Good report and good sightings, Brent! How did you bump into the Barn Owl? I agree, the weather could not have been much better. The brutal weather waited until now to start up (heavy wind and rain).
My Abbotsford CBC experience did not go down as I hoped. Due to family complications I was not able to get counting until 10 and even then, I would have to leave at midday for a little bit. Janne Carl, and I were doing this area together. They started earlier and focused on a large part of the route. Thanks guys!
First stop for me was at a flooded field on North Parallel Road provided a male Eurasian Wigeon and a female Lesser Scaup. Lynn mentioned a Redhead seen in a similarly odd situation a few years back.
I then took a walk along a good hedgerow along a brussel sprouts field. While it started calmly enough, it was not long to get very exciting.
There were many Golden-crowned, White-crowned, Fox and Song Sparrows here. A few Lincoln's Sparrows were a nice find. Soon into the adventure I thought I heard the call note of a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Sure enough, there one was flitting around. I thought I heard another but it was hard to say as it was fairly noisy with the highway traffic and all the other birds. A small flock of Bushtits were enthusiastically working the blackberry bushes for food.
Further along, I breathed an awed "You have to be kidding!" and not because I just stepped in a heap of rotting brussel sprouts. I had instead spied something else but also yellow-green in colour. An Orange-crowned Warbler. Two warbler species!! After a little effort and a few missteps in mud and piles of rotting vegetation (dont ask how my hiking boots and pants fared
) I managed a couple of pictures. Very difficult to get a picture when the bird could care less about my pishing (the sparrows loved it however!) and is in and out of the blackberries very briefly.
I hiked around a little more. A Marsh Wren was in a little patch of rushes and grasses. Some American Pipits were overhead and two were even perched in the blackberries who were rapidly becoming the day's most popular plant. Not often does one see a pipit perched on a plant.
On my way back, I noticed that the Yellow-rumped Warblers had grown to five in number and were more actively feeding close to the ground near a large number of sparrows. Then, in a flash of yellow, the morning got even more exciting. A male Wilson's Warbler was feeding near by!!! Good thing there were no big piles of brussel sprouts close at hand or Id be asking you not to inquire about the condition of my jacket!!! I got many great views of the little begger, even one in flight as it flew about 10 feet in front of me from one bush to another but as hard as I tried, I could not get a photo. What an incredible sighting. I felt like it was September with the sounds of Yellow-rumped Warblers and what had also turned in to two Orange-crowned Warblers about. I had to settle for a picture of a Yellow-rumped.
On my way back to the car, a Merlin blasted in very low right past me as if I was not there. Wow! Back to the warblers, but those warblers were something else!! And to think I replied to Len's recent sighting of a yellow-rumped with a teary sounding "It's been years since my last winter warbler..."
By the way, this was on North Parallel Road between Whatcom and Hougan Park. I meant to check the big billboard sign as to the advertisement to show where I walked in. I could probably say Telus safely enough...
Here I needed to take a detour home to pick-up, drop-off and otherwise rearrange the family to suit their needs before coming back.
Near Hougan Park, where I left off, is where I found a dark phase Rough-legged Hawk. I have only seen one before. I think they're pretty rare in the West. Got some digiscoped images. Grainy due to high ISO.
The next notable stop was at a HUGE flock of starlings and blackbirds. Very daunting to say the least. I have a little video footage of it...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfLGu68Njg4...and a picture showing all species but starlings in the flock. The guy staring at the camera in the upper left is one of eight Brown-headed Cowbirds.
Just a few minutes later, big flocks of Trumpeter and Tundra Swans flew over. I took some video. I often hear people ask about the difference between their voices. If you turn the volume up you will see. Most of the Tundra Swans were further back but you can hear a few in the closer flocks.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB8qjngjptYWhat birding trip is complete without some talk about gulls?
Janne, Carl and I had kept in touch throughout the day and decided we should do a little together before the end (we had about an hour of light left) so I suggested we have a look at the garbage transfer station to look at the gulls.
I got there first and found a Thayer's Gull straight away. Then I spied a dark backed gull that made my heart skip. Pulling out my spotting scope pirate style showed a golden-eyed, pink-legged gull with a streaky head. At that moment, it raised its wings to fly displaying the 'string of pearls' which describes the white spots at its limited black wingtips. WOW! Happily, it came back and I fired a couple of pictures with the camera. Happily I did this as by the time I got the tripod and digiscope stuff set up, it was gone to only be seen once or twice more briefly as it scrounged for garbage in the big building it's housed in. I wished for closer pictures! I know my boots and pant legs were beyond caring at this point what obstacles stood between getting pictures.
;D ;D
Incredibly there were also two adult Western Gulls here along with one which was a hybrid but mostly Western. I wonder if this Slaty-backed Gull is the same as the one reported from Page Road. It probably is. Maybe someone who saw it could say it looks similar.
This one is digiscoped.
Wow, a long report! Sorry about that. I didn't get birding much over the Holidays. I already can't wait to do this route again next year!
Here is the list of what I saw in my 3.5 hours. I know that Janne and Carl got many 'misses' (Raven, Steller's Jay etc) They did get two Northern Shrikes and a big flock of Western Meadowlarks which are great!
I had fun today guys, thanks! I hope everyone else did too and hope to hear about their outings.
Canada Goose 9
Trumpeter Swan 124
Tundra Swan 32
Eurasian Wigeon 1
American Wigeon 450
Mallard 118
Northern Shoveler 3
Northern Pintail 58
Green-winged Teal 27
Lesser Scaup 1 (in the flooded field at Whatcom!)
Bufflehead 12
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 13
Bald Eagle 5 (3 adult, 2 juv)
Northern Harrier 2
Cooper's Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 7
Rough-legged Hawk 1 (dark phase)
Merlin 1
Mew Gull 97
Herring Gull 4
Thayer's Gull 1
Western Gull 2
Slaty-backed Gull 1 (adult)
Glaucous-winged Gull 763
Rock Pigeon 57
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
N. Crow 108
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Bushtit 6
Bewick's Wren 1
Winter Wren 2
Marsh Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
European Starling 2075
American Pipit 5
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5
Wilson's Warbler 1 (male)
Spotted Towhee 15
Savannah Sparrow 1
Fox Sparrow 9
Song Sparrow 17
Lincoln's Sparrow 5
White-crowned Sparrow 23
Golden-crowned Sparrow 18
Dark-eyed Junco 31
Red-winged Blackbird 55
Brewer's Blackbird 304
Brown-headed Cowbird 8
House Finch 5
House Sparrow 26
) I managed a couple of pictures. Very difficult to get a picture when the bird could care less about my pishing (the sparrows loved it however!) and is in and out of the blackberries very briefly.
