St
This is the most common Jay that you would see in California. They are occasionally seen up here as well. This one had been spotted in Fall 2012 in New Westminster in the neighbourhood close to the 22nd St Skytrain station. I had made a few trips to locate it with no success. In late January it was reported again a bit farther east and I was lucky to see it for about 30 seconds in a back alley. The photos weren't great. When I was in San Francisco for a convention, I did some birding as well. The photo below was taken in a nice City park in Atherton, which is about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

#53 Pine Siskin - Date Feb 3. Location: our backyard bird feeder.
Another surprise that I did not add this earlier in the year.
By far my best photo of this species was taken on the Ryder Lake Ramble in the Chilliwack area in June.

#54 Brown Creeper - Date Feb 3. Location: our backyard.
This is a tough bird to photograph. They spend all their time climbing up trees looking for insects as they go. They blend into the tree trunk very well, and fool the camera's auto exposure system. This was taken through our living room window using a fully extended zoom lens.

#55 Bewick's Wren - Date Feb 10. Location: our backyard.
Unlike the secretive creeper, the wren species love to announce their presence loudly and frequently. We've had these birds nesting in our backyard for years. They can be tricky to photograph, but sometimes I get lucky. The photo below was taken in April in our backyard.

#56 Hooded Merganser - Date: Feb 10. Location: Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond.
One of the showiest ducks you can see in North America. The photo of the male below was taken one day later (Feb 11) at Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

#57 Northern Shoveller - Date: Feb 10. Location: Terra Nova Rural Park.
These ducks may be confused with Mallards but can be distinguished by their huge dark bills and the brown colouring on the sides. The photo below was also taken at Reifel on Feb 11.

#60 Black-cronwed Night Heron - Date: Feb 11. Location: Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta.
These tree dwelling herons return to Reifel every winter. I don't believe they are seen elsewhere in BC. the first photo is from Reifel, the second was taken south of San Francisco in September.

#59 Northern Saw-whet Owl - Date: Feb 11. Location: Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta.
These small owls spend the winter at Reifel each year. They are a top attraction for visitors and photographers, some of whom act irresponsibly in their attempts to get photos.
We also saw this species in April in the Okanagan on our guided owling tour. This photo is from Reifel and was taken in December 2012. The only shot I got in 2013 was looking up at the backside of an owl.

#60 Sandhill Crane - Date: Feb 11. Location: Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta.
These very large birds can be seen at Reifel for most of the year. One must be cautions as they are big enough to injure a person if provoked.

#61 Gadwall - Date: Feb 11. Location: Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta.
An understated Dabbling Duck, can be identified by the white underside and black tail feathers. The photo below is a female taken in April at Reifel.

That was it for February. I picked up the pace a bit in March, which will be in the next Blog post.

Birds of 2013 - January Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my Birds of 2013 Blog.

It's easy to knock off a lot of species early in the year when birds like Song Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds and Mallards are again countable.

January's 45 birds was topped only by April, which included a guided birding tour in the Okanagan.

The second post details the remaining birds I saw in January 2013. The month ends with one of the most exciting sightings of the year.

As mentioned in my first post, some of the photos are not from the first 2013 sighting, but are one of the best photos of that bird I took in 2013.

Additions to my life list are noted where applicable.

#25 Wood Duck - Date: Jan 19. Location: Burnaby Lake Regional Park.

One of the prettiest ducks you can see, the male is ultra-colourful while the female is subtly beautiful.

#26 Northern Pintail - Date: Jan 19. Location: Burnaby Lake Regional Park.
Another handsome duck. This one's trying to take off from the frozen water.

#27 Fox Sparrow - Date: Jan 19. Location: Burnaby Lake Regional Park.

The last of the big day at Burnaby Lake. Whenever I post Fox Sparrow photos on an Eastern Photo site (www.birdviewing.com) they comment on how different it looks from the Eastern Fox Sparrow. Most of ours are in the Western Slate Coloured group.

#28 Snowy Owl - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

No great photos of the owl this year. They had been harassed by photographers so much that I just wanted to get a record shot from a respectful distance.

#29 Great Blue Heron - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

Very common and photogenic. I had a tough time choosing a photo for this species and decided on the one below. It was taken at Iona Regional Park in October. The live catch was the decider.

#30 Golden Crowned Sparrow - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

A very striking Sparrow that arrives in late fall and departs for the north in mid-Spring.

The photo below was taken at Reifel Bird Sanctuary in April.

#31 Rough-legged Hawk - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

My first ever sighting of this species. It was perched in a tree over on the King's Links Golf Course just off the dike. Unfortunately, I did not get a very good photo. Time for a new lens! (See April Blog).

Life List # 354

#32 American Wigeon - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

Another common duck in the winter months. They have a distinctive call that identifies them immediately.

This photo was taken in May at Predator Ridge Golf course. It appeared to be part of a mating display by the male Wigeon.

#33 American Tree Sparrow - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

A winter visitor from the north, there are one or two each year along the Boundary Bay dike. A tip from my birding buddy Floyd led me to this one, near the King's Links Golf Course. This is the only photo I was able to take.

#34 Northern Harrier - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

After seeing the Rough-legged Hawk and Tree Sparrow, I was ready to leave when I noticed some people pointing to something on my left. It was a Harrier sitting at ground level on a small stump. I managed to get a couple of shots off as it took off.

#35 Purple Finch - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

There were a number of Purple finches in drab winter plumage along the dyke.

The photo below is the spectacular breeding plumage of the male, taken at Reifel Bird Sanctuary in April.

#36 White-crowned Sparrow - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street

Many of these birds were in first winter plumage which can cause ID problems with American Tree sparrows and Chipping Sparrows.

The photo below was taken in April at the Red Roost Gift Shop near Okanagan Falls.

#37 Bald Eagle - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street
Not too many good photos of Eagles this year, they are so common that one does not pay much attention to them.
This photo of a nesting Eagle was taken in Ladner in April.

#38 European Starling - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street
Another common bird that is nice to count on the list, but not pay too much attention to.
This photo is from May at Iona Regional Park.

#39 Trumpeter Swan - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street
A spectacular winter resident in the Delta/Ladner area. The photo below was taken in February in rural Ladner. Note the size difference between the Swans and Mallards at their feet.

#40 Short-eared Owl - Date: Jan 20. Location: Boundary Bay, Delta - 72nd Street
Another Boundary Bay owl that is harassed by photographers. I think its posture tells the story. I took two quick photos and moved along.

#41 Canada Goose - Date: Jan 27. Location: Burnaby Lake Regional Park..
The ubiquitous Canada Goose. These goslings were photographed at Sardis Park in May

#42 Bushtit - Date: Jan 27. Location: Burnaby Lake Regional Park..
One of our smallest birds, they generally travel in packs.
The photo below was taken in our backyard in June.

#43 Hairy Woodpecker - Date: Jan 27. Location: Maplewood Flats Conservation Area
I've never had much luck at this North Vancouver location. However, I did get three 2013 species on this day. The photo below was taken in April at the Red Roost gift shop near Okanagan Falls.

#44 Common Goldeneye - Date: Jan 27. Location: Maplewood Flats Conservation Area
A winter duck that is seen on lakes, rivers and salt water.
The first photo is a male seen on the date and location above.
The second is a female that was taken at Burnaby Lake Regional Park in March.

#45 Glaucous-winged Gull - Date: Jan 27. Location: Maplewood Flats Conservation Area
Our most common big gull, sometimes hybridizes with other species to torment local birders.
The photo is from White Rock Pier in March. It looks like a pure-bred specimen.

#46 Gyrfalcon -  Date: Jan 27. Location: Hastings Park Racecourse, Vancouver
This bird was being reported daily on the rare bird alert. After coming from North Vancouver, I was able to park on a small pull-out off of McGill street. I looked in the large cottonwoods where the bird had been seen with no luck. Suddenly, there was a furry of action above me as the Gyrfalcon chased off a smaller bird, probably a Peregrine. It then set down near the top of the cottonwood. It was a miserable day and conditions were very grey. I was able to get a few decent shots, the best of which is shown below.
I did not count the possible Peregrine falcon that day as I did not get a good look or any decent photos of it. I did get it later in the year with great photos.
My January birding ended with lifer #356, my fourth this year.

Stay tuned for February 2013 post.
Lou Davidson
Delta BC