Christmas Bird Count Area 5&8

[Dave]

Greetings local birders!

A beautiful day for a CBC count in Chilliwack! Highlights from Areas 5/8 include 1 Gyrfalcon along Hwy1 where Upper Prairie Rd dead ends (North side of hwy), 1 Cedar Waxing along Balaam, 4 Meadowlarks & 1 Greater White-fronted Goose walking the dyke west of Jesperson, 106 Killdeer in one location! at the intersection of Chilliwack Central Rd and Gibson rd (in the corn stubble), 2 Barn Owls, 4 Tundra Swans, and 12 Anna's Hummingbirds. 60 species total for the two areas combined.

Notable misses for us were an overall lack of duck numbers (no green-winged teal or pintails this year and wigeon/mallards were harder to find), low accipter numbers and no coops, and we missed a few other regulars like Purple Finch and Pine Siskin.

Checklist and pics can be found on ebird at link below.

ebird.org/view/checklist/S50700497

The day ended with a potluck at the Heron Reserve where it was great to see some faces I haven't seen for a while and meet a few new ones as well! The Beeke's may be feeling a little guilty after cleaning up on the door prizes in the absence of the Gadsden children, but other than that it was nice to get together briefly.

Thanks to the regular posters on this site while some of us are at stages in life where we don't get out birding locally as much as we used to.

Dave

[nickinthegarden]

Interesting report, I was on the Sumas Prairie on the Abbotsford side the other day and I was surprised at the amount of ducks I was seeing, mostly widgeons and mallards with a small amount of Northern Pintails and Buffleheads. I wonder if these flocks move up and down the valley and yesterday was the day they went west?

[Wetlander]

Nice report, Dave! Was able to do Chwk count for first time... (will do Harrison for 12th time on tues.) Helped Lynn with area B (Lake Errock, Harrison Bay). Quiet day for us with only 45 species. No Woodpecker besides Flickers, no V Thrush or Robins, no Fox Sparrow, no RC Kinglet. Notables: Numerous folks had nectar feeders up in Lake Errock and we counted 16 Anna's also spotted DC Cormorants at the lake with Goldeneyes and Mergansers. Good numbers of swans and duck in the bay with Lynn spotting 32 Canvasbacks and a Redhead.

[ed]

Good report, Dave. Notable for area 13 and 14, Lickman to Vedder Rd was over 1200 Snow Geese in several groups and even more surprising was a male Wilson’s Warbler near peach Creek trail (Lickman Rd and Vedder river! Four birders watched and followed it for 25 minutes. Joel Schmidt located this one for us!
Ed

[Chris]

Seems like a lot of good sightings for the Chilliwack CBC. Looking forward to see the final tally.

Thanks for the postings. Missed this one again so was curious of the sightings.

[paulos]

We saw a Gyrfalcon that might have been Dave's yesterday, next to the freeway by the airport. I also saw a few pintails and a kestrel around to add to the week list for the count.


On Saturday I did Areas 18A, 19, and a small part of 23 (Ryder Lake, some Forest Service Roads and part of the Chilliwack River Valley). My total was 36, definitely lower than the valley locations, but I saw some nice birds. Highlights were plenty of Red Crossbills (including some singing males), Evening Grosbeaks, a distant calling Northern Pygmy-Owl, an American Dipper near Chilliwack River, and three duck species in the small lakes in Ryder Lake (Bufflehead, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser). I take any ducks I can up here. In spite of my best efforts I came up with no grouse and no sapsucker.

I'm looking forward to the Harrison count tomorrow!

[kestrel]

Dec 16, 2018 21:07:09 GMT -8 ed said:

Good report, Dave. Notable for area 13 and 14, Lickman to Vedder Rd was over 1200 Snow Geese in several groups and even more surprising was a male Wilson’s Warbler near peach Creek trail (Lickman Rd and Vedder river! Four birders watched and followed it for 25 minutes. Joel Schmidt located this one for us!
Ed

It was a great day. We also saw a dozen Western meadowlarks.

One of them:
Western meadowlark by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr