Birds of the Chilliwack District, B. C
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28' Baoo•s,Birds of theChilliwaCk District, B. C. I_Jan.[Auk BIRDS OF THE CHILLIWACK DISTRICT, B. C. BY MAJOR ALLAN BROOKS. THIS list should have been published many years ago. In presentingit at this late date the writer is influencedlargely by the discrepanciesof rangesgiven in the A. O. U. Check-Listof 1910. The compilersof this list wereevidently under the delusionthat Chilliwack was in southeastern British Columbia instead of extreme southwestern,west of all the mountainranges, with nothingbut fifty milesof level countrybetween its westernboundary (Sumas Lake) and the sea. The areacovered by the presentlist includesthe Chilliw,ackand Sumasvalleys, a widealluvial flat, originallymostly forest country, on the southbank of the FraserRiver, a district about thirty miles by eight at its widestpart. The Fraser River here burststhrough the wall of the Cascade Range,forming a precipitouscation about one hundredmiles in length, running nearly north and south. However improbable it may appearthis cationmust representthe route to the valley of •nany of its summer residents,which must return towards the souththrough its gloomylength after passingup the east sideof the CascadeRange on their northwardmigration. Also included in the list are the birds of the Cascade summits to the eastof the valley,including the valleyof the Chilliwack(or Chilliweyuk) River and ChilliweyukLake, the former a mountain torrent risingin the latter and flowingthrough a deepcleft in the Cascadesfor the greaterportion of its course. The town of Chilliwack is someseventy feet above sea level, the FraserRiver beinginfluenced by hightides as far up asSumas, some eight miles down stream. The valley is extremelyflat and at onetime mostlyheavy forest of Douglasfir, cedar,and hemlockwith a sprinklingof largeleaf mapleand heavy underbrush. The banksof the rivers sustaina heavy growth of cottonwood,alder and willoW. Much of the primevalforest has sufferedby fire and only the blackenedshells Vol. lo17XXXIV] j BRooxs,Birds of theChilliwack District, B. C. 29 of the giganticcedars remain, and the land then supportsa dense growthof large alder,willow and maple. SinhaSPrairie, mentioned so oftenby JohnKeast Lord, is a flat alluvial plain coveredwith natural grassand intersectedby many windingsloughs, the wholebeing under water at the time of the rise of the Fraser River in June and July. SumasLake is the westernboundary of the district- a veD• shallow body of water without vegetation, and at the time of extreme low water in mid-winter almost without water. The CascadeMountains rise for the most part like a wall from the floorof the valley, the peaksbeing from 6000to 8000feet alti- tude. The flanks of the mountainswere clothedoriginally in a continuousconiferous forest, but this has been for the most part sweptby fire,resulting in a drearytangle of deadtrees both stand- ing and fallen,with a densesecond growth of the typical Pacific slopecharacter -- a regionsingularly destitute of bird and animal life. The Coast Range ends on the north bank of the Fraser, only two small isolated mountains of 2000 and 3500 feet elevation risingto the southof that river. The district lies well within the humid coastbelt, the average yearly precipitationbeing about fifty inches. Winters are very irregular,occasionally there may be onewithout any severefrost, but in mostwinters there occurtwo or three periodsof severecold whenthe temperaturedrops to nearzero, accompanied by a howling north wind which invariably lastsfor three days or more without cessation. The coldestrecorded temperature was in the winter of 1908-09, when the thermometerregistered thirteen below zero. Snowdoes not usuallylie for longin the valley. On the mountain summits it sometimesattains a depth of thirty feet, and persists in patcheson the highestpeaks throughout the summer. About the end of June, and in someyears early in the month, the Fraser, swollenwith the snowsof the far interior, overflowsits banksand inundates a largeportion of the valley,drowning out the nestsof many of the ground-nestingbirds. Of late yearsmuch dyking has been done, but to balancethis most of the marshes have been drained so the regionwill never accommodatebreed- ing waterfowlto any extent. The bulk of the landis now cleared and given over to intensiveagriculture. 30 BROOKS,Birds of the Chilliwack District, B. C. [• In May, 1887, I arrived in this regionwith my father, the late W. E. Brooks,who had bought a farmclose to thevillage of Chilli- waek. I was then eighteenyears of age and chuckfull of enthusi- asm. All my sparetime in the intervalsof ranchwork was devoted to ornithology,and aidedby my father the valley wasworked in a systematicmanner. After four years,my father soldhis ranchand returnedto the east and the writer took up zo51ogiealcollecting as a profession. Most of his subsequentbird collectionswent to the museumof Mr. William Brewsterand later a good deal of material was sup- plied to Mr. Outram Bangsand to Drs. Dwight and Bishop,while workingout the fauna of British Columbiain this and other por- tions of the Province. From 1894 when I returned to the west after a year or two in Ontario,most of my time wastaken up in mammalcollecting, some sixty speciesbeing recordedfrom the Chilliwaek region, but a carefullookout was alwayskept for new birds. In all about eleven yearswere spentin this district resultingin the regionbeing more thoroughlyworked ornithologically than any other portion of the Province. The sketchmap which accompaniesthis list indicatesthe posi- tion of the locality. The regionenclosed in the heavy black'line embraces the entire area in which the observations here recorded were made. Speciesof whichno specimenswere taken or exam- ined by the writer are precededby an asterisk. It will be seen that there are only four in this categoryout of a total of 257. In conclusionI must acknowledgemy deep indebtednessto Messrs.Brewster, Ridgway, and Oberholser,and to Drs. Dwight and Bishopfor their painstakingcare in comparingand indentify- ing closelyallied subspeciesfor me. LIST OF THE BIRDS oF CHILLIWACK,B.C. 1. J•.chmophorus occidentalis. WESTERNGREBE.--Common mi- grant. 2. Colymbus holbcolli. I-IOLB(ELL'SGREBE.--Fairly common mi- grant and may breedin the HarrisonLake district ta the north. 3. Colymbus auritus. HORNED GREBE.--Common migrant. Vo•.1Ol?xxx•v• j Baooxs,Birds of theChilliwack District, B.C. 31 32 B•oo•s,Birds of theChilliwack District, B. C. [Jan.['Auk 4. Colymbus nigricollis californicus. EAREDGREBE.-- 0nly once taken. 5. Podilymbus podiceps. PIED-BILLED GREBE.-- Rather scarce resident. A few remained throughout the severe winter of 1908-'09, though in one casea bird must have survived underneaththe ice of a frozen slough for about three weeks. There was probably plenty of air space where the water had fallen after the ice had formed. 6. Gavia iramet. LooN.--Fakly commonand breeds. 7. Gavia pacifica. PAC•rXCLooN.-- Straggler, only one taken. 8. Gavia stellata. RED-THROATED LOON.--A bird in full summer plumage in the shop of Mr. Win. Hall in 1887, which was killed in the vicinity. 9. Stercorarius longicaudus. LOl•G-TAILEDJAEGER.-- I shot a fine white-breasted adult August 23, 1890, at SumasLake, and at other times saw several others,nearly always in September. This Jaeger certainly migrates overland as I have seenit doing so on severaloccasions -- once in the Rocky Mountains. I have not yet seenit on the coastwhere the ParasiticJaeger is common. The contentsof the stomachof a youngbird killed in Septemberconsisted mainly of half digestedEmpetrum berries indicatinga very recent sojournon the tundras. 10. Laxus glaucescens. GLAUCOUS-WIl•GEDGULL.--The common- est gull, ascendingthe smalleststreams at the time of the salmonrun and perchingfreely on tall dead trees. 11. Larus axgentatus. HERRING GULL.--Much scarcer than the last. All the records so far published of Larus occidentalisfor British Columbia refer to this gull. I had almost come to the conclusionthat occidentalishad no right to a place on the British Columbianlist when I cameacross the skin of a moultingadult in the GeologicalSurvey's Collec- tion at Ottawa, collectedby Spreadboroughon the southend of Vancouver Island. 12. L•rus californicus. CALIFORI•IAGULL. Scarce migrant. 13. Laxus delawaxensis. RII•G-BILLED GULL. Fairly common mi- grant. 14. Laxus brachyrhynchus. SHORT-BILLED GULL. -- At times abundant. 15. Laxus philadelphia. BONAPARTE'SGULL.--Common migrant. 16. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. BLACX TERN.--Two adults seenand one taken June, 1897, and one juvenal seenSept. 1, 1899, all at Sumas Lake. 17. Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. WHITE PELICAI•.-- A straggler to SumasLake, usuallyseen in Juneor July at the time of the highestwater. 18. Merganser americanus. AMERICAI• MERGAI•SER.--Common resident. 19. Merganser serrator. RED-BREASTEDMERGANSER.--Scarce mi- grant in the late autumn and againin May. 20. Lophodytes cucullatus. HOODEDMERGAI•SER.-- Common rest- Vol. 1017XXXIV] j BROOKS,Birds of theChilliwack District, B. C. 33 dent. Both this speciesand the Goosanderbeing tree nestingducks do not suffer froIn the summer floods so disastrous to most of the ducks in the Fraser Valley. 21. Anas platyrhynchos. MALLARD.-- An abundant resident. 22. Chaulelasmas streperus. GADWALL.--Scarce. I have seen the Gadwall at Sumasin June and July, but doubt if it breeds. A few remain all winter. 23. Mareca americana. BALDrATE.-- Cmnmon resident and I think a few breed in the valley -- or usedto. 24. Nettion carolinense. GREEN-WINGED TEAL.-- Common resi- dent -- breeds.