ISSN 1206-1611 BCFO.Ca Volume 27 Number 4 / December 2017

Newsmagazine of the British Columbia Field Ornithologists ISSN 1206-1611 BCFO.ca Volume 27 Number 4 / December 2017

Blue Jay photographed at Old Summit Lake Road, Prince George, by Jeff Dyck. BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4)

Publisher BC Birding is published four times a year by the British Columbia Field Ornithologists, P.O. Box 61670, RPO BCFO Officers & Brookswood, Langley, BC V3A 1K0. A subscription to this quarterly is a benefit of membership in the society. Members will also receive a copy of the Directors annual journal, British Columbia Birds. Officers President: Mike McGrenere, Victoria, 250-658-8624, About the BCFO [email protected] Membership in BCFO is open to anyone interested in the Vice President: Art Martell, Courtenay, 250-334-2979, study and enjoyment of wild birds in British Columbia. [email protected] BCFO objectives include: fostering cooperation between Secretary: Marian Porter, Salt Spring Island, 250-653-2043, amateur and professional ornithologists, promoting cooper- [email protected] ative bird surveys and research projects, and supporting Treasurer: Josh Inman, Langley, 604-532-0455, conservation organizations in their efforts to preserve birds [email protected] and their habitats. Membership Other Directors See the website (bcfo.ca) for details, or write to the BCFO Jude Grass, Surrey, 604-538-8774, [email protected] Clive Keen, Prince George, 250-963-9520, address given above under “Publisher.” clive_keen@ hotmail.com Annual Membership Dues Adrian Leather, Quesnel, 250-249-5561, General Membership (Canada): $30 q-birds@xplornet. com Junior Membership (Canada): $20 Monica Nugent, New Westminster, 604-220-8816, U.S. and International Membership: $35 [email protected] Gary Davidson, Nakusp, 250-265-4456, [email protected]

Newsmagazine Submissions To submit material to this publication, contact the Editor by Ex Officio email ([email protected]) or by mail at 10790 Immediate Past President: George Clulow, Burnaby, Grassland Road, Prince George, BC V2K 5E8. 604-438-7639, [email protected] Submissions may include articles about birding experi- ences, casual observations about bird behaviour, site guides, BCFO Committees & Representatives photographs, and other topics of broad interest to birders, AGM Planning Committee: TBA preferably, but not necessarily, in British Columbia. Over- Archivist/ Librarian: Les Gyug seas trip reports are welcome but should be kept to a maxi- British Columbia Birds (Journal) Editor: Art Martell mum of 2,000 words. Deadlines are: BC Birding Editor: Clive Keen; Associate Editor: Virginia Rasch • March edition: February 15 BC Bird Records Committee Chair: Nathan Hentze • June edition: May 15 BCFO Two-day Trips: Adrian Leather Canadian International Joint Venture: Wayne Weber • September edition: August 15 Cannings Award Committee: Wayne Weber • December edition: November 15 Featured Photographer Committee: Carlo Giovanella IOC Vancouver 2018: George Clulow Membership Committee: Larry Cowan Advertising Rates Website: George Clulow, Neil Dawe Full page: $125 per issue or $112.50 each for four or more Young Birder Awards Committee: Carlo Giovanella issues Young Birders Program: Melissa Hafting Half page: $75 per issue or $67.50 each for four or more issues Quarter page: $40 per issue or $36 each for four or more issues

BCFO members are welcome to include classified ads, of up to 25 words, at no cost.

Right: a dream sighting for many of us: a Laysan Albatross photographed by Mark Yunker on a pelagic trip out of Tofino. This was one of four, and possibly five, Laysan Albatross seen on the trip.

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Contents

Notices President’s Message ...... 4 Welcome New Members ...... 4 Notes ...... 5 Bird Listers’ Corner ...... 7 BCFO Two-day Trips Trip Report: Mini-Pelagic, October 28–29, 2017 ...... 8

Upcoming Meetings & Events ...... 9 Trip Reports A Likely Tale ...... 11 Birding Somerset, UK ...... 12 Spotted Owls! ...... 12 Young Birders Program Trip Report: Hawk Watch ...... 13

Essay: A Birding Mecca in Delta ...... 14 Christmas Bird Counts YB Notes ...... 16 2017 – 2018 Feature Birding at the Fire Zone Edge...... 18 The 118th CBC takes place this year between December 14, 2017 and Jan- Book Review uary 5, 2018. Information on dates Birdmania: A Remarkable Passion for Birds ...... 21 and contacts for the 106 BC counts, as well as the Bird Counts4Kids, are Briefing available at bcfo.ca . Phorusrhacids ...... 22 Gone Pishing Magpie 2 ...... 23 The Reflective Birder Have Binoculars, Will Travel ...... 26

Not Just an LBJ On November 3, 2017, Langley birder Cos van Vermerskerken had found a Clay-coloured Sparrow at Brydon La- goon, close to photographer John Gor- don’s house. Clay-coloured are common enough in the interior, but much less so in the Lower Mainland. John went looking, and waited at the expected spot for two hours, apparently in vain. But then he heard a rustling behind him. He very slowly turned around and there, perched on a stem of grass about two metres away, was the bird. If only all such hunts could be so satisfying.

Page 3 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) looking at the banquet room we ob- comment. The Board will be review- served Varied Thrushes, Robins, a ing all comments received by the end President’s Hairy Woodpecker, Steller’s Jays of November and a new draft will be and four other species just outside placed in the Members Section of the the building. A detailed outline of the website in the new year for your con- Message events and field trips will be in the sideration. A vote on the new draft March issue of BC Birding as well as will take place at the Hope AGM. Mike McGrenere, President on the website. Shorter daylight hours and colder There will be a two-day pre- temperatures mean that winter is ap- In early November I joined Jude and conference field trip and post- proaching and it will be time to par- Al Grass on a trip to Hope to look at conference extension trip. Adrian ticipate in your local Christmas Bird possible venues for the 2018 confer- Leather is organizing these two ac- Count. Whether you will be counting ence and AGM. Jude had made en- tivities with the pre-conference trip in snow or more balmy conditions on quiries with the Hope community planned to take place in the Princeton the West Coast, the Christmas centre about use of their banquet area and the post-conference exten- Counts are a great way to wind up room. She also arranged to meet with sion heading to the Williams Lake the birding year. A list of the Christ- Scott Denkers and Kelly Pearce from area for some great birding. Details mas Bird Counts in British Columbia the Hope Mountain Centre who have of these two birding events will also is available on the website. This is agreed to assist with the organization be available in the March issue of BC the 118th year that Christmas Bird of the conference. Birding and on the website. Counts have been held in North Scott and Kelly suggested that we An e-mail message to all mem- America. The website also has infor- look at the Hope Golf and Country bers was sent in late September re- mation about Christmas Bird Counts Club which has a banquet room that garding revisions to the BCFO Con- for Kids. is popular for weddings. The golf stitution and Bylaws required by the club is in a gorgeous location and new BC Societies Act. A draft of the On behalf of the Board, I wish you looks very suitable for our event so revised Constitution and Bylaws was all the best for an enjoyable holiday we have secured the facility for the placed in the Members Section of the season and a happy new year. weekend of June 1, 2 and 3. While website for members to view and

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versity of Alberta, where he completed North Island regions, and put in over his Ph.D. dissertation on the demogra- 300 hours in the field as an atlasser. He Notes phy of tundra and taiga populations of has also contributed almost 2,000 red-backed voles. He acknowledges checklists to eBird over the last several being mentored by Dr. Bill Fuller, re- years. In addition, he has been active in Tumbler Ridge nowned biologist and conservationist at the Comox Valley Naturalists Society, the University of Alberta. including a six-year stint as the chair of Follow-up After working for a year at the Bore- their Birders Group. The BCFO board meeting in September al Institute of Northern Studies in Ed- BC Field Ornithologists are delight- reviewed the financial situation from monton, Art joined the Canadian Wild- ed to recognize Art Martell as the win- the Tumbler Ridge AGM as well as the life Service (CWS) in 1975, working ner of the Cannings Award for 2017. overall finances of the BCFO, and first out of the Great Lakes Forest Re- decided to send an additional $1,000 search Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, On- donation to the Tumbler Ridge Museum tario. From 1978 to 1983, he carried on Foundation for assisting with the AGM. research from the Whitehorse office of Board members agreed that the meeting CWS. In 1983, he moved to Ottawa, Nature Vancouver 100th had been an outstanding success in all where for two years he was a Senior Anniversary respects. Scientist with CWS in charge of wildlife research. In 1985, he moved to BC, 2018 will be the 100th anniversary of and has been here ever since. From Nature Vancouver (originally Vancou- 1985 to 1995, he was Regional Director ver Natural History Society), and as STEVE CANNINGS of the CWS for the Pacific and Yukon part of its celebrations, it will be host- AWARD FOR 2017: DR. Region, and from 1995 until 2000, he ing BC Nature’s 2018 AGM, from May ART MARTELL was the Regional Director-General for 10 to 13. Environment Canada in Vancouver. The theme is Promoting Health in In his administrative roles with Nature: Past, Present and Future, and Wayne C. Weber CWS and Environment Canada, Art the venue for the conference is UBC’s helped to establish and supervise sever- Forest Sciences Centre. Field trips are The Steve Cannings Award, presented al partnerships and programs which being arranged to highlight nearby are- each year by BC Field Ornithologists, is have been extremely important for bird as including Pacific Spirit Regional named for the late Steve Cannings of research and conservation. In 1998, he Park and Jericho Beach. Penticton, BC, who was an outstanding helped to establish the Pacific Coast naturalist, nature photographer, and Joint Venture, one of several partner- conservationist. The Cannings Award ships between government agencies and recognizes an individual who has made non-government conservation organiza- significant contributions over a long tions which is focused on securing key period of time to ornithology in BC in habitats for waterfowl and waterbirds, any one or more of the following three in this case along the Pacific Coast in areas: (1) research on bird biology or the United States and BC. He was heav- ecology, or detailed documentation of ily involved in the Fraser River Action the avifauna of a portion of BC; (2) Plan in the 1990s. He was involved in conservation of birds or of bird habitats the establishment of NABCI (the North in BC; and (3) public education about American Bird Conservation Initiative), birds in BC. The award recipient is and from 2000 until his retirement in selected by a three-person Award Com- 2003, he was the first Canadian national mittee, chaired by myself, and approved coordinator for that plan. He was also by the BCFO Board. Details on activities and registration involved in the establishment of the Centre for Wildlife Ecology at Simon will be available on the BC Nature and This year’s winner of the Cannings Nature Vancouver websites: Award is Dr. Art Martell of Courtenay, Fraser University. Art was on the board of Bird Studies Canada for an BC. A plaque commemorating the www.bcnature.ca award was presented to Dr. Martell at impressive 13 years, 7 of those as the board chairperson. www.event.naturevancouver.ca the BCFO Annual Meeting in Tumbler Ridge on June 10, 2017. In addition to all the above, Art has Art is from Cape Breton Island in provided a major service to BCFO, first Nova Scotia, and earned his B.Sc. de- of all as a board member for many gree in 1967 at Acadia University in years, and second and of major im- Featured Photographer Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In 1969, he portance, as the editor of our journal, received his M.Sc. in Wildlife Manage- British Columbia Birds, since 2008. The Featured Photographer Series is ment from Acadia, with his M.Sc. the- Art served as the Regional Coordi- back on line after an extended absence, sis on the wintering waterfowl of Nova nator for the BC Breeding Bird Atlas but it was well worth the wait. The fif- Scotia. Project between 2008 and 2012 for the teenth presenter in the series is Michelle For his PhD, Art moved to the Uni- Comox Valley-Campbell River and

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Lamberson of Kelowna. Twelve of her really become such “a decided nui- lake where Heather Baines lives near stunning photographs can be seen at: sance.” since their arrival. Daisy Lake, south of Whistler. It has been cooperative for photographs, com- bcfo.ca/michelle-lamberson-october-2017 ing up to the beach in the evening and morning.

Southerly Red-throated Recording Bird Songs Loon Red-throated Loons are not seen all that Correction Richard Johnson has been recording often in southern BC, but four years in bird song with a Song Meter SM4 and a row the one below has appeared in a John Gordon points out that while the has two ready to go for spring 2018. If photograph of George Clulow that ap- any members have any interest in this peared in the September edition was method of archiving bird presence and indeed by him, the picture of the Siberi- experience of what timing protocols to an Accentor, shown in the photograph, use, Richard would like to hear from was by Raymond Ng. you at [email protected]. Apologies for the erroneous attribu- tion (editor).

House Sparrows – Decided Nuisances?

Andy Buhler While indexing some old newspapers for the Vernon Museum and Archives I BCFO Research Grants came across the following little item. I was amused to note that even back in 1906 the local populace was worried British Columbia Field Ornithologists wish to promote the study and en- about an invasion of introduced feath- joyment of wild birds in British Columbia, foster cooperation between am- ered friends. ateur and professional ornithologists, support ornithological research pro- June 12, 1906. Vernon News: grams, and support natural history and conservation efforts to preserve page 5, column 4 [Part of the birds and their habitats. To those ends, BCFO encourages submission of regular ‘Town and District’ col- proposals for financial assistance for bird surveys and other ornithological umn] research. Over the past 20 years BCFO has granted over $20,000 for bird research “Two years ago a couple of Eng- and conservation in British Columbia. Projects funded by regular grants lish Sparrows were observed include studies on cavity-nesting birds on Becher's Prairie, Vancouver Is- for the first time on our streets. land Sandhill Cranes, Barrow’s Goldeneye wintering on the Columbia Last summer the brood had in- River, Western Bluebird reintroduction, bird surveys in the Nanaimo river creased to a dozen or two, and estuary, and a Bird Atlas for the Peace River as well as for educational and this season a large colony of conservation activities in the Creston Valley, Vaseux Lake Bird Observa- them makes its home on Bar- tory and an eBird Protocol Count for Kilpoola Lake IBA. Major grants nard Avenue. It is only a matter have also been given for the B.C. Breeding Bird Atlas and the Internation- of a short time until these feath- al Ornithological Congress 2018. ered pests will become a decided nuisance.” BCFO regularly offers Research Grants up to $2,000, but may offer larger grants if approved at an AGM. Much of the money for grants comes from The Vernon CBC in 1986 tallied 1,416 a surcharge included in the fees for the Annual Conference Extension trips. House Sparrows. Maybe they were Deadlines for submissions are January 1 and July 1. right to worry! Still, by 2016, only 566 House Sparrows were tallied in the Much more can be done for birds in British Columbia by individual citizen Vernon CBC. In fact, in 29 CBCs after science projects or student research projects. We welcome proposals to 1986 only two counts had tallied over help increase the knowledge, conservation and public awareness of birds in 1,000 House Sparrows and many British Columbia. For more information visit the BCFO website (bcfo.ca/ counts were down in the 200-800 range. bcfo-research-grants/). Maybe those "feathered pests" have not

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Acknowledgement All lists received by either mail or Deadline email will be acknowledged if an email Deadline for submitting listing totals is Bird Listers’ address is known. If you do not receive February 1, 2018. an acknowledgement, your list was not

Corner received.

The March 2018 edition of this newsmagazine will once again include list- BCFO LISTING REPORT FORM ing tables. To take part, please report your life list totals as of December 31, DECEMBER 2017 2017 for any or all the areas listed below. You may wish to submit special- ized lists such as birds seen above Name...... Date ...... 1,500 metres in BC etc. or areas not previously listed. If the list for a new area is covered by a checklist, please provide the total number of species on ….. British Columbia (240) ….. West Kootenay (150) the current list. Most areas listed are those with published checklists. The ….. ABA (400) ….. Creston Valley (120) number after each area is the threshold level, which in most cases represents ….. Canada (350) ….. Fraser Valley (150) 50% of the species included on the most recent checklist for that area. You ….. World (900) ….. Blackie Spit may report levels below the threshold. ….. Vancouver (190) ….. Semiamhoo Peninsula Space permitted they will be included. The size of the geographic areas listed ….. Okanagan Valley (160) ….. Kamloops (130) varies considerably. ….. Yukon (40) ….. Mount Robson PP (80) • The ABA list has been altered to include Hawaii, so it now encom- ….. Northwest Territories (40) ….. Princeton (80) passes all species seen north of the Mexican/US border plus Hawaii. ….. Alberta (190) ….. Salt Spring Island (110) The prior ABA listing area north of the Mexican/US border will also be ….. All Ticks Prov & Territories ….. Haida Gwaii retained and listed as ABA Conti- nental. (ATPT) ….. Pitt Meadows • North Pacific Pelagic Waters in- ….. Washington (190) ….. North America (500) clude all species seen more than 3.2 km (2 miles) from shore off Alaska, ….. Victoria (120) ….. over 1,500 metres BC, Washington, Oregon and Cali- fornia. ….. Vancouver Island (190) • Non-motorized Transportation (NMT) consists of species seen/ ….. Peace River Area (130) (Other) heard using self-powered locomo- ….. Sea & Iona Islands ….. …………………………… tion (walk, run, bicycle, canoe etc.) from your home location. ….. Westham & Reifel Islands ….. …………………………… • ATPT comprises the totalling of all your Canadian Province & Territory ….. BC Winter Seasonal list ….. …………………………… lists to create a “total ticks” list. ….. World Families (120) ….. …………………………… Areas listed are those having three or more members providing totals for ….. Non-motorized (NMT) ….. ……………………………. 2016. If more than one family member ….. North Pacific Pelagic Waters ….. ……………………………. is submitting a list, individual forms need to be submitted. ….. Manning PP (90) ….. ……………………………

Email your list to lawrenceco- ….. Prince George (130) [email protected] or mail the form below to: Larry Cowan #45, 12268 – 189A ….. Sunshine Coast (120) Street, Pitt Meadows, BC V3Y 2M7.

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fly past. An omen, although we didn’t How the Trips Work know it at the time, of the Surfbirds we BCFO would see throughout the day. BCFO two-day field trips are member We then moved on to Clover Point -led, but participants make their own where we saw most of the gulls that can Two-day Trips arrangements for accommodation, be found in the Victoria area, sitting food, and travel. this time, along with more Turnstones and Surfbirds. Mike was telling us that Mini-Pelagic Report • Day 1: all-day birding and then the nearby unmowed grassy area is of- evening get together at a restaurant ten a location to find unusual or rare Kathryn Clouston to recap the day and tally species. birds when, on cue, a bird flew in with • Day 2: morning birding, afternoon a bright yellow breast, so we added a October 28–29, 2017 optional birding. Western Meadowlark to our list. Around a dozen people, mostly from We moved on to Queen’s Park near the Comox Valley and Langley, joined Carpooling is encouraged and will be the Oak Bay Marina to grab some lunch Mike McGrenere for a mini-pelagic trip arranged on the morning of Day 1. and a quick look at the water/shore on the Coho ferry to Washington and an birds where we saw a couple of Short- Register at least two weeks in ad- introduction to Victoria birding. I am billed Dowitchers and a couple of vance. The leader will give specific fairly new to birding and the BCFO so Greater Yellowlegs. Our last spot near this was my first time on a two-day details of when and where to meet. . the water was Cattle Point where we field trip and provided a great introduc- Cost: Members $10 per person; non- had more Turnstones and Surfbirds as tion to a new area for me. members $40, which includes BCFO well as some sparrows and then at the We met at the Coho ferry terminal membership. end a few American Pipits flew in for a in downtown Victoria on a gorgeous quick visit. sunny Saturday, not something you can After that we moved inland and met rely on down here on the wet coast. up at Michell’s farm stand to grab Customs clearance was much easier some Black Turnstones flew onto the something to eat before heading out to than the equivalent at an airport and we wharf beside us, then some Red- look over the farm fields. We went were off to see what the glorious weath- breasted Mergansers flew by. There down to the Puckle and Lamont cross- er had brought us. It started a little slow were a number of other water birds roads where we saw a vast quantity of with only a handful of Mew Gulls close around the Port Angeles harbour. Once Canada Geese with a significant pro- to the terminal but then picked up as we outside the harbour we were treated to portion of Cackling Geese mixed in. approached Ogden Point, a good omen lines of Heermann’s Gulls flying past There was also a very odd-looking do- since that is where we would be going the ferry and then we had at least one of mestic cross that looked like it had seen the following day. We were ushered out most of the gulls found in this area, so better days. We had heard there was a of the harbour by a group of Rhinoceros we got to practice, or develop, our gull Rusty Blackbird in the area but never Auklets and the real pelagic part began. ID skills. On the Canadian side we found it amid the flightiness caused by We quickly began seeing what end- were treated to the spectacle of some a Northern Shrike, a Merlin, and a Pere- ed up being dozens of Common Humpback whales and a couple of An- grine Falcon. Murres, a few Pigeon Guillemots cient Murrelets while a Black Oyster- Mike then took us up to McIntyre (below) and a variety of gulls, including catcher welcomed us into Victoria Har- Reservoir which we would have been a few Heermann’s. On the US side we bour. unlikely to find on our own. There we The weather stayed good and we found a male Hooded Merganser with a met at the end of Ogden Point at 8:30 harem of nine females and a female the next morning, a very civilized start Ring-necked Duck. For the finale we to a busy day. The sun was just starting went over to the Vantreight Farm Bulb to peek over the hill as we began walk- Field where we found another bunch of ing out along the walkway so we didn’t Hooded Mergansers, three males with miss anything by starting at this hour. one female, and some Killdeer. At that Some Black Oystercatchers entertained point it was time for the Mainlanders to us on the rocks nearby while we were head for their ferry and us to return to assembling and kept popping up as we the Comox Valley. moved along the breakwater. We had It was a great introduction to some found a couple of Marbled Murrelet but some tantalizing glimpses of murrelets of the birdy areas of Victoria. My only alas, no jaegers or shearwaters. No through the scopes at the mid-point so beef with the trip was that Mike didn’t complaints were heard, however, as the decided to go all the way to the end tell us there was a Halloween extension exciting birds would have blown in on where we were treated to great looks at for special birds where he saved a Snow nausea-inducing weather which most Ancient and Marbled Murrelets side by Bunting and a couple of Lapland Long- were happy to avoid. We had lunch in side so you could see the differences. spurs at Cattle Point for those that par- the little park beside the ferry terminal We had spotted some Black Turnstones ticipated. Next time I will have to ask and then headed back. picking between the barnacles while about future highlights before we leave. The return trip started well when walking along and then saw a group of Turnstones with a couple of Surfbirds Page 8 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4)

Mar. 16-18--15TH ANNUAL WINGS OVER WATER BIRD- ING FESTIVAL, Blaine, WA. For information, phone the Upcoming Meetings Blaine Visitor Information Center at 1-800-624-3555, send an e-mail to [email protected] , or check the website at www.wingsoverwaterbirdingfestival.com . & Events Mar. 23-25--21st ANNUAL OTHELLO SANDHILL CRANE FESTIVAL, Othello, WA. For information, check the festival Compiled by Wayne C. Weber website at www.othellosandhillcranefestival.org , or contact the Grant County Conservation District at 1107 South Juniper

Way, Moses Lake, WA 98837 (phone 509-765-9618). The following meetings and other events are those that take place in BC and immediately adjacent areas or that potential- Apr. 5-7--Joint Meeting of the ASSOCIATION OF PROFES- ly include information on birds that occur in BC. Information SIONAL BIOLOGISTS (APBBC) and COLLEGE OF AP- on additional meetings is listed in the bimonthly Ornithologi- PLIED BIOLOGY, Westin Wall Centre, Richmond, BC. For cal Newsletter at www.birdmeetings.org and on the BIRD- further information, please check the website at professional- NET website at www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/ornith/ biology.com/professional-development-networking/annual- birdmeet.html . conference . For most meetings, festivals and other events, the website is the main source of information, and registration can often Apr. 5-8--HARNEY COUNTY MIGRATORY BIRD FESTI- be accomplished online as well. Wherever information can be VAL, Burns, Oregon (near Malheur National Wildlife Ref- obtained through a phone number or e-mail address, we have uge). For further information, check the festival website at included these as well; if no contact information is listed, it www.migratorybirdfestival.com/ . can be assumed that none was provided by the organization, at least not on the date when this listing was compiled. It is Apr. 9-14--136th STATED MEETING, AMERICAN ORNI- usually not necessary to contact a particular individual, ex- THOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Tucson, Arizona. For further in- cept for scientific meetings when one is interested in making formation, check the AOS website at a presentation. Names and contact information for individuals www.americanornithology.org/content/aos-2018-meeting . are listed whenever they are available. Apr. 13-15--OLYMPIC BIRD FESTIVAL, Sequim, WA. For 2017 Events information, visit the festival website at Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 (2018)-- CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS. For www.olympicbirdfest.org , or contact the Dungeness River information on dates of counts and contact information for Audubon Center by phone (360-681-4076) or by e-mail count organizers, please check the BCFO website. ([email protected] ).

Apr. 18-24-- GODWIT DAYS, Arcata, California. It’s a little 2018 Events way away, but Godwit Days is one of the premier birding Feb. 13-16--SOCIETY FOR NORTHWESTERN VERTE- festivals in North America. For information, check the festi- BRATE BIOLOGY annual meeting at the Red Lion Hotel, val website at godwitdays.org . Registration opens in Decem- Jantzen Beach, Portland, Oregon. This meeting is in conjunc- ber. tion with the Oregon and Washington chapters of The Wild- life Society. For information and to register, visit the SNVB Apr. 27-29--GRAYS HARBOR SHOREBIRD FESTIVAL, website at thesnvb.org/annual-meeting . Aberdeen, WA. For information, contact the festival office at PO Box 470, Montesano, WA 98563 (phone 360-289-5048) Feb. 16-19--The GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT, spon- or check the website at www.shorebirdfestival.com . sored by the National Audubon Society, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and Bird Studies Canada. For information April (date not yet finalized)-- First WESTPORT SEABIRDS and to participate, check the GBBC website at pelagic birding trip of the year from Westport, WA. Westport gbbc.birdcount.org . Seabirds operates about 20 trips per year from April through October. For the trip schedule and other information, please Feb. 21-24--45th ANNUAL MEETING, PACIFIC SEABIRD check the website (westportseabirds.com ) at a later date. GROUP, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. For information and to register, visit the conference website at May 7-13-- WINGS OVER THE ROCKIES FESTIVAL (22nd pacificseabirdgroup.org/annual-meeting . annual), Invermere, BC. For information, contact the Pynelogs Cultural Centre, PO Box 2633, Invermere, BC V0A March-April (dates not yet scheduled)--BRANT WILDLIFE 1K0, phone 1-855-342-2473, e-mail FESTIVAL, Qualicum, BC. For information, phone Robin [email protected] , or check the website at Rivers at 1-866-288-7878 (in Greater Vancouver, 604-924- www.wingsovertherockies.org . 9771), e-mail [email protected] , or check the festival website at brantfestival.bc.ca . May 10-13--BC NATURE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, Vancouver, BC, hosted by Nature Vancouver. For information and to register, check the BC Nature website at

Page 9 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) www.bcnature.ca , or phone Betty Davison at the BC Nature Sept. 26-30--ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF WESTERN office (phone 604-985-3057; email [email protected] .) FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS at Ventura, California. For further details, check the WFO website at May 17-20--LEAVENWORTH SPRING BIRD FEST, Leaven- www.westernfieldornithologists.org/conference.php . worth, WA. For information, email [email protected] or check the festival Oct. 7-11--25TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE WILD- website at www.leavenworthspringbirdfest.com . LIFE SOCIETY, Cleveland, Ohio. For information, check the TWS conference page at wildlife.org/learn/conferences-2 . May 17-21--MEADOWLARK NATURE FESTIVAL, Pentic- ton, BC. The schedule of events and registration may not be available for a while, but please check the festival website at meadowlarkfestival.ca /. Bluebird Bonanza June 1-3--BC FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS ANNUAL GEN- ERAL MEETING, Hope, BC. For further information, please check the BCFO website at a later date (bcfo.ca ). John Gordon

On the afternoon of November 5, and for a few hours on the June 7-9--WILSON ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY annual meeting at the Chattanooga Convention Centre, Chattanooga, morning of November 6, three Western Bluebirds were pre- Tennessee (advance notice). For further information, check sent at Crescent Beach’s Blackie Spit in South Surrey. Once the WOS website at wilsonsociety.org/meetings/2018- the news broke every Lower Mainland lister worth their salt meeting . made their way to the spit. The three birds, one male and two female, moved up and down the spit feeding on whatever insects they could find. They would often fly off into the dis- June 7-11-- ASHINGTON ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY annual conference, Hood River, Oregon. For information, tance frustrating those who had just arrived only to return to visit the WOS website at wos.org/annual-conference/current- repeat their circular feeding pattern. Most of the week the year . Lower Mainland had been gripped in a cold front with temperatures dipping below zero at night but still there were enough insects to keep the trio busy. If the bluebirds weren’t Aug. 19-26-- 27th INTERNATIONAL ORNITHOLOGICAL enough, a flock of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch flew over us, CONGRESS, Vancouver, BC. This gathering of ornithologists from all over the world is a “must” for anyone with a making it an extra-special day for all those gathered for the scientific interest in birds. For information and to register, spectacle. (Photo by John Gordon.) please visit the IOC website at www.iocongress2018.com .

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Quesnel River Road which starts off and stop at the Chocolate Moose café winding through open grasslands where (Cameron Ridge Bungalows) where the Trip Reports we made several stops hoping to hear a Cameron Ridge trail begins. We decid- Long-billed Curlew but despite checked to try it with the possibility of walking out this and several other suitable ing some of the trail in the sub-alpine. A Likely Tale areas we failed to find one. Lots of oth- The road is not too bad, but as we er birds however – Robins, Savannah drove, it became obvious that there was Gareth Pugh and Chipping Sparrows – were every- plenty of wildlife around and lots of where, while Swainson’s Thrushes, bear scat on the road. We saw several June 24 – 30, 2017 Flickers and others could be heard. small black bears and as we got higher

Six of us, Bob Puls, Pauline O’Toole, As we drove on, the habitat changed up we saw lots of birds feeding along Wim Vesseur, Alice Steffensen, Liz to mixed deciduous/evergreen forest the roadside. Near the café we found a Walker and myself left Aldergrove at where we stopped periodically to look Northern Hawk Owl perched on top of 7:00 a.m. on June 24 for our annual and listen. Red-eyed Vireos, Swain- a tall pine which was calling to another birding trip. With light traffic most of son’s Thrushes and Western Tanagers one nearby, probably the most exciting the way we made good time, stopping were singing in most places while a bird of the trip and a lifer for several of in 100 Mile House for lunch at the Visi- soaring Broad-winged Hawk was a lifer our group. tor Centre where we ate lunch and for some. The road ends at the Quesnel At the café we were welcomed with watched the birds including some River where we found an open area to hot coffee and a freshly baked choco- young Virginia Rails in the reed bed eat lunch while listening to bird song in late cake while we looked out over a alongside the picnic area. We had the cottonwoods and watching a Red- wetland with a pair of Sandhill Cranes booked the Northern Lights Lodge on tailed Hawk harassing a Bald Eagle. walking around. This was the one day Quesnel Lake in Likely for six nights We visited Quesnel Forks, a major of our trip with light rain that was start- and had the whole of the Lodge to our- supply centre during the Cariboo Gold ing to clear up but with low cloud cover selves. It has eight bedrooms on three Rush in the mid-1800s, where local we were unable to enjoy the views and sides off a verandah with a good-sized historians and the Likely Cemetery So- decided not to attempt the Cameron commercial kitchen and a large lounge/ ciety have tidied up the cemetery and Ridge Trail and drove on to Wells in- dining room, so we quickly unpacked restored a number of the buildings. We stead. We made several stops along the and settled in before taking a stroll spent some time looking around the way including the Matthew River around the area. Ian and Joan Taylor cemetery and the buildings but it was a bridge where we saw a cow moose with had travelled up earlier so were already hot afternoon so very few birds were two calves. settled in and soon had supper ready for singing. This area of the province has many us. Final Day small lakes and wetlands, much of Birding in the extensive grounds of On our last day we took a trip to Horse- which is not readily accessible but often the property was very productive. On fly. First stop was the Beaver River visible from the road, so although we the first evening we recorded nineteen bridge on the Likely/150 Mile road planned our daily trips based on likely species including Tennessee Warbler, where we found a total of 18 species in looking spots on the map, as we drove Red-eyed Vireo, Pacific-slope Flycatch- a short time. Along the Beaver Valley we were continually seeing, and stop- er, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Western road we made a number of stops log- ping at, interesting-looking places. Pri- Tanager plus a pair of Red-breasted ging 43 species in all including Ameri- or Lake alongside the road from 150 Sapsuckers gathering food. can Redstart, Cliff Swallow, Lazuli Mile is a small but very productive lake The Lodge is ideally suited as a base Bunting and Gray Catbird which we where we found Blue-winged Teal, for a birding trip and from there we had not found anywhere else. Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common were able to visit a range of habitats Robert’s Lake was another good Goldeneye, Brewer’s Blackbird and during our five-day stay. At Cedar spot. We found Virginia Rail, Ring- Brown-headed Cowbird to mention a Point Provincial Park we found Tree, necked Duck, Cassin’s Vireo and Hairy few. At Dugan Lake Recreation Site we Barn and Violet-green Swallows, West- Woodpecker in addition to the usual found Black-billed Magpie, American ern Tanagers, Swainson’s Thrush, common species. Kestrel and Bald Eagle in addition to Common Loon etc. and a Northern Wa- In Horsefly we walked around the the commoner birds. terthrush busily gathering food near the spawning channel trail and despite the We visited the Spanish Lake Recre- dock. We checked out Little Lake Road hot afternoon sun we recorded 22 spe- ation Site which was not very produc- where other than a Pileated Woodpeck- cies there and in the town itself. tive but we did see two Herring Gulls er we could only find the common birds In all we found 103 species of birds on the lake and several Ruffed Grouse that were everywhere, Swainson’s in the Likely/Horsefly/150 Mile area. and a Spruce Grouse along the road. All Thrush, Song Sparrow, Northern Flick- We also saw the following butterflies, er etc. However the array of wildflow- the Ruffed Grouse we saw here and elsewhere had recently hatched chicks all identified by Bob from his photos: ers along the roadsides everywhere was White Admiral, Pale Crescent, Northern feeding in the roadside vegetation. stunning and these attracted a number Blue, European Skipper, Grey Hair- Were the parents “standing guard”? of butterflies, so plenty of photographs streak and Compton Tortoiseshell. were taken which we have used to enter We were told by the local tourist the sightings on e-Butterfly. office that we should take the “tourist” One day we drove the Little Lake/ loop gravel road from Likely to Wells

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Birding Somerset, UK John Gordon October 2017 The Avalon Marshes are internationally famous for the nature reserves and wildlife. The area has been lived in and worked for ten thousand years. Pre- historic paths and villages from the Bronze Age criss-cross the area and scores of Roman coin hoards have been found in the area. Towering over the marshes is Glastonbury Tor. During the Middle Ages Glastonbury Monastery became one of the most rich and power- ful in England. The area was excavated for the peat and the workings later filled with water, creating an intricate series of marshes rich in birdlife. These days the famous Glastonbury Festival attracts hundreds of thousands of music lovers. A visit to quip exchanged: way too competitive a rately over the two days we were pre- the marshes had been on my itinerary situation when most of us just wanted sent. We found one baby the first day for the past three years, but timing is to watch the photogenic antics of the and no other owls. everything and time after time the op- Bearded Tit. Dead tired, we returned to the same portunity fell through. The brief time I had with these birds spot and hiked up a tough incline where Fortunately, this time I finally had was one of the most enjoyable experi- we found mom. The female flew within the chance to visit the area with the help ences I have for a long time: they have arm’s length and stayed with us the of Birding Pal Paul Bowden. This was such character. They bring a smile to whole time, while we sat beneath her. It our second outing together in ten days, everyone’s face, even the grumpy ones. was a magical experience in a most our previous visit being to the Newport (See back cover for another photo- peaceful setting far away from any peo- Wetlands where Paul found me graph.) ple and cell service. two lifers. His expertise and knowledge On the way down the mountain we would prove invaluable a second time. were greeted by not one baby but two We left Chepstow and were soon on baby Northern Spotted Owls bobbing the motorway over the Severn Bridge Spotted Owls! their heads at us. We watched beautiful and passing north of Bristol. Our first stars at night and had other owls during stop was Westhay Moor Nature Re- Melissa Hafting our hiking trip including Northern Saw- serve in search of Bearded Tits whets, Boreal and Barred Owls. (Reedlings), a bird I had seen briefly on August 30, 2017 The Barred Owls are really taking my previous UK visits but was hoping Ilya Povalyaev and I went hiking in the over the territory of the endangered to capture some decent action shots. mountains of Washington where we Northern Spotted Owl but we can't On our arrival there were more bird- were blessed to see three Northern blame them. We are the ones who built ers and photographers than there were Spotted Owls. These owls are endan- the path from the East to the West to birds. There also seemed a little tension gered. In BC they are basically extirpat- bring them here. One night we heard between the two groups with the odd ed, with less than a doz- several Barred Owl males sparring. en left in the wild. In Washington the species This event was made even more special is not doing well and as I left the best owl for last. I never set there are about 200 out for this to happen but due to cir- birds left in the state. cumstances and my travels I was able to Every time I see one see all 19 North American owls in I feel truly blessed to be twelve months. I started in Sept 2016 in their presence. I have and finished in August 2017. never seen a more curi- ous and beautiful crea- ture. They climb up and down the tree branches like parrots. All three of Bearded Reedling by John Gordon; them flew in to us sepa- Spotted Owl by Melissa Hafting.

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ed with gorgeous views of the Pacific -backed Chickadees were chatting loud- Ocean, moss covered trees, and a kettle ly in the trees. Young Birders of hundreds of Turkey Vultures. A We spent five great hours at Beechy Northern Pygmy-Owl was calling loud- Head. The kids got to see a real specta- ly; Guy already had another on the hike cle of kettling; one said it was his fa- Program up. Soon after, the hawks started com- vourite young birder trip. ing and the sky was full of Sharp- After leaving Beechy Head, we shinned Hawks. Guy, who does these hiked down to the meadow by the park- Hawk Watch at Sooke hawk watches all the time, told us he ing lot, where we saw hundreds more has never seen such a high number of Turkey Vultures, 15 Vaux's Swifts, an Melissa Hafting Sharpies: we had 65. Guy also spotted Osprey, and more Red-tailed Hawks. an adult Broad-winged Hawk, one of We said goodbye to Guy and Ren and On Sunday, September 2, we had the the major reasons we came, but it headed to Whiffin Spit. Apparently five final Young Birder trip of the year. quickly disappeared beneath the ridge, minutes after we left, Guy found an Last year I asked the kids what they and sadly not all the kids got on to it. immature Broad-winged Hawk but our wanted to do and where they wanted to We heard a Barred Owl calling and cells had no service there so we had no go and Liron Gertsman suggested a clue. hawk watch for Broad-wingeds out of A big thanks to Guy Monty for Sooke. As a result, eight kids and I driving from Parksville to Sooke, for were leaving Vancouver on the 7:00 helping the kids and for hiking 40 a.m. ferry to Swartz Bay. minutes up with a foot injury. I asked my friend Guy Monty to help, as he is proficient in hawk Our highlights from the hawk watch watches, loves them and most im- were: portantly gets along with and treats the kids well. He answered all of their 350 Turkey Vultures questions and provided some really 65 Sharp-shinned Hawks interesting info on the hawks and vul- 1 Osprey tures. Also helping was my friend Ren 2 Northern Harriers Ferguson from Salt Spring Island. 4 Bald Eagles The weather was not ideal for a saw over 200 Band-tailed Pigeons fly- 3 Cooper's Hawks hawk watch since it was very foggy and ing by, and some even perched. A few 70 Red-tailed Hawks windy. Hawks prefer warmer thermals Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks perched 1 Northern Pygmy-Owl and at times it was quite cold. We still in front of us as well. Sharp-shinned 1 Barred Owl did very well, though. On the 40- Hawks and Turkey Vultures flew low 15 Vaux's Swifts minute hike up to Beechy Head we car- right over our heads providing for great 1 Hairy Woodpecker ried up our chairs, lunches, bins, scopes viewing and photo ops. 1 Pileated Woodpecker and cameras. The walk in was beautiful The kids scoped the water below 1 Downy Woodpecker and we had a Northern Flicker, Varied and we had a Black Oystercatcher, 1 Northern Flicker Thrush, Pacific Wren and Downy Heermann's Gull and Belted Kingfisher Woodpecker to name a few. as highlights. A Hutton's Vireo, many Sharp-shinned Hawk by Melissa Haft- At the top of the hill we were greet- Golden-crowned Kinglets and Chestnut ing; group shot by Guy Monty.

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1 Merlin 20 Red Crossbills 200 Band-tailed Pigeons 20 Pine Siskins BCFO Young Birder Award 11 Steller's Jays Call for Nominations for 2018 At Whiffin Spit we were chasing a previously reported Lark Sparrow. He was Since 2014 the BCFO has been sponsoring a Young Birder sitting right at the parking lot and this Award program in which talented young birders are welcomed into the was really reminiscent of a Black- birding community and recognized for their accomplishments, contri- throated Sparrow we had all chased butions, and engagement with birds and birding in the Province. We there previously. We quickly got the are now seeking additional nominations for the next round of awards. Sparrow after Rebecca's mom, Cathy, Each recipient receives a plaque, a spiffy BCFO ball cap, and free spotted it. Here we also got a Heer- BCFO membership until age 18. Our twenty-one previous awardees mann's Gull and Black Turnstones and (see BC Birding issues for March 2014 through 2017) are carrying on then we headed on to Panama Flats. in impressive fashion, and we expect there are more like them out At Panama Flats we entered off of there to be discovered. Carey Road and began searching the fields. The fields were riddled with To be selected for a Young Birder Award, recipients must meet all of hundreds of sparrows, mostly Savan- the following criteria: nahs. Three black Merlins were flying low over the fields along with a female • Be no more than 18 years of age as of January 1st, 2018; Northern Harrier. We split up and began searching the • Have demonstrated exceptional observational and birding skills quadrants and all of a sudden I spotted well beyond the “novice” level; a female Bobolink and called it out as it • Have made significant contribution to activities in the birding com- flew over. Bridget got on it but some munity such as: posting to list-serves; entering data to eBird; partic- others didn’t. Liron started searching ipating in local surveys, counts, and field trips; the centre dike and flushed out another Bobolink that almost everyone got on- • Be sponsored and nominated by a BCFO member who has direct to. We ended up with a total of two out knowledge of the candidate. of the four Bobolinks that were reported. Please send queries and nominations to: [email protected] We headed next to Central Saanich Road to try for one of the Young Birder Group's nemesis birds. We have two of rushes, and canary reed-grass. Birch, there is no better place to spend a Satur- them: the Eurasian Skylark and White- alder, and willow trees stand behind day afternoon than Reifel. George C. tailed Ptarmigan. Finally, after three them as a backdrop and hawthorn bush- Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary is the years of trying, we got our Skylarks! es and crab-apple trees line the dikes full name, but most people know it as We ended up seeing four flush up and around and between them. Northern Reifel. call several times from the bulb fields Shovelers, American Wigeons, Gad- So why is this my favourite spot to This was a lifer for many. walls, and Green-winged Teal rest and bird? Well, first, I revel in the diversity By this time our trip had run out of feed in the lagoons. In the nearby shal- and sheer quantity of birds the sanctu- time and it was time to head back to lows a small flock of Dowitchers stab ary provides! According to eBird, it Vancouver on the 7:00 p.m. ferry. their long bills into the mud in search of currently boasts a list of 272 species. worms and crustaceans. Greater Yel- Birds fill every habitat. If any youth aged 12-18 are interested lowlegs fly back and forth low over the in joining the Young Birder Program, surface of the lagoons, calling loudly Waterfowl please contact Melissa at bcbird- “keouw-keouw.” Behind me a large I find waterfowl to be the most conspic- [email protected] . tidal, mainly cattail, marsh stretches out uous, as well as my favourites. As you to the sea. Snow Geese mill about at the enter the parking area you will be greet- edge of the water, feeding on cattail and ed by swarms of fat Mallards, greedy of bulrush tubers and filling the air with handouts. You will see more than just A Birding Mecca in Delta their haunting cries. Intermittently por- Mallards, though; 15 species of duck tions of the flock rise into the air with a occur here regularly. The sanctuary also Viktor Vandereyk cacophony of cries, then land again like hosts breeding Northern Shovelers and a flurry of snow. Providing a backdrop Northern Pintails, a rare occurrence in As I settle down on a bench during a to this fascinating scene, out of the the Vancouver area. balmy October Saturday afternoon, my haze, rise the low mountains of Van- Out on the seashore, beyond the eyes and ears soak in my surroundings. couver Island. cattails, waterfowl are abundant. Winter Two large, brackish man-made lagoons Can you guess where I am? That’s is the best time to see waterfowl there. spread before me, bordered by cattails, right, I am at Reifel! In my opinion, Snow Geese, of course, are the stars, as

Page 14 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) they are the most noticeable, due to will use the lagoons as a place for rest ary and occasionally even hunt Snow their large numbers and vociferousness, and recuperation. The lagoons also give Geese despite their main prey being but Cackling Geese, and, less common- you a good chance of spotting rarities. fish. A sight of Northern Harriers is ly, Greater White-fronted Geese are Stilt Sandpipers, Sharp-tailed Sandpi- almost guaranteed. They spend the day- also present. Large flocks of American pers, and Red-necked Phalaropes are light hours hunting over the tidal marsh, Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, and other the most regular rarities, but bigger rari- exhibiting their crazy rocking flight as duck species can be identified with a ties can be spotted as well. On Septem- they search for voles and other rodents. scope from the viewing tower as they ber 10, 2017, a Curlew Sandpiper was Beautiful Rough-legged Hawks perch feed in the shallows. Trumpeter Swans spotted in a flock of Western Sandpi- on the tops of short trees or on drift- are also common and can often be pers in the lagoons, only the 12th on wood, though they are not nearly as heard sounding off during their court- record for BC. common a sight as the other raptors. ship rituals. During winter, Peregrines can be seen hunting Dunlin over the Raptors Passerines mudflats. The large flocks of Dunlin Probably the most popular birds at Spring is a great time to observe Passer- twisting and turning in flight as they try Reifel are the raptors, especially the ines. Swallows are abundant all over to elude the Peregrine are truly a owls. Outside of breeding season, di- the sanctuary. Tree Swallows, with breathtaking sight. minutive Saw-whet Owls spend the day their metallic dark blue upper parts, fill The tidal marsh itself is alive with roosting, tucked away in one of the old the sanctuary with their gurgling calls. birds. In spring, Red-winged Blackbirds Douglas firs that line the path on the Purple Martins, our largest swallow announce their territories with their east side of the sanctuary. Sometimes species, nest in nest box complexes “konk-a-reee” songs, and Marsh Wrens they will roost in more exposed loca- built especially for them out on the tidal fill the marsh with their peculiar me- tions, giving us greater views of them, marsh. Elegant Barn Swallows build chanical-sounding songs. If you listen but often exposing them to human dis- their mud nests in blinds and under the carefully you may even hear the turbances. One time I saw a Saw-whet eaves of information signs all over the scratchy calls of a Virginia Rail. Owl in a hawthorn bush right over the sanctuary. The lagoons, too, are great for birds, trail, clutching a vole it had just caught, This is also an important place for mainly waterfowl. During summer, only a foot above my head. Most peo- warblers. From the cattails around the Canada Geese, Mallards, Pintails, and ple did not notice it, though, because it lagoons, breeding Common Yel- Shovelers dominate, but during late was sitting so still. Great Horned Owls lowthroats sing “wichety-wichety- summer and fall, Green-winged Teal are also frequent here but are even more wichety.” During migration Yellow and Blue-winged Teal also stop in de- reclusive and usually higher in the Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers cent numbers. November is likely the trees. On cloudy days and evenings, and other warbler species move through best time for viewing waterfowl in the Short-eared Owls sail, Barn Owl style, the treed areas, feeding as they go. Her- lagoons, however. In addition to the over the tidal marsh in search of prey. ons, blackbirds, sparrows, chickadees, species previously mentioned (exclud- Bald Eagles are common in the sanctu- nuthatches, kinglets, and many other ing the Blue-winged Teal, which move south for the winter), Buffleheads, Mer- Snowy Owl painting by Viktor Vandereyk. gansers, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked ducks, and Pied-billed Grebes are pretty much guaranteed. Also, in fall, flocks of Sandhill Cranes stop to rest in the lagoons. With much patience and care- ful observation, American Bitterns can sometimes be found hiding in the cattails that border the lagoons.

Shorebirds During spring and fall migration, shorebirds steal the limelight for most people. The sanctuary has been designated a site of hemispheric importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Most of the shorebirds spend the duration of low tide out on the mudflats at the edge of the sea and are diffi- cult to observe, but during high tide many come into the shallow lagoons to rest and feed. Western Sandpipers and Dunlin are the most common. Also, many shorebird species favouring brackish water, such as Long-billed Dowitchers and Greater Yellowlegs,

Page 15 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) species fill the sanctuary with their in- mountains of Vancouver Island on the young birder tours for the 2018 Interna- triguing lives. No wonder this is such a other: what better way to spend your tional Congress which I can’t wait for. popular birding hotspot! leisure hours on a Saturday afternoon? Melissa encourages my hobby of paint- Reifel is also a special place for me ing birds but the most wonderful thing Photography because this is where I first met Melissa of all is that she takes us all on really Another reason I love this spot is be- and the other members of the young cool trips. She has given us all so many cause it is a fantastic place for photog- birder program. Melissa is my mentor lifers and great memories. She runs the raphy. One of the great advantages this and I noticed what she was doing with BC Rare Bird Alert and from her hard place has for photographers is the com- young birders by taking them out on work there I have found many rarities parative tameness of the birds. Since trips and I emailed her. My brother and with her help. There aren’t many people the birds are so accustomed to people, I really wanted to join the program and like Melissa and even fewer top female they will go on with their natural be- she was so welcoming to us. We were birders in the province, so she is an in- havior at close range. I have watched a both nervous to meet her and the group spiration. I won’t forget what she has Cooper’s Hawk snatch a Long-billed but she really made us feel welcome done for us all, just as I won’t forget the Dowitcher merely 20 feet away from and introduced us to all the other kids. memorable place of Reifel, which I me! Another great thing about Reifel is Everyone was really nice and Melissa plan to visit for many years to come. that with so much diversity of species showed us many birds and helped iden- there are no lack of subjects. Where tify them and answer questions. I felt Editor’s Note: This is Viktor’s last year else can you be photographing a gor- comfortable to call out birds as if I were with the Young Birders, as – along with geous Wood Duck drake, then spin in the group for a long time and Melissa another five YB members – he has around to shoot a massive flock of told me how impressed she was with turned 18. No doubt we’ll continue to Snow Geese as they rise out of a potato my skills. We went to a window-strike hear from him in the years ahead. field with a deafening cacophony of talk that Melissa organized with Envi- high-pitched cries! And there certainly ronment Canada and I have implement- are few, if any, other places in BC ed all I learned in my home effectively. where you can photograph Sandhill On the Young Birder trip to Reifel I Crane chicks at close range. There is got many lifers including a male Red- YB Notes never a dull day for a “photog” at head, which was a rarity for the park. Reifel. Reifel will always be special for all the YB at IO Congress reasons I’ve mentioned previously but Strolling down paths around tranquil As mentioned above, Melissa Hafting mostly because it brought me in contact ponds, set about with birches, willows, will be leading Young Birder tours with with a birder who is so interested in all and alders, or along dikes with peaceful other guides at the IO Congress 2018. of the kids in BC. She helps me all the rippling lagoons on one side and a On August 24, there will be a trip to time with any identification questions, spreading tidal marsh succeeded by the Reifel, Roberts Bank and Boundary keeps all the young birders in the loop ocean fading into the low, distant Bay, and on August 27, the trip will be about local events and is organizing to Squamish Estuary, Sea to Sky Gon- Below: a painting of a female Belted Kingfisher by Young Birder Cedar Forest dola, and Porteau Cove. Details can be found at: (age 13) of Tofino. www.iocongress2018.com/tours- youngbirder

Children 12–18 registered in the BCFO Young Birder program can receive a free pass to attend the conference daily by contacting Melissa Hafting at [email protected].

YB Thanks The Young Birders send thanks to

• Cameron Eckert of Whitehorse, YK, for donating copies of The Birds of British Columbia a various checklists for the province • John Gordon for donating eight vol- umes of The Auk.

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Young Birders Program

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Birding at the Fire Zone Edge

Tom Leys on. It was gratifying when a pair of more for a week. There was some rain Barn Swallows flying over wheeled on June 8, but that was it for the season. At the east end of Chilcotin Lake on the about to inspect us as we hammered We didn’t know it would become a Fraser Plateau, Terry Stevenson and I down the roof. We could almost hear drought year, but the signs were take care of a piece of land as a their wheels screech. They’ll never ominous. conservation area. It is on the Nevertheless, there were north-south migration flyway, cool birds that came like a pull-out or a truck stop through. A Clark’s Nut- for thousands of waterfowl and cracker hawked about over passerines heading to and from the grassland for a day. A Central America and Yukon. Collared-Dove did its usual This summer it lay only ten passing by. Orange- kilometres south of BC’s crowned Warblers, Golden- biggest fire in the Cariboo, the crowned and White- biggest conflagration of the throated Sparrows were season in the worst fire season suddenly there for a week since 1957. Somehow and then gone. A flock of Chilcotin Lake was not about 50 American Pipits scorched. stayed for about three days. Since the birds need this A Swainson’s Hawk place of refuge, we help them showed up once, as well as as best we can. This summer a Clay-coloured Sparrow (a we built a barn swallow first sighting for us), a nesting structure and erected Say’s Phoebe which sat on two osprey nesting platforms. a tent guy rope one Struggling through mud, afternoon and watched us, a snow and hail to get in on April Red Crossbill and six 28, we set up our base camp for Northern Rough-winged a six-week project to build the Swallows. A pair of Trum- barn swallow structure. The peter Swans stayed with us barn swallow population in until late May, for some North America is declining, reason, and each spring day and since the local ranchers was celebrated by a around Chezacut have them, Wilson’s Snipe and each we thought we could as well. night by an American Bit- So, we got some plans for the tern, both of them regulars structure, cut some support each year. The Great poles, prepared some found Horned Owl couple would lumber to brace the poles and hoot at night from the bought some siding, some spruce trees above our tent. trusses and some roofing as Our spring trip total was 87 well as steel sheets for predator species. baffles around the poles. It When we left the lake in became a bigger project than early June we attended two we’d anticipated, but the end result was again have to hover in our wall tent excellent birding days hosted by Adrian a fine addition to the forty-odd duck, vestibule looking for a nesting place. Leather and Brian Murland of the flicker, bluebird and Tree Swallow We are hoping for Robins and Say’s Quesnel birding club before returning boxes we’d already put up over the last Phoebes to use it as well. to Vancouver. A month later, on July few years. The 2017 growing season began 10 and 11 the lightning strikes hit The Barn Swallow structure is open strangely. From the initial spring across the Cariboo. Suddenly there was on the east side and covered on the dampness the temperature soared into fire everywhere. The forests, suffering remaining sides only one third of the the 30s in the first week. The snow on from decades of fire suppression, a way below the roof. This gives the Luck Mountain and the hills to the decade of pine beetle tree kill and the birds a combination of shelter and easy north disappeared and Chilcotin River inexorable drying out of the land, the access to their nests, and the building is swelled and lost its noise. It got cooler last two clear products of global full of ledges inside for the birds to nest again, but it didn’t rain until May 10. In warming, didn’t stand much of a late May the weather cooked us some chance. Forest fires burn unevenly, Page 18 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) jump when they race and create Ospreys had nested in a big as- so much smoke one can’t know pen on the west side of our area, where the fire is and where it but that tree had fallen down isn’t. Wildlife is disoriented, one winter. An artificial plat- panicked and trapped and form put up years ago by the burned to cinders by forest Nature Trust of BC in a marsh fires, especially the kind that hit to the west of us was leaning BC last summer. We heard over, so the Ospreys, which horrible stories of what used to catch trout and squaw- happened to grouse and fish and carry them about and animals. It was a colossal ruin show off, had stopped doing so. for wildlife on the Plateau this They are now nesting much year, something that ought to farther away and when they be investigated and written catch fish they are losing them about. But for pure luck and to thieving Bald Eagles. The big pluck, our neighbour ranchers pines that Ospreys have nested nearly suffered the same fate. in all over BC have largely been With the highways closed killed by the pine beetle by police and the army, and scourge, so these days good armoured personnel carriers nesting options are hard to find. and travel permits and We planned to fix that at the evacuations ordered for central east end of Chilcotin Lake. Cariboo residents for about a We contracted a great fenc- month, it was impossible to ing operator in Williams Lake revisit Chilcotin Lake until late to buy us a couple of used hydro August. Highway 24 was still poles and install them for us in closed then and the Sheridan the fall. We found a nesting Lake fire smoke was filling the platform design from Conserve air in Williams Lake and west Wildlife in New Jersey who had into the Chilcotin, adding to the put their work on the Internet smoke of the Plateau fire which and over the summer we built had swept north but which was September 28: Erecting the first osprey nesting platform.. two modified versions of their still burning in patches and did platform. On September 24 the so through September. It was poles were delivered. We at- ironic then, in the first week of would have frightened many birds tached the nesting platforms, added two September, finally to be at Chilcotin away, too. It seems that in the Cariboo perching mounts to each one and wired Lake again and not be able to see more 2017 was a ruinous year for breeding in some encouraging sticks to make it than 300 metres, to breathe acrid smoke bats as well. clear to any osprey that they could use but sit under a tarp in the rain. The rain One surprising appearance that first the place to nest on. Underneath both finally arrived at that point, not lots of week of September was a flock of about platforms we added a four-chamber bat it, but enough to dampen the soil. 15 Horned Larks. They always live box the design for which we also got Through the smoke I could hear the higher up on the plateau. Chilcotin off the Internet. family of Sandhill Cranes calling from Lake lies at 975 metres. Another 100 With the fall, the Chilcotin land the marshes to the west of me, and the metres’ elevation makes a huge differ- becomes spectacular. For two weeks the Great Horned Owls in the distance at ence in the temperature, so I think the aspens turn gold and then red in a blaze night, but the smoke had to be hard on only reason they were working the of short-lived glory that challenges the the birds. Later on, when we cleaned grassland around the lake was because eastern Canadian maples for splendor. out the swallow and duck boxes at the their habitat higher up had been Usually the snap of -12 degree nights end of September, we found that there scorched. I visited the burn ten kilome- brings hundreds of Bohemian Wax- had been a very small success rate. tres north of the lake. Nothing was left wings to cavort in the tops of the There might be several explanations, but the thinned trunks of charred lodge- lakeside spruces. That didn’t happen but the smoke had been terrible. It had pole pines. It looked like pictures of the this year. Neither were there the squad- been so thick some days that one of our aftermath of a World War I battle sce- rons of White Pelicans soaring by neighbours said he hadn’t been able to ne. Even the soil was charred, like dust which nest on Stum Lake, almost on the see more than three metres ahead of his that had been baked in a furnace and border of the Plateau Fire to the east. tractor when he was mowing, and it left. Normally the fall brings hundreds of took a week for his hay to dry because But the Chilcotin Lake riparian are- American Robins, sometimes with a the sun had been so hidden by smoke as were intact; hurt, maybe, trauma- Peregrine Falcon picking one off, but that the air was kept cool. That must tized, perhaps, but otherwise unscathed. they showed up in fewer numbers this have hurt the insect hatches on the lake While the fires were raging through the fall. And the rafts of hundreds of Coots and prevented the birds from seeing summer, we organized to put up two didn’t show up this year either. Perhaps their prey. The proximity of the fire Osprey nesting platforms. A pair of they were all victims of the fire and the

Page 19 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) smoke. We won’t be there However, there were other birds that this November to see if came by and announced themselves: an these birds and animals Evening Grosbeak, a Sharp-tailed claim their place as they Grouse, a Northern Goshawk and hun- normally do, but we will dreds of Sandhill Cranes climbing for be there in the spring to height on their way to Arizona. A few see if the Ospreys Varied Thrushes came by and sang, and choose to nest on their a Townsend’s Solitaire hawked about new fancy platforms and for a day. Some birds were firsts for the if Barn Swallows want area for us: a Northern Hawk Owl, Vio- to make use of their new let-green Swallows, a Steller’s Jay and “barn.” With some luck a small covey of Spruce Grouse. We and some help the Chil- saw or heard 48 species in total this fall. cotin bird and bat popu- Most were heading south. lations will recover. For a while the air will become fro- zen and silent except for snuffling from the otter family which seems to enjoy frigid air and a lakeside crisp with ice. September 28: Cleaning The beavers say very little, but by early up after the second plat- November the air will become noisy form was erected. The again where the lake is free of ice. It perching mounts are should be filled with trumpeting by perpendicular to the pre- around 200 Trumpeter Swans and as vailing west-east wind. many Canada Geese and 30–40 Com- mon Mergansers playing their annual tag football with a dead trout, and the night-time woods will be singing with wolves.

Readers of this magazine will be very familiar with John Gordon’s photography – he is perhaps the nearest thing to a Staff Photographer. His images ap- pear in numerous birding contexts, but he certainly doesn’t just photograph birds. His book The Langleys has just been reprinted, after the first edition of 3,000 copies sold out. While it con- tains bird photographs, the images are an exploration of BC’s birthplace – the colony of BC was originally pro- claimed there. For more information see www.johngordonpho tography.com/ gallery_43060.html

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colourful silky feathers were attached, work benefitted from his close proximi- but feet and most body parts were miss- ty to his birds. A double-page illustra- Book Review ing. This gave rise to persistent legends tion of this bird room (from one of that the birds never flew except when Russ’s books) is included, and shows blown by the wind, and that they were numerous birds, abundant plants and, in Birdmania nourished by the nectar of spice trees. one corner, what appears to be a small The first sightings of hummingbirds in warbler feeding a large juvenile cuckoo. Birdmania: A Remarkable Passion for the 17th century by explorers of the Bird rooms subsequently became popu- Birds by Bernd Brunner, 2017. Grey- New World likewise gave rise to lar across Europe and in North Ameri- stone Books, Vancouver/Berkeley. amazement and confusion. ca. Translated from the original German by “Laying the Groundwork for Sci- Following chapters deal with ideas Jane Billinghurst. Foreword by Pete ence,” Chapter 4, describes the 19th and actions that are more familiar to us. Dunne. 292 pages, colour illustrations, century contributions to ornithology of “Championing Birds” (Chapter 7) co- bibliography, list of sources, list of il- three persons whose names are familiar vers the rise of bird conservation and is lustrations, index of birds, index of peo- to us via the species that bear their based on short biographical accounts of ple. Hardcover $39.95. names (even if we are unaware of their people who played prominent roles, for scientific contributions). They are: Al- example, with regard to Whooping Bernd Brunner is a well-known author exander Wilson, Charles Lucien Bona- Cranes, the capture and consumption of who “works at the crossroads of histo- parte (nephew of Napoleon), and John songbirds in some Mediterranean coun- ry, culture, and science” (Wikipedia). James Audubon. Wilson is remarkable tries, and the establishment of bird He is the author of several books as and was ahead of his time because he sanctuaries. well as many articles in prominent Eng- observed and documented many North A long but very readable Chapter 8. lish- and German-language magazines. “In the Company of Birds,” consists of This book addresses the history of accounts of the relationships between human-bird inter-relationships, span- individuals and the bird(s) they lived ning myths, love, passion and obses- with. Included are the Frenchman Jean sion, collecting, deceit, fraud, and sci- Delacour and his friends who main- entific investigation. In his foreword, tained gardens with many exotic birds, Pete Dunne describes it better than I the Birdman of Alcatraz, Konrad Lo- can: this “fascinating and comprehen- renze, Peter Scott, and many more. Lat- sive book explores the many ways er chapters consist mostly of short bio- birds have figured in the human expe- graphical accounts that address a varie- rience and why so many among us ty of topics, including bird love (do have made birds the centerpiece of our birds love us back?), bird migration lives.” The text is written in a lively (how do they do it?), the fascination of and attractive style that is very reada- birds eggs (so beautiful!), feathers, and ble. Also what makes this book re- extinctions (Dodo, Ivory-billed Wood- markable are the more than 100 splen- pecker and several other lost species). did illustrations most of them paint- There is a chapter entitled “Mad for ings of birds by 19th century artists. Bird Watching,” but as a birdwatcher I There are too many chapters and found this to be lacking interest (and topics in this book to address all or obviously written by someone who is even most of them in a short review, not closely involved in bird-related ac- so the following are descriptions of tivities). some sections that I found particularly I recommend this book to anyone interesting. with an interest in birds or natural histo- Chapter 1 includes a brief review ry. It is well worth reading or at least of the ancient art of falconry, which browsing extensively. Except perhaps may have developed in central Asia as for the first few, the chapters can be much as 4,000 years ago and, of read as independent, stand-alone essays, course, continues to the present time. rather than in numerical order. The full Brunner suggests that the close relation- American species from observations colour (and many full page) illustra- ship between a falconer and their bird made while travelling through their tions are spectacular and well worth (there are female falconers too -- in- various habitats rather than shooting attention, although, strangely, captions cluding Elizabeth I of England) -- them first, as was the usual practice. have been omitted from many of these: which has persisted down the ages, may “A Bird in the Hand” (Chapter 5) is the reader has to turn to the back of the be the closest of all human-avian bonds. a brief review of birds in captivity but book for a list of sources, and only Chapter 2, “Bedazzlement” recounts includes a description of the amazing some of these indicate the species of the the discovery of birds of paradise and “bird room” of Karl Russ. This was a birds portrayed. hummingbirds. The first specimens of huge walk-in aviary in his home where the former to arrive in Europe (in 1522) he kept up to 200 species of birds and Reviewed by J.M. Ryder were “gossamer-light dried skins succeeded in breeding many of them. wrapped around a stick.” Glossy and Russ was a writer, and it is said that his Page 21 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4)

hunted smaller animals, which they can predators in the form of dogs, cats caught by outrunning them, then killing (read ancestral wolves, cougars, includ- Briefing them with a direct, chopping blow of ing sabre-toothed cats) and bears the beak, or by grasping them and moved south. Thereafter, Phorusrhacids throwing them down. (The latter in- declined, presumably under pressure of Phorusrhacids ferred from the habits of the closest the new competition, but perhaps also contemporary relatives of the Phorush- under the stresses of climate change as What? “Terror birds” – truly a super- rhacids, the Seriemas – also carni- conditions deteriorated into the early nasty lot. These were giant, flightless vores.) Many species, like the Serie- Pleistocene ice ages. There have been birds that inhabited South America mas, were more modest in size, in the claims of Pleistocene fossil finds dated from about 62 million years ago until range 60 – 90 cm (2 – 3 feet) tall, but as recently as 17,000 years, but they are about 1.8 million years ago (for geolog- still a danger to most other animals. not generally accepted. ically-minded readers that is throughout (There are two species of Seriama ex- What about that strange name? The the Cenozoic Era, ending only in the tant, the Red-legged Seriema [Cariama discoverer, in 1887, and nominator of early Pleistocene Epoch). They inhabit- cristata] and the Black-legged Seriema these fossil birds was Florentino ed open, savannah-like terrain. They [Chunga burmeisteri], which inhabit Ameghino (Argentinian, the leading were very fast runners and they were open forest and savannah in southern- South American palaeontologist of his carnivores. Nothing wrong with car- most Brazil and the adjacent countries.) day), but he did not reveal the basis of nivory; the modern raptors and owls are Phorusrhacids arrived in North his etymology. The best guess is the carnivores (not to mention most of us). America after the Panama “land Greek “phoros” (bearer) and But these birds were the top carnivores bridge” was established about 2.8 mil- “rhacos” (scars). of South America during nearly all of lion years ago. Fossils of Titanis wal- So what is the value of all this fossil their reign! In evolutionary terms, the leri, one of the largest Phorusrhacids, knowledge? Well, on your next unpro- Phorusrhacids have affinities with mod- have turned up in Florida and Texas, ductive birding trip you might fantasize ern falcons, parrots and passerines. making them the only large South what you will do if you meet a three- There are 18 species recognized from American predator known to have metre high Phorusrhacid around the fossil recoveries. moved north. In contrast, North Ameri- next corner (you are somewhere be- Their general body plan was quite tween 1.5 and 2 metres tall). similar to that of the tyrannasaurid di- nosaurs; the Phorusrhacids were per- Sources haps the last birds to strongly suggest Various, mainly Wikipedia. the dinosaurid antecedents of modern birds. In particular, they had a strong, Summary by M. Church extendible neck surmounted by a massive head that was more than half beak. The largest known species (a middle Miocene fossil about 15 million years old) was up to 3 metres (10 feet) tall Artist’s conception of a and sported a beak half a metre in Phorusrhacid, from length. Puffin-like, but much larger, it Wikipedia. featured a massive upper mandible with a notable hook, presumably for tearing prey. It is thought that the birds mainly

a Hebridian Island off the northwest endlessly without expending any ener- coast of Scotland that was owned by gy, and how many survive in some of Recommended his family. This book is the culmination the toughest environments on Earth. of many years of observation, study Their historic relationships to humans and travel to learn about these birds. It and their cultural significance are wo- Reading consists of a 23-page introduction fol- ven into the stories, along with present- lowed by ten chapters, each dedicated day threats to survival related to over- to one of the major groups of seabirds – fishing, long-line fishing, warming THE SEABIRDS CRY: The Lives and Fulmar, Puffin, Kittiwake, Gull, Guil- oceans and loss of habitat. The book is Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other lemot, Cormorant, Shearwater, Gannet, extremely well written, poetic, science- Ocean Voyagers, by Adam Nicolson, Great Auk and closely related Razor- based, well researched and engrossing. 2017. Harper Collins. 400 pages. Black bill, and Albatross. A final chapter ad- The chapters are not repetitious: each and white illustrations. $34.99 hardcov- dresses the current plight – plummeting seems to progress naturally in a manner er. Notes: sources and other infor- populations – of these birds. most suited to its species. mation. The astonishing lives of seabirds are This is a book well worth reading. well-described in this book: the beauty Adam Nicolson’s love and respect for of their life on the wing, how some J.M. Ryder seabirds evolved from his childhood on consistently defy gravity and travel

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shaped nest with base of mud tion beyond the two weeks of major or manure and lining of weeds, building. Gone Pishing rootlets, grass and hair. Both The birds had selected a site close to sexes help build nest (p. 424). the trunk about three quarters of the Chris Siddle way up the tree. Branches covered with

Tony Angell in his Ravens, Crows, masses of blue-green needles obscured MAGPIE 2 Magpies, and Jays expands upon this my view from all directions. I memo- basic description: rized the area to which the birds had The tallest tree in our small yard is a 25 taken branches, and by standing on tip- -metre tall Blue Spruce, a conspicuous The roofed nest of magpies toe and peering out the top pane of the landmark, I like to think, along an oth- breeding in hot desert areas erwise rather mundane stretch of Silver may very well serve to control Star Road. It’s one of the tallest, biggest the amount of solar heat reach- trees in our neighbourhood and Silver ing both the incubating adult MAGPIE FACTS OF LIFE Star Road passes right by it as it curves and the young. The nest itself is up the base of the foothill and begins enormous and in at least one • Pairing: Tends to be long term. the serious climb to Silver Star ski vil- case reached seven feet in • Nest site: In a tree (65% in B.C.) lage, northeast of Vernon. Since we height after it had been re- or sturdy shrub (19% in B.C.), moved to the property 27 years ago I paired and used year after and occasionally in a deserted have often imagined finding a really year. The pair will first gather building (The Birds of British “good” bird, say a Boreal Owl napping Columbia, Volume 4). away the day in our spruce, but to date mud or cow dung and attach the tree has been a bit of a disappoint- this to an appropriately large • Eggs: 1-9 per clutch, with 68% in ment, its best birds the occasional pass- branch. Next, heavy sticks are B.C. having 5-7. ing predator, such as a Merlin, and a inserted into this base in a gen- • Incubation: About 18 days, by Great Horned Owl. erally upright position and, female only. Female fed by male In late April, 2017, I noticed a pair when the mud hardens, are ce- during incubation. of Black-billed Magpies (Pica hud- mented in place. A third step sonia) hanging around the yard far involves the build-up of a mud • Nestling Period: About 27 days after hatching. more often than usual. On 27 April, bowl within the structure, which during constant dreary rain I noticed is then lined with bark strips, • Fledgling Dependent on Parents: that one, then both, magpies were visit- feathers, horse hair, grasses, or 6-8 weeks. ing our neighbours’ Manitoba Maple, any soft and durable substance still without leaves in this colder-than- that will provide insulation for usual spring. The magpies were snap- the eggs and young. Throughout ping off branchlets and flying with this step-by-step construction, them into the spruce, into an area of the exterior and roof are being upstairs bathroom window, I could see particularly dense branches about four completed. Construction may be what I was pretty sure were some sticks metres from the top. They were build- carried on intermittently over a that have formed the rim of the bowl. ing the framework for a nest, though I Later when the chicks were first mov- couldn’t see the nest in the tree’s dense two-and-one half-month period. An entire nest may be com- ing out of the nest to perch close by on foliage, only guess at its location. The surrounding branches I was able to con- branch harvest continued for a few posed of over fifteen hundred individual branches of varying firm that I had correctly located the days. In early May, towards the end of nest. sizes. The roofed nest also has this intensive construction, twice I saw My wife and I were on an out-of- one of the magpies gathering the rela- two entrances, providing not province holiday from 25 May to 14 tively soft, dead detritus from the only convenient entry and exit June. On arriving home I initially mis- ground under one of our cedar bushes, for the adults, but also a pas- took a noisy crowd of about five mag- for the lining or perhaps to mix with a sage for air circulation. (p. 92) pies in the neighbours’ yard to be our mud base. The Birds of North America account pair and their chicks, but then decided Anyone who is familiar with the (BNA 389) states that a well construct- surely these young birds sporting tails shrub-steppe of the Interior or Peace ed nest can take as long as three months two thirds normal length were too old regions is familiar with the conspicuous to finish, but a shoddy one can be to be chicks from the Blue Spruce nest. nests of the Black-billed Magpie. Kenn slapped together in less than a week. Six days later, back in the upstairs bath- Kaufman in Lives of North American My magpies built their nest in about room, I was able to see a nestling on a Birds describes the typical nest: two weeks, placing it on the shoddy end branch beside the nest rim. Our mag- Nest is a huge structure, a glob- of the spectrum, but it was well enough pies still had small partially feathered ular canopy of sticks about 3 built to outlast the unusually windy chicks that hadn’t fledged. So who were feet in diameter [the canopy, not spring of 2017 that set the Blue Spruce these strange magpies next door? I never found out, but magpies that weren’t the sticks], with entrance holes swaying day after day. Also, I must add members of our pair were to play inter- on either side. Inside is a cup- that I do not really know if the pair had completely finished with nest construc- esting roles in the days ahead.

Page 23 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) Cat on a Cool Tar Roof On 16 June I noticed that a large tabby cat had taken the opportunity of our absence to move into our yard. It com- fortably established itself between the bird bath and the brush pile and regard- ed me with a cold distain when I approached it. Before I was within grab- bing distance, the cat slunk into the li- lacs and was gone. Two days later I heard harsh magpie chatters, urgent ones that promised something of interest was happening outside an upstairs bedroom window above the flat tar and gravel roof of the carport. The tabby cat had climbed an adjacent shrub to the roof and was now surrounded by three adult-looking and quite upset magpies (where the third bird came from I do not know but two of the birds were our pair for sure). The terrified cat ran one way to the aluminum cap around the edge of the roof and just as quickly, half hopping half flying, screeching with tail raised and wings flared, a magpie was waiting for it. In its efforts to avoid the loud, determined bird, the cat ricocheted from the edge like a pool ball off the bumper. It ran about three metres to another edge; yet there was another magpie closing in on it from a different direc- BBMA fledgling two days out of the nest tree. Chris Siddle photo. tion. The three chattering birds kept that . cat careening from side to side for a minute, a minute I enjoyed very much. and if a young bird is able to step in to four adult-like magpies appeared at the Then when the cat was stopped in a replace a missing parent, that’s a good nest tree. One parent in particular, the hunched attitude of feline despair close way to find a place for oneself. Perhaps male I presumed, busily chased any to the window I tapped the glass. The the third bird was a previous offspring magpie that ventured into the spruce. cat saw me, froze in a hopeless yowl of from my pair ready to help rout an in- And one stranger was very persistent in utter frustration, its mouth pulled back a truding cat. As well as having no reason trying to reach the nest. It would alight needle-toothed grimace, then bolted for to like cats, magpies are thought by on a spruce branch to be almost imme- the tree it had ascended and, with the some researchers to have a sense of diately supplanted by the parent. This magpies right on its frizzed tail, plum- play, and what could be more fun than went on for several minutes accompa- meted to the ground. It moved as only a to torment one of the neighbourhood’s nied by much loud chatter. This episode terrified cat can, a tabby streak across predators. was a fairly clear example of Black- the lawn and with a crash of leaves, billed Magpie territoriality. The Euro- through the border hedge, the magpies Magpie Funeral pean Magpie defends a traditional area, flying over the bushes to make sure it The day after the cat episode (19 June), and so pairs distribute fairly evenly was gone. I discovered a dead magpie chick on throughout their range, whereas Black- Who the third magpie was and in our driveway about eight metres from billed Magpies defend only the nest what relation it stood to our parent birds the nest tree. Had the cat raided the nest bush or tree. The small size of North I do not know. Perhaps it was an off- after all? I doubt that the cat could have American magpies’ territories allows spring from a previous nesting season? withstood the inevitable attack of the the birds to take advantage of locally Charles Trost describes how dominant protective parents. The chick had pin rich food sources, like slaughter houses, magpie offspring from previous years feathers emerging from various feather to nest almost semi-colonially at times. often hang around their parents’ territo- tracts, but still was naked on a stripe Size of territory is one of the behaviour- ry, not so much as helpers at the nest down its back. Based upon photographs al differences that caused ornithologists like some other young corvids are but of known-age chicks I decided this to split the Black-billed from the Euro- ready to assume a parental role should chick to have been about 12 days old pean Magpie. Mom or Dad suddenly disappear. Ap- when it died which means it hatched Just before 6 a.m. that same day, I parently prime territories are hard to about 7 June. witnessed one of the mysteries of mag- come by in the world of the magpie, The next morning (20 June) at 5:45 pie folklore, the so-called magpie funer-

Page 24 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) al, the name given to the gathering of pretty good climber, which is good be- magpies around the body of a dead con- cause magpie chicks leave the nest specific. Charles Trost describes the quite early and climb about in adjacent characteristics of a typical so-called branches much as some raptors do. Ac- “funeral,” a behavior that is poorly un- tual fledgling is determined to be when derstood: the young bird leaves the nest tree or bush. When a dead magpie is encoun- Concerned that two dead chicks rep- tered, the individual that dis- resented all the offspring my magpie covers it usually, but not al- pair had produced this spring, I found ways, begins calling excitedly. myself once again standing on tiptoe This calling attracts all magpies staring out the bathroom window, look- within earshot, who perch in ing for any signs of life in the general trees and other nearby struc- nest area. Just a few hours after the tures, calling loudly. Up to 40 magpie funeral I saw movement next to birds have been known to gath- the nest and within a few minutes deter- er in this manner within mined that two chicks still survived. minutes after a corpse was dis- Between 22 June and 26 June the covered. Some magpies fly chicks grew louder and were often visi- down 1 or 2 at a time and, call- ble as they moved from perch to perch ing loudly, walk around the outside the nest. The parents continued to forage for insects on our lawn. Once An adult male BBMA proclaims his body, often pecking at wings or territory by a visual display called tree tail; if food is placed near the a foraging magpie parent finds small prey, likely an insect, it switches the -topping, fluffing out his white under- corpse they will drag the food a item from bill to pouch located just be- parts. C Siddle photo. short distance away and con- low the bill. The magpie-watcher usual- sume it .... These gatherings ly cannot tell what the prey item is, just ments) will return and that I will add to last 10-15 min. before all partic- one more of the challenges facing a my knowledge of these fascinating ipants fly off silently. (p. 11) person who wishes to learn more about birds. these birds. In the spring issue I described the The six magpies at the gathering I wit- On 27 June the two chicks left the poor reputation Black-billed Magpies nessed all looked adult-like, but of nest tree sometime in the morning. have had in the past and present. These course immatures with long tails may Leaving the nest tree was official fledg- days they are still seen by many people have been involved. The parent birds ing. I found them settled beneath the as rapacious, merciless nest raiders; as were there. The birds stood on the grav- canopy of a lilac bush a few metres murderous pests destroying songbirds’ el of the driveway in a semi-circle fac- from the nest tree. They remained in eggs and chicks, cruelly undermining ing the dead chick that lay on the very that bush and in the lower branches of that most prevalent of North American edge of the driveway. There was much an adjacent Ponderosa Pine and a sacred cows, the “Family” whether avi- calling and one or two birds approached Douglas-fir for four days. an or human. Now having watched a the corpse, but after 2–3 minutes the Fledgling was a tense time for the pair build a nest, lay eggs, and raise visiting strangers departed and the par- chicks and for me. Fearful of disturbing their chicks against the odds of a cold ents resumed their foraging for their the parents too much, for they were wet spring, I see magpies for what they chicks. quick to arrive and scold me when I got can be: hard-working, dedicated, and A few minutes later I found another anywhere near the fledglings, I took to protective parents. From now on, when dead chick, this one a few days older peeking out various windows to reas- I hear magpies chattering, I will be and better developed than its presumed sure myself that the young birds were looking with appreciation for these fas- sibling. The little corpse lay beneath the still alive and well. On quick visits to cinating birds. nest tree. The most developed part of its the yard to water plants, I tried to take anatomy seemed to be its strong, rela- photos of the young birds as quickly as References tively long legs. That’s because magpie possible. Always I worried that some Angell, Tony. Ravens, Crows, Mag- chicks have a physiology that invests passing hawk, cat or nosy neighbour the most growth in the chick’s hard was going to discover my babies. pies and Jays. Birkhead, Tim. The Magpies: The parts: beak, skull, claws, and legs. The Finally on the morning of 1 July the Ecology and Behaviour of Black-billed relatively hard beak and skull may fledglings were gone. Across the road serve the chick well when fighting with and beyond the hill I could hear mag- and Yellow-billed Magpies. In The its nest mates. Siblicide is known pies. I hoped that they were the family Birds of British Columbia: Volume 3 among Black-billed Magpie young. The that had nested in the Blue Spruce and Kaufman, Kenn. Lives of North rapid development of legs and feet are that their chicks would survive and American Birds. an adaptation for a ground-feeding life thrive and grow into adult magpies. My Trost, Charles H. 1999. “Black- style; when first fledged a chick has final happy thought was that magpies billed Magpie” in The Birds of North flight feathers that require an additional often re-use nests and maybe next America. 20% growth and a tail that is only half spring the parents (or suitable replace- normal length. However, the chick is a

Page 25 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) – birds found nowhere else – is the species can be expected by the conclu- main aim of overseas birding, and rare sion. This type of birding holiday tends The Reflective endemics are the cream of the crop. to be quite fast moving, without too Rarity finding, and the thrill of the much delay on any one species, precise- chase, is for them what birding is all ly to maximize the number of birds Birder about. Local bird guides love people seen. It’s exactly what Tony, and many like George, because it’s the rarest, like him, want. Clive Keen hardest-to-find birds in your patch that Chuck and Roy give you the greatest satisfaction, and When it comes to their turn to nominate Have Binoculars, Will Travel there’s a real sense of victory when you the bird of the day, Chuck and Roy both can show them off to others. It is no mention a bird that was particularly Are you dreaming of birding in exotic surprise that people like George get on places? It happens to most birders soon- so well with local guides. As a result, attractive and – this is the key point – co-operative. Chuck and Roy are the er or later. There are just so many lifers there are plenty of rarity-chasing tours serious photographers of the trip, and to be had in the home patch, and the on offer, as a web search will easily this particular bird hung around long itch to find more builds steadily. When demonstrate. the itch gets intense, advertisements enough, in decent light, for them to get start to be scanned, photographs of ex- Tony reasonable shots. Chuck, though, is otic birds admired, and hard thinking is Tony, asked in turn to name the bird of happier about it than Roy. Chuck col- put into the perfect place to go for a the day, did not mention that rarity, lects “record shots” – photographs that birding holiday. instead saying he has trouble deciding show enough fieldmarks for a success- Wrong. It’s not the location that between several other, much less un- ful identification, and he now has 700 makes for a perfect birding holiday – common, candidates. Tony is very in his collection. This kind of trip is it’s the trip type that really matters. This pleased with these. They were all lifers quite good for him, though he’d proba- will become evident as you read the and got him closer to his target of 50 bly prefer Birding Holiday Type 2 next following true story. The facts and the new ticks for the trip. He’s too polite to time round. Roy, though, has a different names have been put through a blender, say so, but wishes that less time had approach to photography. He’d sooner but it’s no less true, and decidedly in- been spent on the rarity, as a number of get a world-class photograph of a Star- structive. other potential lifers could easily have ling than a slightly out-of-focus photo- been found in the same amount of time. graph of a great rarity. He has not had The Scene Next time round, Tony would be wise much luck in that respect so far, and It’s the eighth day of a birding holiday. to go on the second type of birding hol- given the nature of the trip, it is unlike- The birders, seated around a table at iday: Birding Holiday Type 2 – Lifer ly that he’ll have better luck soon. He’d their evening meal, had all decided on Accumulating. have done much better plumping for this particular holiday because of the Lifers are for many birders the rea- Birding Holiday Type 3 – The Photo- appealing location. But they are now son for taking part in overseas trips, and graphic Tour. going through the usual après-birding many trip organizers recognize this. In Birding photography tours are now ritual – being asked by the guide to their websites they’ll list all the species widely available. Sometimes they are name the bird of the day – and their likely to be seen on the trip, and they’ll simply variations of standard birding answers show that real estate agents are probably even give a specific target for tours with much more time allowed for wrong. There’s far more to wise choice a birding tour: for instance that 250 photography, but all sorts of enhance- than location, location and location. George George, asked first, has no hesitation at all naming the bird of the day. The group had spent the morning, and part of the afternoon, chasing one of the rarest birds in the region. After a long, apparently fruitless, search, the bird was heard by the guide and then, in- credibly, popped into view. Triumph! George and the guide reacted with great glee, high-fiving and congratulating each other for their persistence. This shows that the right birding holiday for George is Birding Holiday Type 1 – Endemic & Rarity Chasing. For some birders, finding endemics

Right: A juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron spotted by the author on a tour in the Galapagos islands.

Page 26 BC Birding December 2017 Edition 27 (4) ments are also on offer. Some tour operators offer expert pho- Left: One of ten tographic tuition during the trip; thousand reasons to head to others allow participants gener- distant places. ous amounts of time at hides, often near well-stocked feeders. This Nanday Parakeet was There are so many bird photog- found by the raphers these days that such holi- author close to the days are multiplying. US /Mexico border. Frank At this point, Frank disrupts proceedings by nominating Sally as Ken & Bob bird of the day. There’s laughter, Ken, rather hesitantly, gives his but Frank is not just being flip- vote to a bird he self-identified pant. At the start of the week, it with Bob, who is not present. appeared to him that the trip Ken is demonstrating one of would be a disaster for Sally. the characteristics of an intro- When she first joined the group, vert – self-directedness. For her first words were “Were we Ken, a bird found and identi- supposed to bring binoculars?” fied by himself is worth more Then, after being loaned one, than a half-dozen distant birds and following proceedings for a pointed out and named by a while, her next comment was guide. Bob, meanwhile, is “What is a lifer?” Now the eight demonstrating a more well- other members of the group are known characteristic of an in- all hard-core birders. The group trovert. Ken says that Bob is will be getting up two hours be- missing the meal because he’s fore dawn, will talk about birds over from the van, noting that his wife feeling a bit off-colour, but Bob is actu- breakfast, will head out all day into the would have loved to have seen it. Larry ally perfectly well, but in severe need of field, probably missing lunch if the is a bit regretful that he ended up com- some time on his own. For eight days, birding is good, and then after dinner ing on this trip alone. His wife had de- all day, the group has eaten, travelled will go out owling. And they’ll do that cided that the trip was not really for her, and birded as a group, and for an intro- every day for nearly two weeks. How but urged Larry to stick with it. She was vert, even with well-developed social on earth could a complete beginner deal right not to come. Though she enjoyed skills, this can get to be a trial. Both with this? watching the birds on her feeder, she Bob and Ken would have been better Before meeting Sally, Frank would found the idea of spending all day chas- off on a trip allowing plenty of time to have argued that a trip like this is abso- ing birds frankly appalling. This is en- oneself, such as Birding Holiday Type lutely not for beginners. Only experi- tirely normal, and that is why there are 4, or even better, Birding Holiday Type enced birders, he thought, would have now a number of holidays that would 5 – Location, Location & Location the tenacity and interest to keep birding suit Larry a lot better than this trip: Plus. day after day, and only experienced Birding Holiday Type 4 – Birding Trips birders would understand and value the Optional. This brings us full circle, but not in the novelty of all the new sightings. Sally, Wise marketers know that, more expected way. Some locations are so though, knew what she doing, and, in- often than not, enthusiastic birders have geared up to birders that an organized credibly, is on the right trip for her. She non-birding partners, and it is a rela- tour led by a guide is simply not neces- wanted to plunge headfirst into birding, tively simple process to arrange holi- sary. Internationally renowned birding and now, by day eight, is using her bor- days suited to them both. On offer from spots are now making full use of their rowed binoculars well and employing a number of holiday companies, there- assets by providing festivals, birding birder-lingo like a native. It’s possible fore, are vacations where birds are trails, numerous half-day walks, talks that her next overseas trip won’t be abundant around the hotel, and there are and more, all designed to lure vacation- birding. She might head off with a numerous but optional guided and self- ing birders to the area. Those preferring group of archeologists to explore Ma- guided birding trips to be had in the self direction – the birder/non-birder yan ruins, or go white-water rafting in locality. The pair can have breakfast on couples, and photographers – can often Africa, or join a cycling group in Nepal. the veranda watching exotic birds, fol- have a fully rewarding time just by But when she’s an old lady, she’ll be lowed by swimming and sightseeing for booking into these locations and fol- able to say, honestly, that she was a one and plenty of birding for the other. lowing their fancy day by day. It would birder once. Good for her. Both are happy. And this type of holi- not do for George, Sally, or Tony, but Larry day is not just suited to couples, but can the point of this fictionalized true story Some normality returns when it’s Lar- work well for some singles, as will be is that, however congenial a group, no ry’s turn to name the bird of the day: he seen below. single kind of birding holiday can pos- mentions an attractive species spotted sibly be right for them all.

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A male Bearded Reedling, commonly called a Bearded Tit, photographed by John Gordon. See page 12 for details.

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