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Post by Dave on Nov 20, 2009 20:32:31 GMT -8
Great News, watchmen! You sure get around and see birds  I will be out first thing tomorrow morning to search for the flock of goodies. A scope will come along and I will check gull flocks as time permits. Perhaps we can confirm a Slaty-backed in the area again as well!!!! Time to pack up to be ready to go tomorrow! Dave 604-793-8128 Cell # - if others are out looking. |
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Post by b1schmor on Nov 20, 2009 20:48:06 GMT -8
Hello birders,
great bird!! Hopefully somebody relocates this guy tomorrow.
Cheers,
Brent Schmor
Harrison Mills
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Post by Gord on Nov 20, 2009 22:43:11 GMT -8
Wow, certainly an incredible find!
I stopped by mid-afternoon for about fifteen minutes. A Peregrine Falcon had just been by and the ducks, gulls and small birds were in an uproar. Right away there were at least a dozen Horned Larks flying around as well as a few American Pipits. I was able to see some of these birds I was hearing but the light was poor and they were fairly high. Nothing stood out visually or audibly. No longspurs during my stay but the area is fairly large and I was not there long. I know the calls of Lapland Longspur well and will be listening for something different when Im in the area. This area is also in my CBC zone and I have got all three of those grassland birds (minus a Chestnut-collared Longspur of course!!) there several times. It's a good area and certainly the place a very rare longspur or pipit might show up.
Well done
Gord
Chilliwack
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Post by oldfulica on Nov 21, 2009 11:03:34 GMT -8
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Post by Dave on Nov 21, 2009 19:39:30 GMT -8
I spent a few hours today in the morning and again in the later afternoon but no sighting of the longspur to report. I did have a number of larks and pipits in a mixed flock at the SE corner of Banford/Prairie Central. There were more birds in the middle area of this huge corn stubble field, but they were too far to ID from the road. What a massive wigeon flock in this field! A peregrine falcon flew over causing quite a stir of ducks and gulls, but didn't help to bring the small birds closer. A Northern Harrier was also patrolling the area. I know of several other birders who checked out the area at various times today, but have not heard of anyone who has relocated it yet. At the corner of Upper Prairie/Chwk Central there was a 250+ flock of blackbirds. I only got about halfway through them when they flushed SE. Who knows what was hiding among those Brewer's 80% Red-winged 15% and Starlings 4%. (note the math only makes 99%  ) In the NE corner of Prairie Central/Gibson was a huge flock of gulls and ducks (Eurasian Wigeon as well). I could only ID a few Herring Gulls among all the Glaucous-winged. No Westerns, No Thayer's..... There seems to be lots of siskins around as well. I made 3 trys for Bohemian Waxwing today. First at about 7:45, then at around 10ish, and again at 3:30 this afternoon. 3rd try was the winner and had confirming views of a Bohemian Waxwing at the location Gord found it yesterday. The bird was with about 7 Robins in the fruiting trees on Sweetbriar, shortly after one turns off Prest Road. It then flew with the flock and rested in the tall Cottonwoods behind the Prest Rd home to the south of Sweetbriar, before the whole group headed NW into downtown Chilliwack at around 3:45pm. Thanks for the sighting, Gord! I also went to the Eagle festival and stopped by Gord's location (#4) for a while around noon. Lots of activity there with 253 Bald Eagles within eye-sight, gulls, ducks, and a variety of land birds flitting around for variety. Gord's line-up of scopes were receiving a lot of attention and it was an enjoyable hour or so! A hybrid Glaucous-wingedxWestern kept trying to get attention, and Among the Glaucous-winged were some Herring Gulls and at least 1 Thayer's. An interesting immature Gull provided some learning time for me as well. There were a few Tundra Swans among the Trumpeter's and one had plenty of yellow on it, but not enough to start blurting out other specie names. A nice (mostly dry day) Happy Birding, Dave |
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Post by Chris on Nov 22, 2009 22:24:33 GMT -8
Great find on the Longspur and I am enjoying your reports as well. I haven't had time, because of school, to do any birding or else I would be trying to locate it.
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