Second Days Birding in Canada

Birding Vancouver 30/12/114

Brian Self and Chickadee

I’ve just got back from a tremendous day’s birding with Vancouver Birdingpal Brian Self who was excellent company, very knowledgeable and eager to share his patch, his birds and experience. I'm keen to share time with him in the field again.

Our first stop after an 8-30am rendezvous was at an undisclosed residence in Vancouver. The reason for its secrecy would soon become apparent. Even Brian had not dared to whisper the ‘secret’ resident for fear of creating too much expectation…..

The Secret Garden

At any rate the garden was excellent and very, very birdy and the star bird did a star turn. The bird in question? Wait for it… a Costa’s Hummingbird. [If you are not impressed check out your North American field guide and observe the range map for this specie.]

Male Costa's Hummingbird

Female Anna's Hummingbird

Now this bird is better than it sounds. In my opinion all hummingbirds are great but this one [as hopefully even my bad photo will attest] is something special.  It’s beautiful and spirited. It is only a small bird but it staked out its patch in this garden and guarded it furiously against the larger [and stunning] Anna’s Hummingbirds. Talk about small guy’s syndrome. So for about an hour we watched the Hummer Show starring these two species; one male Costa’s and a variety of the Anna’s. The show had some other special guests; on the floor there danced the back-kicking Fox Sparrows and the smaller Songs. Fluttering through the mid story was a variety of Chickadees – Black capped and Chestnut backed. [Sadly the Americans for reasons that I’m sure were purely puritanical refused to call them tits and thus avoided a shallow stream of birding adult humour.] Spotted Towhees were spotted and Downy woodpeckers showed up. Juncos and Bewick’s wren were also active around the feeders.

Black-capped Chickadee

Next stop was the fields around the greater delta area. The idea was twofold; first to try to turn up a Rough-legged Hawk and secondly to try to turn a Trumpeter Swan into a Tundra. The short of it was we failed in both plans. However we did see some lovely Red-tailed Hawks and we turned up a rare wintering Kestrel female. Also on the raptor front many Bald Eagles plus Northern Harriers. The fields did supply Trumpeter Swans, their necks and heads stained from the iron rich soil which makes iron rich mud [“just add water”] In front of the swans [and in front of the grazing mallards were a small flock of Grey Plovers or Black-bellied as they call them here, plus a large flock of agreeably fat yet energetic Dunlin  –  all lacking their ‘normal’ black breeding bellies.

Next was a visit to Reiffel Reserve. A word to the wise – if you are interested in birds [and by this stage if you’re still reading you are] and you visit Vancouver you must visit Reiffel! At any season it is fantastic for variety, numbers and views of birds. Mallards are so abundant here that you must kick them out of your way – that statement is not hyperbole – they’re everywhere. It’s because people feed them. The wigeons have spent too much time with Mallards and they have begun to learn the same bad wicked ways of sloth and dependence that the mallards have. Welfare dependence issues are everywhere it seems.

Anyway there are waterfowl everywhere here and there are many paths that wind between the canals, channels, small ponds and lakes. The trees and scrubs are filled with small passerines; sparrows and chickadees mostly – the latter too have felt the feeding craze and will land on your hand for seed. For me Reiffel delivered not only variety but a lifer – Pileated Woodpecker – the largest spp in North America. We searched for owls but were unsuccessful.

We finished our day as the clouds dramatically rolled in from the Pacific with Barn Owls – neatly packed in the rafters of a barn- and, as darkness descended we scooped and scoped a Rough Legged Hawk. As any birder would tell you it’s good to finish the day with a lifer!

Below today’s birds;

*** - lifer                   * - new Canadian bird for me

A – secret garden

Delta Fields

B – Delta fields

C – Reiffel REserve

Pied-billed Grebe - C

Double-crested Cormorant - C

Great Blue Heron  - BC

Black-crowned Night-Heron - C

Trumpeter Swan - B

Canada Goose - C

[Lesser] Snow Goose *** - C

Pied billed Grebe

Wood Duck - C

Green-winged Teal - C

Mallard - BC

Northern Pintail – BC

Northern Shoveler - C

American Wigeon - BC

Eurasian Wigeon * - C

Ring-necked Duck - C

Lesser Scaup - C

Common Goldeneye - C

Bufflehead - C

Hooded Merganser - C

Common Merganser - C

Northern Pintail

Bald Eagle - ABC

Northern Harrier - BC

Sharp-shinned Hawk *** - C

Rough-legged Hawk *** - B

Red-tailed Hawk - ABC

American Kestrel - B

Merlin- C [enroute]

Peregrine Falcon - B

Ring-necked Pheasant - C

American Coot - C

Sandhill Crane - C

Black-bellied Plover - B

Dunlin -B

Mew Gull - C

Glaucous-winged Gull - ABC

Rock Pigeon - A

Eurasian Collared-Dove - A

Anna's Hummingbird - A

Costa’s Hummingbird *** - A

Downy Woodpecker  - A

Northern Flicker - ABC

Pileated Woodpecker  *** - C

Barn Owl * - C [enroute from Reiffel’s]

Steller's Jay – C [enroute]

Northwestern Crow - ABC

Black-capped Chickadee - AC

Pileated Woodpecker

Chestnut-backed Chickadee - A

Bewick's Wren - A

Marsh Wren - C

Golden-crowned Kinglet - C

American Robin - ABC

European Starling - BC

Cedar Waxwing - C

Spotted Towhee - AC

Fox Sparrow - AC

Song Sparrow - AC

White-crowned Sparrow - B

Golden-crowned Sparrow - BC

Dark-eyed Junco - AC

Red-winged Blackbird - BC

Western Meadowlark – B [enroute]

Pine Siskin - A

House Sparrow - enroute

Buffleheads

Ring-necked Duck - female

American Coot

 Mammals – Grey Squirrel