Curlew and more at Hope Airport

[Chris]

There is a Long-billed Curlew at Hope Airport on the airport strip. Also present were 4 mountain Bluebirds, Say's Phoebe and a Harlequin Duck on the creek near the sewage ponds. Will post pictures later.

[Chris]

Thought I would do my report here.

With the rain yesterday and somewhat clearing this morning I figured it would be worth a visit to Hope Airport. My Dad and I started off at the west end of the airport. Quite a few swallows flying west ultimately stopping around Jack’s place. There were two male Mountain Bluebirds on the fence posts. There was also a Kestrel hanging around as well.

One of the bluebirds



Lots of Towhees were calling. The number of White-crowned and Savannah Sparrows have increased a lot. A few YR Warblers were singing.

Parked at the northeast end of the airport. There was a female Mountain Bluebird. Spotted something weird on the airport field. Turned out to be a Long-billed Curlew. Earliest sighting of that species in our region.

Bad picture



A few moments later we encountered a Say’s Phoebe. At least the third one in the region so far this year.



Checked out the sewage ponds. Not many ducks in there. He highlight was a male Harlequin Duck just in Silver creek.





Did a loop around the airport before leaving and there were four Bluebirds on the west end of the airport, 2 male and 2 females.

Totaled 39 species. Missed Mallard and lacked raptor species. Usually RT Hawk and Turkey Vultures are almost guarantees.

Canada Goose 30
Wood Duck 2
Gadwall 1
Ring-necked Duck 2
Lesser Scaup 10
Harlequin Duck 1
Bufflehead 1
Barrow's Goldeneye 2
Common Merganser 4
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Long-billed Curlew 1
California Gull 3
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
Northern Flicker 6
American Kestrel 1
Say's Phoebe 1
Steller's Jay 3
Northwestern Crow 11
Common Raven 2
Tree Swallow 30
Violet-green Swallow 50
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 2
Bushtit 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4
Mountain Bluebird 3
American Robin 40
Varied Thrush 3
European Starling 8
Yellow-rumped Warbler 6
Spotted Towhee 16
Savannah Sparrow 8
Song Sparrow 6
White-crowned Sparrow 7
Dark-eyed Junco 8
House Finch 1
Pine Siskin 8
American Goldfinch 2

[butterfly]

Awesome list, Chris. Good work on the Curlew and Harlequin for March. Nice that you have good photos as well. Bruce and Joanne

[Wetlander]

Great Day! Nice work, Chris! Many things seem to be coming early this year. Our slough is in "first rise", which should come mid-april.

[Chris]

Thanks for the comments.

Things are definitely early this year. I have compared this year and last year's first reports in Alberta and the Peace region and quite a few species are at least a week early. Obvious two years is a small sample size but from what I understand last year things were basically normal or slightly late. When I read the Alberta postings a few comments mention how a certain species has arrived quite early.

In the Fraser Valley warblers, swallows and other species are pretty early too. I never had this amount of YR Warblers in an outing in March before.

[Gord]

Took a look today and no curlew. Saw two Mountain Bluebird though. Jason, Todd and Danny had also been around looking but turned up about the same as I saw. Good bird there, Chris and great shots. The Harlequin Duck is awesome.