Newsmagazine of the British Columbia Field Ornithologists ISSN 1206-1611 BCFO.ca Volume 28 Number 3 / September 2018

One of the Liron Gertsman images which achieved a clean sweep of Audubon awards. See page 3. BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3)

Publisher BC Birding is published four times a year by the British Columbia Field Ornithologists, P.O. Box 61670, RPO BCFO Directors Brookswood, Langley, BC V3A 1K0. A subscription to this quarterly is a benefit of member- ship in the society. Members will also receive a copy of the &Responsibilities annual journal, British Columbia Birds.

Directors About the BCFO President: Marian Porter, Salt Spring Island, 250-653-2043, Membership in BCFO is open to anyone interested in the [email protected] study and enjoyment of wild birds in British Columbia. Vice-President: Gary Davidson, Nakusp, 250-265-4456, BCFO objectives include: fostering cooperation between [email protected] amateur and professional ornithologists, promoting cooper- Past President (non-voting): George Clulow, Burnaby, 604- ative bird surveys and research projects, and supporting 438-7639, [email protected] conservation organizations in their efforts to preserve birds Secretary: Mike McGrenere, Victoria, 250-658-8624, and their habitats. [email protected] Treasurer: Josh Inman, Langley, 604-532-0455, Membership [email protected] See the website (bcfo.ca) for details, or write to the BCFO Jude Grass, Surrey, 604-538-8774, [email protected] address given above under “Publisher.” Clive Keen, Prince George, 250-963-9520, Annual Membership Dues clive_keen@ hotmail.com General Membership (Canada): $30 Adrian Leather, Quesnel, 250-249-5561, Junior Membership (Canada): $20 [email protected] U.S. and International Membership: $35 Art Martell, Courtenay, 250-334-2979, [email protected] Monica Nugent, New Westminster, 604-220-8816, Newsmagazine Submissions [email protected] To submit material to this publication, contact the Editor by email ([email protected]) or by mail at 10790 Responsibilities Grassland Road, Prince George, BC V2K 5E8. Archivist/ Librarian: Les Gyug Submissions may include articles about birding experi- BC Birding (Newsmagazine) Editor: Clive Keen; Associate ences, casual observations about bird behaviour, site guides, Editor: Virginia Rasch photographs, and other topics of broad interest to birders, British Columbia Birds (Journal) Editor: Art Martell. Produc- preferably, but not necessarily, in British Columbia. Trip tion Editor: Neil Dawe reports by members, both in Canada and overseas, are wel- Canadian International Joint Venture: Wayne Weber come. Items can be of any length up to a maximum of 2,000 Featured Photographer: Carlo Giovanella words. IOCongress 2018: George Clulow Deadlines (i.e. final dates for submission of material) are Membership Secretary: Larry Cowan as follows. Material received after the deadline will be held Two-day Trips: Adrian Leather over to the subsequent edition. Website: George Clulow, Neil Dawe • March edition: February 15 Young Birders Program: Melissa Hafting

• June edition: May 15 Committees • September edition: August 15 BC Bird Records Committee: Nathan Hentze (Chair), Peter • December edition: November 15 Candido, Chris Charlesworth, Catherine Craig, Michael Force, Guy Monty, Mike Toochin.

Cannings Award Committee: Wayne Weber, Art Martell, Advertising Rates Dick Cannings. Full page: $125 per issue or $112.50 each for four or more issues Conservation and Education Committee: Gary Davidson Half page: $75 per issue or $67.50 each for four or more (Chair), Art Martell, Gerald McKeating, Stephen Partington, issues Marian Porter.

Quarter page: $40 per issue or $36 each for four or more Young Birder Awards Committee: Carlo Giovanella (Chair), issues George Clulow, Melissa Hafting.

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

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Contents

Notices & Notes President’s Message ...... 4 Welcome New Members ...... 4 BCFO Notes ...... 5 Steve Cannings Award ...... 7 AGM Musings ...... 9 AGM Pre-conference Trip ...... 10 BCFO Two-day Trips ...... 11 Upcoming Meetings & Events ...... 12 IOCongress Photo Presentation ...... 14 Avian Encounters ...... 15 Front and Back Covers Features Harold the Hirundine Hero ...... 17 Liron Gertsman has achieved the re- YB Workshop Report ...... 18 markable feat of a clean sweep in the Funded Project Report: White Lake IBA ...... 20 Youth Category of the Audubon Photo awards. Trip Reports Birding Ghana ...... 21 Front page – Bald Eagle, Delta, BC A Week in the Cariboo ...... 24 “This is the most cooperative Bald YB Trip: Ptarmigan Hunt at Illal Mountain ...... 26 Eagle I’ve ever encountered.... I found YB Trip: Princeton ...... 28 this one perched on a tree stump be- side a popular walking trail on a Regular Columns windy, rainy day. I took many photos, Featured Species #3: Savannah Sparrow ...... 30 but I especially liked this one for the Gone Pishing: Bank Swallow ...... 31 way it illustrates the power and awe of this emblematic species.” Below: After their presentations (see page 6) left to right: Toby Theriault, Ian Back page, top – Cobalt-winged Para- Harland, Liron Gertsman and Adam Dhalla. Photo by Jody Allair. keet Yasuní National Park, Ecuador “Three days in a row I waited in a blind near a clay lick …. When hun- dreds of the birds finally descended from the tree canopy to the mineral- rich forest floor on the third morning, I was ready. I used a slow shutter speed to accentuate the blues in their wings….”

Back page, bottom – Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Mindo, Ecuador “… I noticed that it kept returning to the same perch …. The sky was bright, so the bird was beautifully silhouetted, and I knew the exact shot I wanted. I did my best to time my shutter finger with the bird taking off and land- ing….”

The announcement of the awards can be seen at:

www.audubon.org/magazine/ summer-2018/the-2018-audubon- photography-awards-winners

See also page 6.

Page 3 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) Monica Nugent and Clive Keen are Arndt of Bow Valley Birding and Directors with Clive also the Editor of Wildlife Tours. Adrian Leather has President’s the Newsmagazine. employed Dan for previous tours of Preparations are now underway for Alberta and was pleased to engage him an exciting AGM in Golden the again for 2019. Heading east of the Message weekend of June 14, 15 and 16, 2019. Rockies will expand the participants’ The venue will be the Great Hall of the bird lists with species such as Sedge Marian Porter Golden Civic Centre, in downtown Wren and Cape May Warbler, and Golden, adjacent to the Kicking Horse while exploring the prairie region we I would like to thank all organizers and River. The hall was built in 1948 and should expect Ferruginous Hawk, participants for a thoroughly enjoyable restored in 2011 to retain its heritage McCown’s Longspur, Baird’s, and well-run Hope AGM. It was a ambience, with enough room to LeConte’s and Nelson’s Sparrow. special experience for me to reacquaint accommodate all who want to join us. I hope many of you were able to myself with EC Manning Provincial Field trips will be organized to explore attend the International Ornithological Park, and I appreciated the enthusiasm the mosaic of forest and wetlands in the Congress at the Vancouver Convention and expertise of my fellow birders on Columbia River Valley. The Columbia Centre, as well as the Vancouver the two days I led tours. The Hope area Wetlands Waterbird Survey is in the International Bird Festival. World-class had different habitats and I look process of conducting a five-year bird wildlife art by Artists for Conservation forward to exploring them after reading count to support the designation of the was on exhibit at the convention centre field trip reports in future editions of the wetlands as an Important Bird Area. and is an annual festival in the Newsmagazine. This is an international conservation Vancouver area for those who missed it Although there was no change in the initiative co-ordinated by Birdlife this year. individuals within the board, some International and co-partnered in I would like to congratulate the changes were made in officer duties. Canada by Bird Studies Canada and BCFO Bird Records Committee for Mike McGrenere stepped down as Nature Canada. Considered the largest completing the updated Birds of British President and is now Secretary. Gary wetland in Canada, the 15,070 hectare Columbia checklist to distribute at the Davidson has taken on the role of Vice wetland in the Columbia Valley IOC Conference. It will be available at President and is also the new Chair of stretches from Golden to Canal Flats, the next AGM. the Education and Conservation with the area recording over 260 species Committee. Josh Inman completes our of resident and migratory birds. list of officers as Treasurer. Art Martell An unforgettable extension trip is in Below: a Gray Catbird spotted east of Hope on the drive back from the AGM. remains a Director and Editor of the the planning process for a four-day tour Journal. Jude Grass, Adrian Leather, through southern Alberta, led by Dan CNK photo.

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PROJECT FEEDERWATCH NEEDS DATA FROM YOUR BCFO BACKYARD  Join thousands of FeederWatchers across North America who have turned Notes their backyard hobby into research for bird conservation.  Collect information to help scientists better understand North American David Stirling bird populations. Dec 8, 1920 – Aug 11, 2018  Put your bird identification skills to work – for the birds. David Stirling, a BCFO member since 1993, and second recipient of the Steve Simply count the numbers of each species of birds that you see at your feeder Cannings Award for Ornithology, has (s) over a two-day period every week from November through March. Count died at the age of 97. for as long or as short a time as you like during each day, then send your data David was a major force in the BC to www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/pfw/ Watch the results come in on-line; read the summaries in the annual report and BSC’s quarterly magazine. To sign up, make a donation to Bird Studies Canada of any amount over the phone 888-448-2473 or online at birdscanada.org, click on the Donate button and then select what type of FeederWatch kit you would like.. Project FeederWatch is a joint program of Bird Studies Canada and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

devoted more time to these nature tours ecoprovinces in BC. and travelled to Antarctica, the Russian Nathan Hentze, Chair of the BC Far East, the North West Passage and Bird Records committee, put in a tre- China. mendous amount of work to see the birding and naturalist world, serving on He wrote numerous articles for both project through to completion. The pub- the boards of the American Birding scientific and popular journals and lication also highlights the contribu- Association, the Canadian Nature Fed- magazines, including many for this tions of George Clulow, Art Martell eration and the Pacific Northwest Bird newsmagazine and British Columbia and Larry Cowan. and Mammal Society, and helping in Birds. His books include Birds, Beasts The BCFO Board at its next meeting the founding of the Federation of Brit- and a Bike, Where to Find Birds in will discuss ideas for the distribution of ish Columbia Naturalists. He received Canada (with Jim Woodford), A Natu- regular copies. It is an invaluable publi- the Victoria Natural History Society’s ralists' Guide to the Victoria Region cation and deserves wide circulation. In distinguished service award, Parks Can- (with Jim Weston) and Birds of British addition to its main informational func- ada’s Interpretation Award of Merit, Columbia (with David Hancock). tion, it helps build understanding both and The Queen Elizabeth II Golden A Celebration of Life is to be held at of the BCFO and of species that should Jubilee Medal. Sands Funeral Chapel, 1803 Quadra be reported to the Bird Records Com- He taught bird identification cours- Street, Victoria, BC, on September 22, mittee. es, led scores of birding field trips, and 2018 at 11:00 AM. toured Canada and the United States with the National Audubon Society’s Young Birders at wildlife films and Jim Bowers’ wildlife New BC Checklist presentations. IOCongress / Vancouver David spent most of his career with A brand-new BC bird checklist has Festival BC Parks Branch, where he was in- been created by BCFO in time for the volved with nature interpretation pro- International Ornithological Congress. Four BCFO young birders gave presen- grams, including the hiring and training 2,000 copies of a special commemora- tations during this summer’s mega orni- of seasonal park naturalists. He kept tive edition have been printed, allowing thological event. On August 23, speak- detailed records of birds in the parks each delegate to receive a copy in their ing at the West Exhibition Hall, they that he visited during his work, and registration package. were: published bird checklists for many of Printed in handy booklet form, the the parks. He also became involved in • Toby Theriault (age 14): “Seabirds Checklist covers 522 recognised spe- the organization of overseas nature and and Plastic Pollution.” cies, with an additional 12 on the provi- wildlife tours, leading nature tours to sional list. Against the name of each • Ian Harland (age 18): “The Artistic Turkey, the Yukon, East Africa, the species, the status of the bird – breed- Side of Bird Photography” Galapagos Islands and other locations. ing, wintering, introduced, accidental, After his retirement from BC Parks, he etc – is shown for each of the nine Page 5 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3)

• Liron Gertsman (age 18): “The Im- Western Bluebird reintroduction, bird actually a Red-capped Manakin. It was, portance of Photography for Conser- surveys in the Nanaimo river estuary, of course, to check that people were vation.” and a Bird Atlas for the Peace River, as concentrating. Ahem. well as for educational and conserv- • Adam Dhalla (age 13): “Shade- ation activities in the Creston Valley, Grown Coffee in Costa Rica & Its the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory plus Positive Impact on Birds.” an eBird Protocol Count for Kilpoola Dowitcher Assistance Lake IBA. Major grants have also been given for the BC Breeding Bird Atlas Anyone struggling with Dowitcher and the International Ornithological identification, which is probably a size- Liron Gertsman Congress 2018. able proportion of the BCFO member- We regularly offer Research Grants ship, would do well to head to Melissa Having swept the Audubon Photog- up to $2,000, but may offer larger Hafting’s blog on the issue. It is proba- raphy Youth Category Awards, Liron grants if approved at an AGM. Much of bly the most detailed, and up-to-date, has been much in the news. the money for grants comes from a source of ID help on the long-versus- Vancouver Breakfast Television’s surcharge included in the fees for the short-bill problem now available. See interview with Liron can be seen at: Annual Conference Extension trips. www.btvancouver.ca/videos/meet-a- The current grants policy is stated daretobird.blogspot.com/2017/08/ nature-photographer-prodigy/ on the Website, but is now being re- dowitcher-identification.html viewed. Audubon have a feature on him at

www.audubon.org/news/meet-liron- gertsman-talented-teen-who-swept- Where Are the Briefings? 2018-audubon-photography-awards AKA Canada Jay The Briefings Correspondent, Michael And, when not being interviewed by The campaign to rename the Gray Jay Church, has gone AWOL for this edi- others, Liron made a documentary “Canada Jay” has been successful – tion, but has promised to return. In fact called Surf Scoters: People Living With taking the Jay closer to being officially he has a good excuse – he has been hi- Nature, which can be seen at named as the National bird. Perhaps the jacked for the last ten months as an ex- IOCongress taking place in Vancouver https://youtu.be/-H6FIvA3Kl4 pert witness in a very complex trial, and as these words are written will further his next batch of Briefings remained help focus some ministerial minds, unfinished at publishing time.

Ian Harland Members at the Hope AGM could be Correction forgiven for staring out of the window In normal years, this newsmagazine’s during meetings – Yellow-bellied covers would have featured BCFO Well done to all those readers who no- Marmots, including these youngsters, Young Birder Ian Harland to celebrate ticed that the Lovely Cotinga in the were putting on quite a show. CNK his success in the Audubon photog- June edition of this newsmagazine was photo. raphy awards. His photograph of an American Dipper was chosen as one of the year’s top 100 bird photographs.

Education & Conservation

The new E & C Committee has been getting down to work over the last cou- ple of months. Meanwhile, it is worth noting (Art Martell writes) that over the past 20 years BCFO has granted over $20,000 for bird research and conservation in British Columbia. Projects funded by regular grants included studies on cavity-nesting birds on Becher’s Prairie, Vancouver Island Sandhill Cranes, Barrow’s Goldeneye wintering on the Columbia River,

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of the following three areas: (1) re- Vancouver Natural History Society, and search on bird biology or ecology, or is grateful to Bill Rae, Verna Newson, Steve Cannings detailed documentation of the birdlife and Marion Newson, who often took of any portion of BC; (2) conservation him on their birding trips. In 1971, Rick of birds or of bird habitats in BC; and joined the American Birding Associa- Award (3) public education about birds in BC. tion, then only in its third year of exist- The award recipient is chosen by a ence, and was inspired to start a life list. three-person Award Committee chaired Rick attended the University of BC, 2018: RICK HOWIE by me. The other two members are Dr and in 1970 he graduated with a BSc Art Martell and Dick Cannings, Steve’s degree in Agriculture and Wildlife Wayne C Weber son. Management. He was inspired by two The Steve Cannings Award has been The 2018 recipient of the Steve of his professors, Bert Brink and Ian presented every year by BC Field Orni- Cannings Award is Rick Howie of McTaggart-Cowan, who also showed thologists since 2007. It honours the Kamloops. Rick grew up in Greater the way to many other promising young memory of Steve Cannings, an out- Vancouver, and credits his late father, students. standing amateur ornithologist, natural- Tom Howie, with first awakening his After graduation, Rick embarked on ist, photographer, and conservationist interest in birds. Tom was an avid a career in nature interpretation, work- who was a lifelong resident of Pentic- hunter and fisherman all his life, and he ing for many years for Parks Canada ton. The Cannings Award recognizes would often take young Rick along and the BC Parks Branch. In 1970, he someone who has made significant con- with him on his hunting trips. However, worked as a seasonal naturalist in Banff tributions over a long period of time to Rick soon found that he derived more National Park. The following year, he ornithology in BC in any one or more pleasure from just watching the birds became the Chief Park Naturalist in than from shooting them. He joined the Prince Edward Island National Park, Rick Howie (right) with BCFO president Mike McGrenere and the Cannings Award commemorative plaque, Hope, BC, June 2, 2018. Photo by Al Grass.

Page 7 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) and in 1972, moved to the same posi- almost 20 years to the bcintbird email swan count. He made a major contribu- tion in Kejimkujik National Park in No- group, where he could be described as tion to the “Birds of British Columbia” va Scotia. From 1973 to 1975, he was the resident sage, and he is universally book series by reviewing and comment- an Interpretive Planner for all national respected as a voice of experience and ing on every species account. parks in Ontario. In 1975, he moved moderation, and for his unique sense of BC Field Ornithologists take great back to British Columbia, and for two humour. He is also known as a very pleasure in presenting the Steve Can- years he was the Chief Park Naturalist entertaining evening speaker who is nings Award for 2018 to Rick Howie, in Yoho National Park. Finally, in 1977, sought after as a speaker to birding and and we applaud the diverse contribu- he moved to Kamloops, where he re- naturalist groups. tions he has made to bird study and bird mains to this day. From 1977 to 1994, On a professional level, Rick has conservation in BC. Congratulations, he was a Visitor Services Manager – in made several major contributions to Rick! effect, a Regional Park Naturalist – for ornithology and bird conservation. He BC Parks. In 1994, after major organi- conducted Breeding Bird Surveys for 25 zational changes in the Parks Branch, he years, beginning in 1974. He played a moved to the BC Ministry of Environ- major role in the BC Breeding Bird At- ment, also in Kamloops, and worked las project from 2008 to 2012, serving Unusual ID Request there as a Habitat Protection Biologist as the Regional Coordinator for the until 2004. Finally, in 2004, he left gov- Thompson region, and contributing Subscribers to ncenbird, the listserv for ernment service and started his own more than 300 hours of his own time to northern-central birders, are used to biological consulting firm, Aspen Park atlassing in the field. He prepared status being shown a picture with a request for Consulting, and became a noted and reports for several species at risk, in- identification, but the one below, sent in respected wildlife consultant. cluding the initial COSEWIC status re- by David Stevenson, did not achieve a Rick has lived in Kamloops ever ports for Flammulated Owl, Burrowing consensus. since 1977, and has been heavily in- Owl, and Spotted Owl. Owls have al- Lee Foster said it looked like a nest volved with the Kamloops Naturalists ways been a particular interest of of Tool Hens. Phil Ranson suggested and their activities for nearly all of that Rick's. He prepared a booklet on Sharp- that, depending on where it was taken, time. He has led numerous birding and tailed Grouse habitat management. His the adult could be either a Winter or a natural history field trips for the Kam- consulting work has included a major Pacific Wrench. Clive Keen, by con- loops Naturalists and other groups, and multi-year bird inventory for the High- trast, felt the youngsters were Nuthatch- has served as a naturalist-guide for trips land Valley Mines property west of Lo- lings. Dan B believed them to be cres- to the Queen Charlotte Islands and for gan Lake, and a variety of bird invento- cent-headed tool pigeons, but George Kumsheen Rafting trips on the Thomp- ry projects for properties owned by the Clulow concluded discussions by nam- son River, among other things. Rick is Nature Conservancy of Canada. He has ing them Spannerkopf. recognized as the top expert on the birds published several scientific papers in- If anyone knows the identity of the of the Thompson-Nicola region, and has cluding an account of Flammulated artist – all web searches failed – please been a leader in birding and ornithologi- Owls in the BC Interior and summary contact the editor so that due credit can cal activities in the Southern Interior. reports on the results of the BC Interior be given. He has organized and compiled the Kamloops Christmas Bird Count for nearly all of the last 40 years, and has authored and published several edi- tions of the Kamloops and area bird checklist, a carefully-researched and authoritative document. For more than 20 years, he has been the organ- izer and compiler of the midwinter Southern Interior Swan and Eagle Count (affectionately known as the “Sweagle count” to many of us). This count began as a count of swans on the South Thompson River east of Kamloops, but soon spread to be- come a region-wide count of swans and eagles covering areas all the way from Prince George to the Koote- nays. Rick has built up a huge database of his personal bird sightings in BC. He served as eBird regional editor for the Thompson-Nicola region for sev- eral years until stepping down from this volunteer job very recently. He has been a frequent contributor for Page 8 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3)

AGM Musings M Barry Lancaster

Although I have given a talk to BCFO, I had never attended an AGM before. It was an interesting experience making the acquaintance of members whom I knew via Internet groups but had never met in person as well as becoming ac- quainted with “strangers.” The town of Hope I knew from fre- quent passage on the way to and from Vancouver (I prefer Hwy 7 to the free- way). I had even once camped on the riverside RV site. Staying for a few days gave me the impression of a town not long departed from the horse-and- cart era and I found it somewhat diffi- Above: Male Blue-winged Teal on the Golf Course: 1/800 second at 7.1, ISO 400. cult driving around on quite wide roads Below: Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 1/25 second at f8, ISO 800. that never seemed to have road mark- ings! to Oliver. I visited parts of Manning I My relatively new camera set-up – The venue for the AGM was very had never been before. My lasting Nikon D500 with 200–500 Nikon lens acceptable being situated on the golf memory will be of the phenomenal – is rated highly as a wildlife photogra- course (quite decent birdwatching) and hearing of Madam President. She had a pher’s choice. I am still learning to as it turned out, close to the field trip list of ten species before most of us got drive it but a couple of images give location I had chosen on the first day – started. A large number of Turkey Vul- some idea of the versatility. Both were Thacker Regional Park. It was a revela- tures awaiting the morning warmth was handheld at 500mm which is the equiv- tion being in the field with people who equally impressive. Finally, at my alent of 750 when the sensor factor is spent more time identifying birds by lunchtime I was tasked with finding a considered. Using the Cotton Carrier sound rather than sight. Some interest- Calliope Hummingbird amongst the harness made carrying a big lump of ing discussions took place as to why a large number of Rufous visiting the metal quite easy and hands free to use bird was what it was rather than what it feeders. I failed! However, Eurasian binoculars or notebook. was not – by sound. My skills in that Collared-Dove was added to the list of So, I thoroughly enjoyed my first direction are not good so I learned a lot. birds recorded. Amazing how many AGM. I look forward to Golden 2019. visitors did not even notice the hum- Thacker Marsh was a good start providing a good diversity of species mers until they saw me pointing a big followed by Thacker Mountain where lens at something. Thacker List sound was all-important. Black- American Goldfinch, American Robin, throated Grey versus Townsend’s War- Yellow Warbler, Black-capped Chicka- bler. Hammond’s Flycatcher versus dee, Brown-headed Cowbird, Canada American Dusky Flycatcher, which Goose, Cassin’s Vireo, Cedar Wax- does not occur there apparently! Well, wing, Common Yellowthroat, Eurasian two of us thought we had a possible by Collared Dove, Great Blue Heron, sound and sight but little was thought of Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, that idea. It is down on my database as Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Pile- a possible! ated Woodpecker, Red-winged Black- Food at the golf course was plentiful bird, Rufous Hummingbird, Song Spar- and one could eat enough at breakfast row, Spotted Towhee, Violet-green to last all day if one wished. Root beer Swallow, Osprey, Western Tanager, in a bottle was a new experience; A&W Warbling Vireo, Western Wood Pewee, would be delighted. The caterers and Wood Duck, Sora, Steller’s Jay, Marsh their staff really did an excellent job. Wren, European Starling, Black Swift. For the second and final field trip I chose to go to Manning Park as then I would forgo returning for lunch (took a packed one from the table) and carry on

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for bird talk and beer was a lot of fun -necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Buffle- with wonderful food and service at the head, Barrow.s Goldeneye, Common Pre-Conference Little Creek Grill in Princeton. Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Ruffed Friday morning saw the group head- Grouse, Pied-billed Grebe, Eared ed for the more familiar Princeton bird- Grebe, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, North- Trip ing hotspot of Separation Lakes. ern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Sora, Among other birds, eleven species of American Coot, Killdeer, Red-necked waterfowl graced the lake along with an Phalarope, Spotted Sandpiper, Eurasian May 31 – June 1, 2018 Eared Grebe and a Red-necked Phala- Collared-Dove, Vaux’s Swift, White- rope. Opting not to circle the lake, the throated Swift, Rufous Hummingbird, George Clulow group instead set off to Hembrie Moun- Calliope Hummingbird, Lewis’s Wood- tain Road for some forest birding. pecker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Hairy With the promise of some great birding, Ruffed Grouse were heard drum- Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated plus the prospect of revisiting many ming soon after we arrived, and a Calli- Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, memorable locations from the very suc- ope Hummingbird made a close inspec- Willow Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, cessful AGM held in Princeton in 2012, tion of the group. Other birds seen here Hammond’s Flycatcher, Dusky Fly- 17 BCFO members (including guides) included Dusky Flycatcher, Cassin’s catcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Cas- headed off Thursday, May 31 on our Vireos, and a Townsend’s Solitaire. sin’s Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Steller’s first birding excursion to the Miracle Our final stop also did not disap- Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Mile of the KVR Trail. And it didn’t point, and at least for me, provided the Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Tree disappoint. highlight of the trip. As we came down Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Bank The Tulameen River was high, but the hill, and August Lake emerged into Swallow, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, even then everyone had good looks at full view, the lake’s surface was abso- Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted an American Dipper seemingly resting lutely swarming with a huge flock of Nuthatch, House Wren, American Dip- from the torrent under the overhang of a swallows. At a distance they looked per, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Western shoreline boulder. Other notable birds like mosquitos flitting low and criss- Bluebird, Mountain Bluebird, Town- included Vaux’s and White-throated crossing the lake’s surface. Low cloud send’s Solitaire, Veery, American Rob- Swifts, Red-naped Sapsucker, Least was obviously keeping the hatching in, Gray Catbird, European Starling, Flycatchers, and Gray Catbirds. The insects low over the lake’s surface, and Cedar Waxwing, Orange-crowned War- hoped-for Harlequin Ducks, unfortu- the swallows were in on the feast. bler, MacGillivray’s Warbler, Yellow nately, were no-shows. Tom Plath and I did a fairly careful Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Our second stop was a location that estimate, and reached a conservative Townsend’s Warbler, Wilson’s War- was new to many of us – Swan Lake consensus on the following: 200 North- bler, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Bird Sanctuary. This very attractive ern Rough-winged Swallows, 400 Tree Junco, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah area of bunchgrass/ponderosa pine hab- Swallows, 300 Violet-green Swallows, Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Spotted Tow- itat, with marsh and lakes, was produc- 1 Bank Swallow, 2 Barn Swallows, and hee, Western Tanager, Black-headed tive too. A couple of Lewis’s Wood- 250 Cliff Swallows. Eight Vaux’s Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Yellow- peckers, hawking insects from a pon- Swifts were also enjoying the insect headed Blackbird, Western Meadow- derosa pine snag, put on a show for the bounty. lark, Bullock’s Oriole, Red-winged group. Both bluebird species were seen, Thank you Cathy, Ed, and Amanda Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, and the marsh provided views of a Sora Lahaie, our outstanding leaders, who Brewer’s Blackbird, Evening Grosbeak, and a noisy colony of Yellow-headed made the two days possible and unfor- Cassin’s Finch, Pine Siskin, American Blackbirds. Another notable feature gettable for all. Goldfinch. here was the large variety and number of butterflies that appeared and disap- Species Seen (90) peared in synchrony with the alterna- Canada Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Cin- Group photo by George Clulow. tion of sun and cloud. namon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gad- Our Thursday evening get-together wall, Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Ring

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BCFO Two-day Trips

Sunshine Coast September 15–16, 2018

Leaders Tony Greenfield & John Hodges. Registration Adrian Leather, 250-249-5561, [email protected] Itinerary One of the expected species: Wood Duck. CNK photo. Saturday AM: Roberts Creek Jetty, Wil- son Creek Estuary, Mission Point. Expected Species Sunday AM: Venables Valley. Lunch at Bag Lunch. The trip focus is on fall migrants in- Horsting’s Farm, Cache Creek. cluding peeps, Pectoral Sandpiper, Saturday PM: Porpoise Bay Provincial Long-billed Dowitcher, American Pipit, Sunday PM: Optional birding at Pavil- Park, Sechelt Marsh, The Shores. Tally- Vaux’s Swift, Parasitic Jaeger, Wood ion or Upper Hat Creek. up at Saffron Restaurant, 5755 Cowrie Duck, and many more. St, Sechelt. 604-740-0660. Possible Species Accommodation Say’s Phoebe; Peregrine Falcon; Prairie Sunday AM: Smugglers Cove, Sargeant For overall convenience, the guides Falcon; Golden Eagle; Clark’s Nut- Bay. Bag Lunch. suggest: cracker; Chukar; Lewis’s Woodpecker;

Harlequin Duck; Lark Sparrow, Nash- Sunday PM: Mahan Trail in Gibsons. • Royal Reach Motel, 5758 Wharf Rd, ville Warbler. Note – The itinerary may change due to Sechelt. 604-885-7844. tides, weather, and recent sightings. Alternative accommodation: Accommodation

• The Driftwood Inn, 5454 Trail Ave, • The Inn at Spences Bridge, 3649 Sechelt. 604-885-5811. Hwy 8, Spences Bridge, How the Trips Work • Bayside Campground and RV Park, Tel# 1-877-354-1997. Please call 6040 Sechelt Inlet Rd. 604-885- the inn direct when booking, and BCFO two-day field trips are member 7444. mention BCFO to receive a dis- -led, but participants make their own count. arrangement for accommodation, food, and travel. • Acacia Grove RV Park, 3814 River- view Ave, Spences Bridge • Day 1: all-day birding and then Spences Bridge Tel# 250-458-2227 evening get together at a restaurant May 25–26, 2019 to recap the day and tally species. • Day 2: morning birding, afternoon Leaders optional birding. Brian Murland, Adrian Leather. Other Possible Trips

Carpooling is encouraged and will be Registration arranged on the morning of Day 1. Adrian Leather, 250-249-5561, Adrian Leather has been working on [email protected]. possible trips in 2019 to Port Alberni Register at least two weeks in ad- and the Southern Gulf Islands. Another vance. The leader will give specific Itinerary earmarked as a possible trip for 2020 is details of when and where to meet. Saturday AM: Spences Bridge, Oregon to Nakusp. . As always, Adrian would be inter- Cost: No charge for members; $30 Jack. Lunch at Ashcroft Bakery ested in receiving proposals for other charge for non-members to cover Saturday PM: The Slough, Nicola Val- two-day member-led trips. You can BCFO membership. ley. Tally-up at The Inn at Spences contact him at [email protected]. Bridge (two dinner choices, plus a veg- For insurance reasons, all participants etarian option; please inform the inn of on BCFO field trips need to sign a any food restrictions). waiver.

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the trip schedule and other information, please check the website at westportseabirds.com .

Upcoming Meetings Sept. 6-9 – WESTERN BIRD-BANDING ASSOCIATION annual meeting, Fairbanks, Alaska, hosted by the Alaska Songbird Institute. For further information, check the WBBA & Events website, www.westernbirdbanding.org.

Sept. 14-16 – PUGET SOUND BIRD FESTIVAL, Edmonds, Compiled by Wayne C Weber WA. For information and to register, check the festival web- The following meetings and other events are those that take site at www.pugetsoundbirdfest.org , or contact Jennifer place in BC and immediately adjacent areas or that potential- Leach at the City of Edmonds Parks Dept. (phone 425-771- ly include information on birds that occur in BC. Information 0227), or email her at [email protected]. on additional meetings is listed in the bimonthly Ornithologi- cal Newsletter at www.birdmeetings.org and on the Birdnet Sept. 15 – First OREGON PELAGIC TOURS pelagic birding site at www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/ornith/birdmeet.html. trip of the fall. Six trips are scheduled in September and Oc- For most meetings, festivals and other events, the website tober, plus one in December. Trips depart from Charleston or is the main source of information, and registration can often Newport, OR. For info and to make reservations, visit the be accomplished online as well. Wherever information can be webpage at www.oregonpelagictours.com/p/schedule.html . obtained through a phone number or email address, we have included these as well; if no contact information is listed, it Sept. 16 – PELAGIC BIRDING TRIP from Ucluelet, BC on can be assumed that none was provided by the organization, the MV Frances Barkley, organized by Nature Alberta. Tick- at least not on the date when this listing was compiled. It is ets may be purchased at www.eventbrite.ca/e/nature-alberta- usually not necessary to contact a particular individual, ex- pelagic-trip-tickets-41032135221. For additional info, ques- cept for scientific meetings when one is interested in making tions, comments or concerns, please contact the pelagic trip a presentation. Names and contact information for individuals coordinator, James Fox at [email protected]. are listed whenever they are available. Sept. 20-23 – FALL GENERAL MEETING, BC NATURE, For a detailed listing of birding festivals all over North Kelowna, BC, hosted by the Central Okanagan Naturalists. America, please check the Cornell “All About Birds” website Full details are in the summer issue of BC NATURE maga- at www.allaboutbirds.org/birding-festivals. zine, check the BC Nature website later at www.bcnature.ca , or contact the office at [email protected] . Aug. 19-26 – 27th INTERNATIONAL ORNITHOLOGICAL CONGRESS, Vancouver, BC. This gathering of ornithol- Sept. 26-30 – ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF WESTERN ogists from all over the world is a “must” for anyone with a FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS at Ventura, California. For fur- scientific interest in birds. For information and to register, ther details, check the WFO website at please visit the IOC website at www.iocongress2018.com . www.westernfieldornithologists.org/conference.php.

Sept. 4 – First WESTPORT SEABIRDS pelagic birding trip of Sept. 28-30 – ANNUAL MEETING OF OREGON BIRDING the summer from Westport, WA. Westport Seabirds will be ASSOCIATION, Garibaldi, OR (near Tillamook). For details operating nine trips in 2018 in September and October. For and to register, check the Oregon Birding Association web- site (www.orbirds.org/).

Sept. 28-30 – First WINGS OVER WILLAPA FESTIVAL, hosted by Willapa NWR, Ilwaco, WA. For infor- mation, check the website at friend- sofwillaparefuge.org/wings-over- willapa, or contact Rebecca Lexa at [email protected] .

Oct. 5-7 – 19th ANNUAL RIDGEFIELD BIRDS AND BLUE- GRASS FESTIVAL, Ridgefield, WA (near Vancouver, WA). For infor- mation, check the festival webpage at ridgefieldfriends.org/events/birdfest- bluegrass, or contact the Friends of Ridgefield NWR by phone at 360-609- 0658, by email at ridgefield-

Rufous Hummingbird in the sprinkler by Nora McMuldroch.

Page 12 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) [email protected], or by snail mail at PO Box 1022, Feb. 25-28 – ANNUAL MEETINGS, SOCIETY FOR NW Ridgefield, WA 98642. VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY and THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY, WASHINGTON CHAPTER at the Great Wolf Lodge, Grand Oct. 7-11 – 25TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE WILD- Mound, WA (near Olympia). For details, check the SNWVB LIFE SOCIETY, Cleveland, Ohio. For information, check the website at thesnvb.org/annual-meeting; registration info TWS conference page at wildlife.org/2018-conference/ . should be posted by November or December. Nov. 17-18 – 23rd FRASER VALLEY BALD EAGLE FES- TIVAL, Harrison Mills, BC. For information, check the festi- Feb. 27- Mar. 2 – PACIFIC SEABIRD GROUP, 46th ANNU- val website at fraservalleybaldeaglefestival.ca, send an email AL MEETING, Kauai, Hawaii, USA. For information and to to [email protected], phone 604-826- register, visit the conference website at 7361, or write the Mission Chamber of Commerce, 34033 pacificseabirdgroup.org/annual-meeting.

Lougheed Highway, Mission, BC V2V 5X8. Mar. 15-17 – 17th ANNUAL WINGS OVER WATER Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 (2019) – CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS. For NORTHWEST BIRDING FESTIVAL, Blaine, WA. For infor- information on dates of counts and contact information for mation, please check the website at count organizers, check the BCFO website in November and www.wingsoverwaterbirdingfestival.com or contact Debbie December, or check the December issue of BC Birding. Harger (phone, (360) 332-8311; email, [email protected] ).

2019 EVENTS Mar. 22-24 – 21st ANNUAL OTHELLO SANDHILL CRANE FESTIVAL, Othello, WA. For information, check the festival Feb. 14-17 – WINTER WINGS BIRDING FESTIVAL, Kla- website at www.othellosandhillcranefestival.org, or contact math Falls, OR. For information and to register, please check the Grant County Conservation District at 1107 South Juniper the festival website at winterwingsfest.org. Way, Moses Lake, WA 98837 (phone 509-765-9618).

John Gordon photographed the Cassin’s Vireo below during the Skagit Valley Bird Blitz, May 4-6, 2018. The annual event is organized by the Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning. Around thirty participants of all ages camped out at the Skagit Valley Provincial Park’s Ross Lake Group Campground. Over ninety species were counted including Western Meadowlark, Dusky Flycatcher and Casssin’s Vireo.

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IOCongress Photo Presentation

Ken Otter of UNBC produced a fine bird-montage presentation for the Canada Evening at the IOCongress in Vancouver. 178 photographs in all were used, featur- ing photographs provided by Jeff Dyck, Greg Drozda, Myrna Pearman, Roy V Rea, Bob Steventon, David W Greenberg, Katelyn Luff, Clive Keen, Christian Artuso, David Bradley, Scott M. Ramsay, and Danika Kroeker. Here are just a few of them. Attendees will have been wowed.

,

Top to bottom:

Red-throated Loon by Katelyn Luff Eared Grebes by Myrna Pearman Canada Jay by Jeff Dyck Tufted Puffins by David Bradley

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Avian Encounters

Swamped Clive Keen

During an early June trip to Ontario I heard what I suspected to be a Swamp Sparrow – a bird I never see in my home patch. To check my memory of the song, I played it on my cell phone, finding that the bird as well as I heard the recording. It flew nearby, and then started a most unexpected behaviour. I’ve seen plenty of photographs of Buff -breasted Sandpipers doing the hello sailor arm-wave, but I’d never heard of it from a Sparrow. At first I wondered if the wind had lifted the wing, but that wasn’t the case, and the bird repeated the trick at least half a dozen times, usually with its right wing, but occasionally with the left. Given the enthusiasm of its singing, I assumed that this was a regular part of its courtship behaviour. I don’t know this species though – if any readers know about this behaviour, please write Waving Swamp Sparrow, photographed in early June by Clive Keen. in ([email protected]).

Upland Surprise Kathryn Clouston

A group of birders from the Comox Valley went to SE Alberta and SW Saskatchewan this spring. We were happy when we saw a couple of Upland Sand- pipers, and a spare, at a marsh near Wild Horse as this bird had eluded us the previous summer on the extension after the AGM. We were delighted, de- spite the limited view through the long grass, when one of the pair started to shake its booty for the oth- er. I was happily getting marginal photos of the pair through the long grass when the spare hopped up on a fence post right in front of us! It was so close I was afraid to move in case I spooked it but then I couldn’t resist and it paid no attention while I got my shots. Grasslands turned out to be a great spot as we heard a Sprague’s Pipit as we entered the park and stopped by the interpretive sign beside the entrance. We kept looking around trying to locate it, and it seemed to be calling all around us, and yet we couldn’t spot the bird. Then Art suggested we look Upland Sandpiper by Kathryn Clouston

Page 15 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) up and, sure enough, there it was, a couple thousand feet straight up! We also managed to get a look at a Burrow- ing Owl while scanning a prairie dog town and then, later, spotted a badger doing the same from the other side of the town. Then we stopped to check out a pond and someone spotted a Sharp -tailed Grouse. We were delighted with this sight- ing as it was our first for the trip – then we spotted another, and then there was a male displaying, and more females, and another male…. The two males “duelled” before what turned out to be five ladies, and one even leapt into the air. The grass obscured the view, even for the ladies, as one of them what else was in the area and spotted a jumped up on a pole to get a better look Bobolink, which is not common for that Sharp-tailed Grouse by at the action. area. We even had a juvenile Golden Kathryn Coulston After looking our fill at the Sharp- Eagle fly by while we were stopped for tail lek we had a look around to see lunch. , The white Raven below would be a shoo-in for a role in a remake of Gormenghast. The leucistic bird was spotted by Melissa Hafting in Coombs in early July.

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Harold The Hirundine Hero

between the mountain ranges there is this doughty vessel plies a three- ...And Other Reasons To much boreal forest to be traversed, kilometre triangular course, visiting not where, it must be admitted, the birds are just the west and east banks of the Mac- Head North similar to those of BC, just fewer in kenzie but also making a stop at Tsi- number. igehtchic, the community which proud- Charles Helm That all changes along the 140 km ly sits on a spur above the confluence There are compelling reasons for any- of new roadway between Inuvik and of the Mackenzie and the Arctic Red one from BC to head north in summer: “Tuk,” where the last stunted trees rivers. The longest arm of the triangle (many of them festooned with singing measures 1.25 kilometres, and comple- 1. the “true north strong and free” is a White-crowned Sparrows) and brush tion of the loop takes close to an hour. powerful magnet (harbouring secretive American Tree Needless to say, this is an area of com- 2. living for a while in 24-hour day- Sparrows) are finally left behind, and a motion and bustle, with a regular and light is weirdly wonderful surreal, gentle landscape of tundra and noisy coming-and-going of muddy ve- 3. the need to swim in all three of Can- lakes is traversed. The birding becomes hicles and their occupants. ada’s oceans is primal and profound super-simple, and the lakes and tundra Enter into this boreal drama the 4. the Dempster Highway (the only deliver one easy-to-spot species after main players: a feisty flock of a few road in Canada to cross the Arctic the next in glorious avian profusion. dozen Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon Circle) provides the ultimate road There is fulfilment and satisfaction to pyrrhonota). They have chosen the un- trip, and be had in seeing pairs of Pacific Loon, derside of the superstructure of the MV 5. such a journey may become a per- Tundra Swan, Greater White-fronted Louis Cardinal to build their nests and sonal rebuttal to the rigours of win- Goose, Long-tailed Duck, Short-eared rear their young. This is acknowledged ter. Owl, Rock Ptarmigan, or the ubiquitous in Wildlife of the Arctic1 and is clearly Red-necked Phalarope, all in their cho- not a new phenomenon. Maybe it oc- For a BC birder there are two additional sen territory that they have travelled so curs elsewhere in the world and I am motivators. One is that every spring far to reach. not aware of it. Yet I wonder if its pro- many birds grace our gardens, forests, For me, however, one birding expe- found significance has been fully appre- shores and sewage works with their rience trumped all others, and, surpris- ciated. presence. They fill our lives with joy ingly, it had nothing to do with the tra- Let me explain what I mean by this. and anticipation as we soak up this exu- ditional target boreal species or the usu- From my explorations in the Tumbler berant wave of migration. And then, as al reasons birders may choose to head Ridge area, which include discoveries quickly as they have arrived, they are north. It happened on the MV Louis of fossil bird footprints, I know that gone. One way to repay the favour is to Cardinal, the ferry that conveys vehi- birds have been around since Jurassic learn more about what they are up to, cles and their passengers across the times, for well over 140 million years. what entices them north, and where Mackenzie River about two hours’ During this interval every single repre- they are headed; to see them on their drive south of Inuvik. For sixteen hours sentative of Class Aves that successful- own Arctic breeding turf in their finest a day from early June to late October ly procreated made a nest at a natural plumage. Another is that as of 2018 it is possible to drive all the way to the Arc- tic Ocean, turning around only once the Cliff Swallows nesting on the MV Louis Cardinal. Photo by Charles Helm. pingoes and wood-covered coastline of Tuktoyaktuk have been reached and the icy immersion ritual between shore and ice has been fulfilled. The 735 km Dempster Highway, which ends at Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, passes through the uplands of Tombstone Territorial Park, the Ogilvie Ranges and the Richardson Mountains. These splendid surround- ings give hints of what is to come. Gray -cheeked Thrush and Long-tailed Jaeger are on the Tumbler Ridge checklist due to some competent sightings by expert birders, but are difficult to find. In these far-northern climes they shout out their presence, and roadside cliffs allow for nesting Peregrine Falcon and Gyrfalcon to be viewed with ease. However, in

Page 17 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) site of its choice somewhere on our sumably inspired by Harold, the clever players in this act, can take note and be planet’s surface. Cliff Swallows, as Cliff Swallow (that most dangerous of inspired as we grapple with major prob- their name suggests, typically chose all animals) took a giant leap of faith lems that beset our own species and our overhanging cliffs under which to build into the unknown. All previous nests of future on Earth. These trend-setters are their distinctive mud nests in colonies. the species had been made on struc- the Aristarchus, the Eratosthenes, the Then, for the last few centuries or tures, whether natural or man-made, Copernicus, the Kepler, the Newton and millennia (~ 0.001% of that time peri- that did not move relative to the surface the Einstein of the bird world. I salute od), they made a dramatic switch: a of our planet. However, unlike all other them as hirundine heroes, just as I sa- new species (Homo sapiens) had ar- birds which had ever lived, they reject- lute the giants of our own species on rived on earth, that built bridges and ed the stable premise of that strategy, whose shoulders we stand. other structures. These offered superior throwing in their lot with a mobile site. Heading north in Canada is a won- nesting sites that trumped any natural Presumably weighing up the engineer- derful birding adventure. But in this cliffs. Consequently, finding a “natural” ing advantages of the vessel with the case, perhaps the most transcendently nest colony is nowadays regarded as hassles of continually having to calcu- significant sighting is the one that is rather curious, and is largely limited to late where to return to after feeding impossible to miss, by simply gazing occasional remote areas where the im- forays, they abandoned terra firma and upward when briefly aboard the MV print and engineering marvels of H. came out in favour of a nest untethered Louis Cardinal. sapiens are absent. In so doing P. pyr- to Earth’s surface. To find and feed rhonota demonstrated great versatility their chicks they would simply have to 1. Richard Sale & Per Michelsen, 2018. and adaptability. follow the ferry. Wildlife of the Arctic. Princeton Univer- Then, at some point since the con- I see this as an avian quantum leap, sity Press, 304 pages; page 190. struction of the MV Louis Cardinal, a a paradigm shift, an example of lateral small population of P. pyrrhonota, pre- thinking so profound that we, the other

so there was only time to set up tents before the staff gave an intro- YB Workshop ductory presentation and organized dinner. In that time, I got to know that the four staff were all super Report friendly, the other young ornithol- ogists were equally shy and willing Sasha Fairbairn, a young birder from to make friends, and BBO itself was Surrey, was successful in gaining a a beautiful place to be. place on this summer’s Beaverhill Bird The main location was a grass Observatory Young Ornithologists’ clearing in the trees, where tents Workshop. This is a fully paid intern- could be set up anywhere nearby. ship, and Sasha follows Cole Gaerber, There were picnic tables with a tarp who succeeded in gaining a place last overhead, that were used for the year and loved the experience. This is meals as well as any free time. her report. There was also a small building that had a kitchen, seating area, and spe- Sasha Fairbairn cific banding room. Everything else was located outdoors, including a Deciding to go camping for a week dishwashing station, handwashing with strangers was the scariest decision station, and long-drop toilet (aka I have ever made, but I have no regrets “the throne”). There was a private whatsoever in attending. I flew in to shelter to take a shower using a so- Edmonton from Abbotsford on the first lar-heated water bag, but most of us day, and was given a ride to Beaverhill chose to instead wait and use the bath- learnt more than I could ever imagine Bird Observatory (BBO). I had already room at Helen’s house midweek. It was during those six hours each morning, been in contact online with both drivers possible to get one bar of signal to text and even on the second day my opinion (one of which was Helen Trefry, the people from the middle of the clearing, was valued as I measured wing lengths organizer of the Young Ornithologists’ but the most reliable place to make calls and judged age and molt, along with a Workshop) before the journey, and both was a two-minute walk from camp to long list of other things. were friendly and easy to talk to, so it volunteer parking. Once banding was over, lunch was was a surprisingly comfortable car ride The rest of the days had more of a served before a presenter came to speak despite lasting an hour and having the routine. Each morning, we woke up at to us and we had a field trip. The nervous thoughts of myself and another 4:45AM, made ourselves breakfast in presentations were on butterflies, hum- young ornithologist filling the atmos- the cozy kitchen, and banded birds from mingbird banding, ducks, and falconry. phere. 5:30 to 11:30 AM. Previously, I had There was always a relevant field trip It was mid-afternoon by the time never tried banding and did not even that followed, including one to Helen’s that everybody arrived on the first day, know what a mist net looked like, so I house, where she was raising falcons

Page 18 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) and the cutest-ever Northern Saw-whet them near water and food at the camp on snakes while holding a garter snake Owl, and another to Elk Island National site. Three people were stung during the on Thursday, and saw my first-ever Park and Geoff Holroyd’s house week, but nobody was allergic so it did porcupine during the evening walk on (another workshop organizer who the not ruin any of our weeks. Friday. workshop was named after). It was an Aside from the mosquitoes and This camp was designed to benefit early night of around 9:00 PM, but there wasps, the wildlife at BBO was incredi- general nature lovers as well as the full- were always a couple of kids that ble. Exciting birds were caught in the on bird enthusiasts. I enjoyed every stayed up, unable to sleep because of mist nets most days, and Friday was the aspect of it, and found that there was no hot or uncomfortable tents. On the first Big Birding Day, where we went time to be bored, yet too much adrena- and last nights, all the young ornithol- around Beaverhill Lake and Tofield, line to be tired. The staff were overly ogists organized a walk together. The trying to spot as many birds as possible. generous with providing food, offering other nights included talking for long A few of the many lifers I saw during help, and entertaining everyone. After hours, playing a bird-identification the trip included Sora, American White being together for a week, I got to know game that one of the kids brought, and Pelican, Black-and-White Warbler, and the other young ornithologists well, and going on shorter walks with a partner. Canada Warbler. I also learnt heaps we have all been keeping in touch It honestly did all feel like fun and about butterflies during the presentation since. I hope to return to BBO and vol- games, although there were basic camp- on Monday, had a spontaneous lesson unteer one day, because I had such an ing chores that needed doing. On the first night, the young ornithologists were split into two groups. Each day, a different group would take on the wash- ing up and preparing meals. There were also two banding programs that needed doing at the start of the week, so the groups would also take turns between Migration Monitoring, and Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS). I found that this helped me get to know the people in my group much better, and I was able to take more turns handling the birds during banding. I also have no complaints about preparing meals, as I learnt camp- ing skills, as well as basic life skills, from doing so. Each day, a volunteer or staff member would bring food from their house or garden, so the young or- nithologists rarely had much to do aside from laying the table and cleaning the dishes afterwards. There were three vegetarians, including me, and we al- ways had plenty of healthy food to eat. Nobody had the chance to go hungry as there were leftovers and snacks availa- ble throughout the day for anybody feeling peckish. My least favourite part about the week was the bugs. The mosquitoes were considered better than last year, but were still landing on any bare skin throughout the day, especially around sunrise and sunset. I found it the most comfortable to wear a bug jacket during banding in the mornings, and then a short-sleeved shirt but long loose trou- sers for the majority of the day. I was very pleased to have brought long hik- ing socks, as ankles were a favourite for the sneaky mosquitoes. There was noth- ing to be done about the wasp problem, aside from forget any previous fears of wasps because there was no avoiding

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Lake to reintroduce Burrowing Owls to Poorwill (1), Clay-coloured Sparrow the area starting in 2018. (4), Rock Wren (1), and 17 Dusky Funded White Lake supports a nationally Grouse. Only one area spotted Red- significant number of endangered Sage naped Sapsuckers (3) and only one Ru- Thrashers with one to ten birds counted fous Hummingbird was seen. All sight- Project Report annually. Some of the bird species at ings were entered in eBird using the risk occurring in the basin include the IBA Canada protocol. endangered Western Screech Owl, Yel- This year the wet conditions provid- eBird IBA Protocol Survey low-breasted Chat, and threatened ed a nice look at species diversity in a in White Lake IBA Common Nighthawk, Lewis’s Wood- particularly moist breeding season. We pecker, Barn Swallows, and special- may not see similar wet conditions like Jason Bieber concern Olive-sided Flycatcher – there this for many years. The extra water are also rare sightings of the endan- enhancing riparian areas opens up a The BCFO provided support funding to gered White-headed Woodpecker. Oth- niche for species that in drier years the Important Bird & Biodiversity Are- er birds of interest occurring are Grass- would have moved elsewhere. In that as (IBA) Program of BC Nature to co- hopper Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, regard it was a great year to conduct ordinate a bird count using the eBird and Lark Sparrow. The alkaline White this count. It would be great to do these IBA protocol. The count was the sec- Lake is also an important stopover for counts on a more regular basis to ex- ond of its kind in BC, taking place in thousands of Sandhill Cranes, among plore differences in diversity and num- the White Lake IBA on June 14, 2018 many other shorebirds, during migra- bers of birds based on seasonal condi- during the peak breeding season. tion to their northern breeding grounds. tions. It’s also great baseline data, as we The drive down to the White Lake The six-hour count was meant to see an increase in pressure on our birds IBA on the day of the count started off provide a thorough inventory of birds in and habitats, especially with the fast with dark clouds and rain. By 5:00 AM, a one-day snapshot, similar to a Christ- development rate we are experiencing all fifteen volunteers arrived on site. mas Bird Count. These counts provide in the Southern Okanagan. Ten years During the planning stages, ten partici- important data on numbers of rare birds ago we may not have foreseen some of pants had been estimated, so the high in our IBAs like the Sage Thrasher. A the population declines that are now attendance reflected the enthusiasm of checklist of all birds recorded during being reported. Organized official the local birders. While the clouds re- the breeding season from eBird data counts like this are an important tool in mained, the rain stayed to the north and gave a potential species list of 174 spe- conservation planning. only a few light drizzles were felt. Lo- cies. During the count, which covered Off-leash dogs are prohibited from cal IBA Caretakers, experienced bird- approximately 70% of the IBA, a total the White Lake IBA, however during ers, and researchers, split into eight of 2,397 birds were found, consisting of preliminary scouting two large dogs off teams to cover the diversity of habitats 124 species. Three of the 124 species leash were witnessed running through that White Lake has to offer, and spent hadn’t been recorded in eBird previous- the grassland, flushing ground-nesting the next six hours surveying all birds ly during the breeding season, including birds. During the count in this area, encountered by sight or sound. Common Goldeneye, Marsh Wren, and several listed species were observed. The White Lake basin is located in Pacific Wren. This demonstrates an issue that is cru- the South Okanagan Valley of the Most abundant species were West- cial to the protection of the numerous Southern Interior of BC. The area con- ern Meadowlark (355), Vesper Sparrow species that nest on the ground or in sists of sagebrush grassland and open (221), Red-winged Blackbird (110), low shrubs, especially endangered birds ponderosa pine forest with riparian Mallard (102), Brewer’s Blackbird such as the Sage Thrasher. The two creek corridors, wetlands, cliffs and a (101), and Western Wood-Pewee (90). Sage Thrashers we saw are at extremely typically small alkaline lake. The South Several species at risk were also high risk of being predated by dogs, or Okanagan has been experiencing wet observed during the count including of failing to raise broods due to the in- conditions from extra precipitation dur- SARA-listed endangered Western creased stress. ing the past winter and spring with re- Screech Owl (1), Yellow-breasted Chat A big thank you to the BC Field sulting snow melt. The lakes and wet- (3), Sage Thrasher (2), SARA-listed Ornithologists for the funding to run lands were larger in area and more nu- threatened Bank Swallow (6), Barn this bird count, and BC Nature and the merous, hosting a high diversity of Swallow (7), Lewis’s Woodpecker (1) IBA program coordinator for applying wildlife and vegetation throughout the and Common Nighthawk (2). Other BC for the grant, and to the many volun- White Lake IBA. The diverse habitats Red-listed species (six in total) ob- teers that came out to participate. are home to a variety of amphibians, served were Grasshopper Sparrow (6), Thanks also to the landowners, ranch- reptiles, birds, and mammals including Prairie Falcon (1), Peregrine Falcon (1), ers, Nature Trust and the Dominion some of Canada’s rarest and most en- and BC Blue listed species (11 in total) Radio Astrophysical Observatory for dangered species. The basin is used as Olive-sided Flycatcher (1), White- granting access, and to White Lake IBA range land for cattle and an astrophysi- throated Swift (25), Great Blue Heron Caretaker Doreen Olson’s Three Gates cal observatory is located in the north- (2), Canyon Wren (1), Lark Sparrow Farm for hosting the count-up lunch. east corner of the IBA. (10), Brewer’s Sparrow (9), and Gray The Burrowing Owl Conservation Flycatcher (1). Other interesting finds Society of BC and the Nature Trust of included Hammond’s Flycatcher (1), BC are working together near White Common Goldeneye (1), Common

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bushy forest thickets near Accra. The The next day we travelled west from bushy areas yielded a mixture of both Accra along the coast. Our first stop Birding Ghana West African specialties and more was Winneba Plains, an area of mostly widespread species. Gabar Goshawk, farm bush. Sightings included Lanner Peter Candido African Green-Pigeon, African Pygmy- Falcon, Black-winged and Red Bish- Kingfisher, African Gray and African ops, Red-winged Prinia, Black-rumped West African Endemics and Upper Pied Hornbills, White-crested Hel- Waxbill, Yellow-shouldered Widow- Guinea Specialties metshrike, Northern Black-Flycatcher, bird, Black-billed Wood-Dove, Black- Pin-tailed Whydah, Yellow-fronted faced Quailfinch, African Firefinch and In November 2017 I joined a birding Tinkerbird and Gray Tit-Flycatcher Yellow-crowned Gonolek. An overpass tour of Ghana organized by Rockjump- were among the more widely distribut- in the town of Mankessim gave views er Worldwide Birding Adventures. ed species. West African specialties of a small colony of Slender-billed and Though I had previously birded South included Senegal Parrot, Western Plan- Village Weavers as well as two dark- Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, Ghana and tain-eater, the large and stunning Violet morph Western Reef-Herons. its neighbours in West Africa are home Turaco, Senegal Batis, Senegal Ere- We then proceeded westward to to many different and exciting species momela and Splendid Sunbird. The Cape Coast Castle where we visited this of birds, particularly in the rainforest grassy habitats yielded Red-necked habitats. An easy flight itinerary took Buzzard, Double-spurred Francolin, me from Vancouver to Paris, followed Blue-bellied Roller and Yellow- by a direct flight to Accra, the capital. winged Pytilia. Ghana straddles the Greenwich meridi- We stopped for lunch on the shore an just north of the equator, so it is on of Lake Volta, the largest man-made the same time zone as London, Eng- lake in the world by area (8,500 land. square km), formed by the Volta Riv- With a day on my own before the er hydroelectric dam. This lake domi- start of the tour, I explored the area nates the eastern half of Ghana. Here around the Erata Hotel, north of the we had good looks at the drab Mouse airport. Two hours of birding in steamy -brown Sunbird. Crossing to the east- heat yielded 18 species including Gray ern side of the river we found Bar- Woodpecker, Yellow-billed Shrike, breasted Firefinch, White-throated Heuglin’s Masked Weaver, African Bee-eaters (migrants from the Sahel Hobby and the striking Double-toothed sombre site in the mid-day heat. Cape to the north), Ethiopian Swallow, Broad Coast Castle was one of a series of forts Barbet, with its deep crimson under- -billed Roller, Senegal Coucal, Bronze- parts and yellow, notched bill. built along the coast by European trad- tailed Glossy-Starling and Purple ers and were used to hold African The next day the tour kicked off in Glossy-Starling among others. the Shai Hills, an area of fields and slaves before they were loaded on ships Continuing east we arrived at Kala- to the Americas. Below: Double-toothed Barbet. kpa Resource Reserve, about 25 kilo- It is a profoundly sad place in a pic- Right: Slender-billed Weaver. metres. from the Togo border. After turesque natural setting. A wreath laid All photos by Peter Candido. sundown we found African Scops-Owl, by President and Michelle Obama dur- Black-shouldered Nightjar and Long- ing their visit in 2009 was still present tailed Nightjar. The next morning in the in one of the dungeons. Reserve some notable sightings includ- In the afternoon we drove northward ed African Cuckoo-Hawk, Blue-spotted to Kakum National Park, which proved Wood-Dove, Green Wood-Hoopoe, to be one of the most interesting and Black Scimitarbill, Brown-necked Par- productive sites of the trip. This park is rot, Fine-spotted Woodpecker, Orange- home to the famous Kakum Canopy cheeked Waxbill, Gray Kestrel, Gray- Walkway, a series of seven rope-style headed Nigrita and Mottled Spinetail. A bridges totalling 350 metres in length Thick-billed Cuckoo flew in and circled attached to rainforest trees at a height of low, calling all the while. about 40 metres. The platforms around In the afternoon we retraced our the trees provide enough space to set up route towards Accra, stopping at Sa- a scope, allowing views of many bird kumono Lagoon, a wetland which was species that would otherwise be diffi- teeming with eight species of heron cult to see. including Black Heron, and a variety of Outstanding birds recorded here migrant shorebirds including Wood included Palm-nut Vulture, Cassin’s Sandpiper, Collared Pratincole, Marsh Hawk-Eagle, Blue Malkoha, Speckled Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Com- Tinkerbird, White-crested Hornbill (a mon Ringed Plover and Ruff. Also pre- large, striking West African endemic), sent were Senegal Thick-Knee and Blue Cuckooshrike, Hairy-breasted Blackcap Babbler, a West African en- Barbet, Spotted Greenbul, Sabine’s demic. Puffback, Red-vented and Red-headed

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Malimbes (rainforest weavers), Green crested Alethe (another thrush- Hylia, West African Wattle-eye, Yel- like bird), and Rufous-sided low-mantled Weaver, Scarlet-tufted and Broadbill. Tiny Sunbirds, Preuss’s Swallow, A brief stop at the Pra River Ussher’s Flycatcher, Cassin’s Hon- yielded White-throated Blue eybird, Sharpe’s Apalis, Honeyguide Swallow and two pairs of Rock Greenbul, Gray Longbill, and Black- Pratincoles. headed Paradise-Flycatcher. We then moved on to Nsuta Forest, a wooded area west of Kakum, where we birded a forest track on three consecutive days during our two-night stay in the area. Here we had many new spe- cies, some of which were seen only once or twice on the tour. Notable was Long-tailed Hawk, an accipiter-like species of West Africa with a long graduated tail; a pair of these birds flew across the trail and one of them perched in a grassland and farm bush habitat where nearby tree for stunning views. Other we found Double-spurred Francolin, interesting sightings included Black and Marsh Tchagra and the more wide- Sabine’s Spinetails, the huge Great spread Brown-crowned and Black- Blue Turaco with its funky crest, Olive crowned Tchagras, Thick-billed Weav- Long-tailed Cuckoo, Chocolate-backed er, Levaillant’s Cuckoo and Brown- Kingfisher, Blue-throated Roller, Yel- throated Wattle-eye which showed very low-spotted Barbet, Tit-Hylia, Max- well. well’s Black Weaver, Yellow-billed Retracing part of our earlier route Turaco, Bronze-naped Pigeon, Red- past Cape Coast we then turned north, billed Helmetshrike and Willcocks’s passing Kakum and continuing towards Honeyguide. Kumasi. Our goal was to search for Continuing westward, we reached White-necked Rockfowl at Bonkro For- Ankasa National Park near the Côte est. Indeed, for everyone in the group d’Ivoire border, widely considered one this was a key part of the trip, since this of the best rainforest birding areas in iconic species, one of only two in its Ghana. Here we stayed in a forest camp family, is found only in the narrow for- in large tents under a thatched awning, est belt between Guinea and Ghana. En in steamy tropical heat. A permanent route we added Blue-breasted Kingfish- building nearby housed excellent bath- er, Little Gray Greenbul and Yellow- room facilities and showers. Birding in billed Barbet to the list. the forest was usually preceded by a Arriving at a small village in the Above: White-crested Hornbill. bouncy, half-hour drive on a muddy afternoon, we began a 45-minute climb Top right: Long-tailed Hawk. track in Land Rovers to get to key habi- to the Rockfowl site, a low rock face Bottom right: White-necked tats. Birding was also productive on and overhang. Two benches were stra- Rockfowl. foot around the camp, especially along tegically placed for awaiting the arrival the entrance road and nearby stream. of the birds; outside the breeding period New species seen at Ankasa includ- these birds usually return to their nest- For the next day and a half we birded ed Hartlaub’s Duck, Red-thighed Spar- ing sites to roost after foraging in the the farm bush and forest habitat around rowhawk, Blue-headed Wood-Dove, Kakum National Park, turning up a long African Dwarf and Shining-blue King- list of exciting birds, including Blue- fishers, Yellow-casqued Hornbill, Yel- headed Coucal, White-spotted Flufftail, low-fronted Tinkerbird, Brown-eared Buff-spotted Woodpecker, stunning Woodpecker, Spot-breasted Ibis, Fin- Rosy and Black Bee-eaters, Buff- sch’s Flycatcher-Thrush (an Upper throated Sunbird, Western Bluebill (a Guinea specialty), White-tailed Ant- red-and-black grosbeak-like bird), Thrush, Forest Robin, Cassin’s Fly- Chestnut-winged Starling, Fire-bellied catcher, Yellow-bearded Greenbul, Woodpecker, Bristle-nosed, Naked- Square-tailed Saw-wing, Red-chested faced and Vieillot’s Barbets, Puvel’s Owlet, Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill, Pale Illadopsis (a thrush-like bird), Fanti -breasted Illadopsis and Red-vented Saw-wing (like a Barn Swallow but Malimbe. entirely black!), Golden Greenbul, Fire- Leaving Ankasa we stopped in

Page 22 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) forest. Scanning the rock face, we noted Ghana's largest wildlife refuge. It con- birds on a sand bar: tick off another several old nests attached to the walls; sists of savannah and riparian ecosys- new bird family! these were made of mud and somewhat tems, reminiscent of the East African After experiencing many amazing resembled giant Barn Swallow nests. At game reserves. It has populations of birds in Mole National Park it was time about 4:50 PM, a single White-necked African Elephant, Hippopotamus, Afri- to head south again on the final phase Rockfowl came in and perched, show- can Buffalo, Warthog and a variety of of the tour. East of Kumasi we birded ing well, then moved out of sight. Suc- antelope species. Large carnivores such the Bobiri Forest Reserve and Butterfly cess and much relief all around! A bird as lion, leopard and hyena however are Sanctuary on two successive days, reappeared several times, likely the now rare in the park. walking the forest tracks and finding same individual, and provided decent We spent three nights at the hotel in birds such as Dwarf Black Hornbill, photo opportunities albeit in failing the park with Olive Baboons, Wart- Forest Woodhoopoe, African Piculet, light. These are slim-bodied birds with hogs, Bushbuck and even an African Least Honeyguide, Violet-backed long tails and a mostly bare head and Elephant frequenting the grounds out- Hyliota (another new bird family for nape. Despite their strange appearance, side our rooms. Birding various sites me) and a pair of Gray Parrots. Birding the Rockfowl or Picathartes are actually around the park yielded a rich variety of some farm-bush habitat north of Accra passerines. species. Particularly memorable for me we found Compact Weaver, the stun- After an overnight stay in Kumasi, were the huge Abyssinian Ground- ning little Red-cheeked Wattle-eye and former capital of the Ashanti Kingdom, Hornbill and the Greater Honeyguide. a species I had long wanted to see – a we continued north. Our next birding Of the seventeen species of honeyguide, pair of Bat Hawks at a nest site. stop was at Opro forest, a logging con- the Greater is the one most famous for The last day of the tour featured a cession where we found Guinea Turaco, leading humans to bees’ nests, from 12 kilometre walk (return) up to the top Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, Gray- which the birds profit by eating the wax of a forest ridge at 350 metres elevation headed Bristlebill, Olive-green Cama- combs (!) and grubs. Honeyguides are in Atewa Forest north of Accra. The roptera and others. brood parasites and the young are born main target here was Blue-moustached On our route north to Mole with razor-sharp bill hooks which they Bee-eater, a highly localized West Afri- (pronounced “molay”) National Park, use to lacerate and thereby kill their can endemic. We had great looks at one we picked up Grasshopper Buzzard and nest-mates. of these birds, and also added Black- Piapiac, a black corvid with a long ta- Other notable sightings in Mole in- capped Apalis and a much sought-after pered tail. The landscape became pro- cluded the unusual Oriole Warbler, Congo Serpent-Eagle to the list. gressively drier as we moved north- Stone Partridge, White-shouldered The final tally for me was 395 spe- ward. Mole National Park lies in the Black Tit, Bruce’s Green-Pigeon, White cies, of which 238 were lifers. Ghana is northwest corner of the country and is -crowned Robin-Chat, Red-throated a country with stable government, de- Below: Greater Honeyguide. Bee-eater, White-breasted Cuck- cent tourist infrastructure and friendly Right: Egyptian Plover. ooshrike, Bearded Barbet, Red-winged people and provides access to many Pytilia, Long-tailed Glossy-Starling, special West African birds. Logistics Wilson's Indigobird, Red-headed Love- for this tour were arranged by a local bird, Togo Paradise-Whydah (males with exceedingly long streamer tails), Pygmy Sunbird, Forbes’s Plover, Sun Lark, Abyssinian Roller, Gosling’s Bunting and Brown-rumped Bunting. Night walks here yielded excellent views of Grayish Eagle-Owl, Long- tailed Nightjar and most exciting of all, two Standard-winged Nightjars which allowed close approach. The males of this species have second innermost pri- maries that are more than twice the length of the body and webbed only at company, Ashanti African Tours, the tips, forming the “standards.” which provided a comfortable air- On one of our days in Mole we conditioned bus, two very skilled local made an excursion northeast to the guides and an excellent driver. Further- White Volta River to look for Egyptian more, we were pleased to discover that Plover. This monotypic species was a Ashanti Tours was actively contributing major target for most people in the to its community: a large new school, group. The usual site for finding this built with their support, was about to be species, further north in the country, opened in the village near the Rockfowl had become inaccessible due to repair habitat that we visited. This is a note- work on the bridge over the river. For- worthy example of how birding tourism tunately our local guides knew of an can directly benefit local people. alternate site, and directly upon arrival we found a pair of these lovely shore-

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to do a Nightjar Survey. We stopped at for Gustafsen Lake Road to try doing a several lakes as we went, adding new Nightjar Survey. On the way we spent A Week in species to our list at each one. We some time at a small lake on Bridge drove through part of the area where the Creek and added Solitary Sandpiper, previous year’s Gustafsen Lake fire had Red-naped Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush the Cariboo destroyed many trees and found two and Golden-crowned Sparrow to our Mountain Bluebird families, a Mule list and also saw two Willow Flycatch- Deer and a Yellow-bellied Marmot. ers building their nests. We tried doing Gareth Pugh Logging and clearing was in progress in our Nightjar Survey but after drawing a the burned areas which will hopefully complete blank at the first seven sta- June 24–30, 2018 be replanted soon. tions gave up. After supper we drove to a small Wednesday morning we made an Our annual naturalists’ trip this year lake at the Tatton Lake Road turnoff early start on a day trip to Farwell Can- was to 108 Mile in the Cariboo. Eight from Hwy 97 which was typical of the yon. We made good time and once we of us, Bob Puls, Wim Vesseur, Pauline many small lakes and wetlands in the reached the Chilcotin Plateau we O’Toole, Anne Gosse, Liz Walker, Al- area. It was obviously a good breeding stopped at every small lake, finding ice Steffenson, Gill and myself met at site as we saw young Yellow-headed Green- and Blue-winged Teal, and Ves- Bob’s and left at 8:00 AM. We rendez- and Red-winged Blackbirds, American per and Lincoln’s Sparrowes while lis- voused with Fernando and Paulina Coots, Ruddy and Ring-necked Duck, tening to Weststern Meadowlarks sing- Selles in Chilliwack at 8:45 and made Mallard, Northern Rough-winged Swal- ing in the grasslands. Eventually we good time in light traffic, stopping at lows, Tree Swallows etc and also a reached the lookout point from where the 100 Mile Visitor Centre for lunch Green Heron. Our last stop of the day the canyon and the winding road in and and checking out the birds on the lake. was on Watson Lake where we found out can be seen. The alfalfa was in full We checked into the Spruce Hill Eared Grebe, Ring-billed Gull, and a bloom and busy with butterflies and Resort by mid-afternoon and after an flock of Sandhill Crane in addition to bees. early supper set out to explore some of the usual ducks and common species. We descended into the canyon and the many trails around the extensive We started the next day at the west checked out the Chilcotin River bridge property. Mosquito repellent was essen- end of Watson Lake, one of a number before stopping for lunch on the bench tial as the pesky critters had apparently of lakes in that area that are managed above the river then walked down to the had a bumper breeding season. We fol- by Ducks Unlimited, where we found a old ranch site by the river which is a lowed the sound of a very agitated Pile- wide variety of birds including species little oasis with a large grove of cotton- ated Woodpecker and found it harass- not normally seen in the Lower Main- woods. Several White-throated Swifts ing an American Marten. A second land such as Ruddy Duck, Redhead, could be seen around the cliffs above woodpecker flew away as we ap- Eared Grebe, Mountain Bluebirds etc. the river while Bullock’s Oriole, Mag- proached, almost certainly a juvenile From there we drove on along Tatton nolia Warblers, Northern Waterthush, which the adult was protecting. We Station Road into the burn area as the Western Kingbirds and others were were able to get some very good photos roads were drying out at last. We seen in the trees. On our return journey of the marten which tried to hide in a looked for the Bluebirds again but with- we detoured along Mission Road hop- tree and surprisingly did not run away. out success so we turned back and ing to see Bobolink but instead found a For all of us this was one of the high- down Gustafsen North Road where we Dusky Flycatcher and a small colony of lights of the trip and a first-ever sight- did find several Bluebirds plus Hairy Clay-colored Sparrows, the only ones ing for some. Woodpeckers feeding on the burned found on this trip, in the 31 species After heavy rain most of the night trees. Grass was growing well in much counted on this road. To end the day we were able to head out early for of the burn and we found a number of four ‘die-hards’ visited nearby Sepa Sucker Lake in warm sunshine where songbirds in the area indicating nature’s Lake and were rewarded with six Com- we walked the trail to the far end of the resilience. mon Nighthawks which we had lake finding a variety of birds including From there we headed to Canim searched in vain for the previous even- Sandhill Crane and MacGillivray’s Lake Road then onto Archie Meadows ing. Warbler. Returning to our vehicles we Road. At our first stop we found several Thursday morning we met Patricia drove on towards another lake but non-verbal Empids which we could not Spencer who had offered to take us found the dirt road too wet and slippery identify, however a Northern Water- around the Walker Valley. We met at so turned back just as the rain started thrush, a lifer for some of us, gave us her home and set off through grasslands again. We then visited the 108 Mile good views. Further on we met a ranch- overlooking Watson Lake. Savannah Heritage site where we could get a cup er who told us there was a Great Gray and Clay-colored Sparrows sang around of coffee and spent some time touring Owl in the neighbourhood which was us as we descended to the lake where the buildings and heard the tale of the often seen during the day, so we spent the valley starts. Patricia showed us woman who killed some fifty miners some time looking for it without suc- where the fire had come to the edge of returning from the gold fields and cess. While owl hunting we found a the 108 Mile Ranch sub-division, tak- amassed a fortune before being found Pacific Slope Flycatcher nest, one of ing one house and narrowly missing out. three found on the trip. hers, a scary situation and hard to imag- When the rain stopped we took a After supper we were joined by lo- ine. The valley is typical of the Cariboo drive down Tatton Lake and Gustafsen cal birder Patricia Spencer and headed with groves of Aspen/grass/bushes Lake FSR’s looking for a possible route Page 24 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) along the hillside and a stream that wid- ens into a wetland/lake with islands in it. A pair of Sandhill Cranes could be heard and seen across the valley and the bird life in this mixed habitat was amazing, we even found a Trumpeter Swan that had obviously decided not to migrate further north. The outstanding feature was the 250+ American Wigeon among which we saw most, if not all, of the duck species found in that area in- cluding Greater Scaup and Cinnamon Teal. In all we recorded 57 species on our three and a half hour (two mile) walk. We are very grateful to John Woods for putting us in touch with Pa- tricia. After lunch we headed for Spring Lake Road which follows 111 Mile Creek for several kilometres, much of it through open range land. Friday morning we returned to Spring Lake Road hoping to get through to Lake of the Trees if a recent washout had been repaired. We walked down a ranch access road as far as the gate and found two Red-necked Sap- sucker nests in one tree with very vocal chicks. At the creek crossing where it flowed out of a small lake we found Waterthrush, Tennessee Warblers, and and a Belted Kingfisher in addition to the usual birds. Luckily the washout repair was just being completed so we were able to visit Lake of the Trees and have lunch in the sunshine. From there Bob and Wim decided to drive on and complete the circle through Forest Grove while the rest of us turned back wanting to check out an old forest road that we had seen earlier. The road is an old grass-covered FSR leading past Larsen Lake to Club Lake and is obviously used occasionally. It was easy walking and birds and butter- flies were plentiful. We found four more Sapsucker nests by following the sound of the chicks. At Larsen Lake we found a family • Silver-bordered Fritillary • Persius Duskywing of Common Loons while in the trees • Acmon Blue • Pink-edged Sulphur nearby were two Hairy Woodpeckers. • Alexander’s Sulphur • Sara Orange Tip For our last evening some of us re- • Arrowhead Blue • Silver-bordered Fritillary turned to Sepa Lake and this time saw only two Common Nighthawks. • Boisduval’s Blue • Sylvan Hairstreak Our total species count for this trip • Great Basin Wood-nymph • Western Tiger Swallowtail which has been submitted to e-Bird was • Grey Hairstreak • White Admiral 117. We also saw the following butter- • Margined White flies which will be submitted to e- • Melissa’s Blue Butterfly: • Mourning Cloak

• Northern Pale Crescent • European Skipper • Old World Swallowtail • Anna’s Blue Ringlet • Pale Crescent

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section, we had an American Three- how hot it was in Japan and the unique toed Woodpecker and a Pine Grosbeak birds and animals he saw in Australia. Young Birder as highlights. As we crossed the shale Katya had just done a family trip to ridge we had a few Pikas making Mount Rainier where she saw her lifer “eeapping” sounds at us. I love their ptarmigan; so she told me she would do Trips cute sounds. We enjoyed picking deli- her best to spot one for us. cious wild blueberries the whole way The chatting helped us to pass the Melissa Hafting up. Illal Mountain is famous with back- time and get through the final grunt country hikers for its delicious blueber- before we reached the beautiful mead- ries. ows. We stopped to admire the land- Ptarmigan Hunt at We couldn’t smell smoke in the air scape. We looked at all the wildflowers Illal Mountain (we sure could in Hope) but the air was like Indian Paintbrush. Since I have more heavy and it was very hazy so our done so many alpine hikes with the On August 19, 2018 we set off on yet visibility out towards the other peaks young birders, one of them – Bridget – another adventure. If you have followed wasn’t great. We took many breaks and kindly bought me an alpine wildflower my young birder trips, you would know ascended slowly since your lungs need book, which I constantly reference. that White-tailed Ptarmigan is the BC to work harder in those conditions. As Thank you Bridget. Young Birder Group’s nemesis bird. we climbed out of the trees into the When we reached the alpine mead- Over the years I have led nine hikes all meadows, we saw quite a few Clark’s ows we sat down for lunch between two over the province looking for them with Nutcrackers. pretty lakes. Here we saw a Baird’s the kids. I have seen them on my own The kids were busy chatting away Sandpiper. It turned out to be one of but when I would take the youth, we sharing their summer experiences. Brid- two we actually saw. Baird’s Sandpi- would constantly dip. get had just returned from Long Point's pers tend to migrate over alpine lakes, So this time I made a promise to Young Birder Workshop in Ontario and so it isn’t as strange as you would think. myself that I would get the youth their she went with fellow young birder Isaac Two weeks ago Alan had a Western ptarmigan. They are never easy birds at from Kamloops. It was so great to hear Sandpiper in the same spot (which is any location but I was determined to about all the birds she saw, like a Prai- rarer) and on nearby Flatiron Mountain, try. I researched for months where was rie Warbler. Then Sasha just got back which we could see from Illal Moun- my best chance. Last year we did Whis- from Beaverhill Bird Observatory's tain, my friend Ben had an Upland tler, Mount Cheam and Flatiron/Needle Young Birder Workshop in Alberta and Sandpiper (rarer still) in July. Peak, all places where others got ptar- she told us about all the cool birds she After lunch there was no time to migan especially the latter. However, banded including Canada Warblers. waste. We were on a mission and we Needle Peak was a tough hike and it Plus Cole just got back from a VENT searched all the lower meadows in a didn’t work out for us last time, so I young birder camp in Arizona and he long line of eight of us spreading out wanted to try something different. Also, was telling us about all the awesome everywhere. There was just so much it is always cool to show the kids a new birds he saw like Five-striped Spar- (too much) suitable habitat. peak. I ruled out Mount. Cheam and rows. Adam had just returned from Ja- We saw American Pipits, Northern Whistler for the high amount of people pan and Australia and he told us just Harriers, Savannah, Chipping and traffic on the weekend. I wanted to go to a hard-to-access mountain where Adult female White-tailed Ptarmigan. Photo by Melissa Hafting. hikers regularly see ptarmigan, but a hike that we could all physically do, since I had 13 year-olds and first-time hikers on the trip. So after extensive research on the Internet and talking to my friend Alan Burger, who hikes this mountain often, I decided to take the kids up to Illal Mountain. This mountain is located past Hope in the Coquihalla Range. The hike is a 16-kilometre round trip if you don’t have a four-wheel-drive but we were lucky enough to have one and were able to drive down a very rough spur road to get to the trail head. When we got to the parking lot we were greet- ed by a Columbian Ground-Squirrel. Bears are in the area, so we carried bear spray, but the only sign of bears we saw that day was their scat. We hiked up to Illal Meadows but on the way up, in the steeper forested

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White-crowned Sparrows but no ptar- they were no less excited. They were Cole pointed out a raptor flying over us migan. We did find a threatened West- enjoying looking at the bird’s unique in the distance and we looked up and ern Toad in the meadows though, which feathered feet. I was very grateful to photographed it and we saw at once it was cool. Ilya for all the help he gave me for su- was a Golden Eagle! It sure was a nice We climbed around and went up the pervising the kids on the mountain and way to end a fantastic day. ridge of Illal Mountain and we found helping me immensely. We had hiked all the way from the Hoary Marmots and Chipmunks and As we were lying down watching meadows up to the ridge of Illal Moun- more Pikas but no fancy chickens. We these White-tailed Ptarmigan they sud- tain and we had all finished our water searched for hours and people were denly began to multiply. First Katya so we found a nice stream and filled up getting tired; some were probably had seen two and we were so excited our bottles with our water-filter pump thinking that we weren't going to see our teary eyes couldn’t focus too well I and added iodine drops for added safe- one … yet again. I felt that this time we guess, because then Bridget counted ty. Water never tasted so good! It was a would be lucky; it just was a gut feeling four. After about 30 mins when I was nice warm day up there – about 30 de- and I wasn’t going to give up yet. looking at them I counted five! It was grees C as a high – and at the top of the After what seemed to be forever just more joy added to an already im- mountain it was a bit windy but still Katya spotted ptarmigan and screamed mensely joyful occasion. warm, even though there was still some it out and we had to rush around col- The alpine ground we lay on was snow on the ground. lecting kids who were scattered along extremely uncomfortable and we were We climbed down in 1.5 hours the ridge of Illal Mountain. We got eve- being bitten by horseflies despite spray- (down is much easier than up) and the ryone together and I actually started ing with deet but we didn’t dare move last bird we saw was a Sharp-shinned crying. They were tears of joy but I just because the ptarmigan chicks began Hawk. Our total hike was 13.5 km with couldn’t hold it in. After nine bloody clucking and walking right up in front an approximately 800-metre elevation hikes we had finally found our golden of our faces! I know people say they gain. goose. All the kids gave me so many aren’t too smart but they sure are lucky We got some dinner at Tim Hortons hugs I fell over, it was just a wonderful we didn’t want to eat them. We could and went home with memories to last a moment that I don’t think we will ever have reached out and touched them. lifetime. We were all very tired but hap- forget. I had told the kids in the morn- The adult female was clucking and py after a very long day. We would all ing that if we found the ptarmigan to- watching over her young and feeding be sore tomorrow but that didn’t matter day I would cry and if we were success- but the young were jumping around and anymore now that we had our golden ful I would get down on my knees and eating and doing dust baths. It was very chicken. I’m so grateful I was able to kiss the ground and I kept that promise! cute! We watched them for a full hour share this special day with this amazing The kids tried to turn one into a Rock and then I reluctantly said we had to go. group of people. Ptarmigan but it just couldn’t be done. We had to get down the mountain Here is a full list of species we saw: They joked and asked me where my before dark but it sure was hard for the next ptarmigan hike will be with them. kids to pull themselves away from these • White-tailed Ptarmigan I said I’m done I’m too old for this! I fancy chickens … but they all got • Clark's Nutcracker

joked with them that they will never get amazing pictures and a lifer and incred- • Northern Harrier me on a mountain again, since I ful- ible experience so they were so happy. I • Baird's Sandpiper filled my promise. still will never forget their amazing in- • Pine Grosbeak It was a lifer for almost all of the fectious smiles when they first saw the • American Three-toed Woodpecker youth except for Cole and Katya but bird. When we were about to leave, • Wilson's Warbler

Page 27 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3)

• Orange-crowned Warbler also found a very agitated and close- As we walked towards a farmer’s • Yellow-rumped Warbler approaching Solitary Sandpiper, which field we saw two Western Kingbirds • Chestnut-backed Chickadee was a highlight. We suspect she had a hawking for insects and making a rack- • Pine Siskin nest nearby but we didn’t want to dis- et. As we walked back into the woods turb her too much. It is uncommon for we had a male Western Tanager come • Golden-crowned Kinglet them to be nesting that far south but down and perch on a mossy perch right • Steller’s Jay there are records of them nesting in the in front of us. Of course I didn’t have • Savannah Sparrow area at some high elevation lakes. They my camera ready but some of the youth • White-crowned Sparrow also nest sometimes in abandoned Rob- did thankfully. • Chipping Sparrow in nests so it is highly unlikely that we We also found a nest cavity with • Sharp-shinned Hawk would ever find it. Lewis’s Woodpeckers inside. The • Dark-eyed Junco Other birds present on the lake were fledgling was making so much noise it • American Robin male and female Ruddy Ducks in their was easy to find. We watched the two • Red-breasted Nuthatch glorious breeding plumage. Female adults religiously come and go with a Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Mallards, Lesser mouth full of berries and bugs. All of • Red-tailed Hawk Scaup and a lone female Bufflehead the youth rarely get to see these birds

Animals seen: were also present. As we began to wan- and funnily enough Kalin who lives in der around the lake we saw Bald Eagles Kelowna was happy most of all. • Columbian Ground-Squirrel and Red-tailed Hawks and watched at Other woodpeckers seen were a • Western Toad least three American Kestrels swoop family of Northern Flickers, two beauti- • Yellow Pine Chipmunk and dive down hunting their prey. The ful Pileated Woodpeckers and a Red- • Red Squirrel kids loved watching the Kestrels put on naped Sapsucker that Bridget Spencer their show. found, and least but not last some • Hoary Marmot We walked into the woods and Downys. We never did see a William- • Pica found a couple White-breasted Nut- son’s Sapsucker but it wasn’t due to hatches. One was so cute making their lack of trying. We tried hard in the bak- unique calls and walking up and down ing heat in several different areas – the base of the tree trunk allowing for even different roads like Copper Moun- Princeton Trip some great photos. We also saw many tain Road. However, since they nest Pygmy Nuthatches feeding their earlier and the young had fledged and July 14, 2018 fledged young. Their cute voices and dispersed, they were impossible to find funny antics were fun to watch espe- in mid July. We started our young birder tour with cially since most of the youth, except We delighted in watching a few five young birders and it was the first for Kalin who lives in Kelowna, do not pairs of Evening Grosbeaks that were trip with 15-year-old Sasha Fairbairn. see them often. We also found a few calling and chasing each other around. The first location was the Great Blue Red-breasted Nuthatches rounding out They are such stunning birds. We also Heron Nature Reserve in Chilliwack to our three nuthatch species. Many got to see a single Cassin’s Finch which see the long-staying Black Phoebe, Mountain Chickadees and Western was a target for many of the youth who which was a lifer and BC bird for a few Wood-Pewees were also singing. rarely see them living in Metro Vancou- of the youth. Here we also were greeted by the sweet songs of Yellow Warblers, White-breasted Nuthatch by Bridget Spencer. Black-headed Grosbeaks and Red-eyed Vireos. It was also fun to watch the Eastern Kingbirds fluttering around and a lone Vaux’s Swift. Next we were on our way to Prince- ton. We were hoping to see William- son’s Sapsuckers at August Lake as our main target. As we drove on the dirt road to the lake, Bridget Spencer and Daniel Beeke called out Lewis’s Wood- pecker, sitting on a stump right beside our van. We pulled over and hopped out and got beautiful views as it flew from tree to tree quite like a crow ex- cept for when it would bank and reveal its hidden green-sheened back. Next we drove straight to the lake, which was alive with nesting birds. We found a family of six Pied-billed Grebes and eleven Common Goldeneyes and some American Coots. A Marsh Wren was also present chattering in the reeds. We Page 28 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) ver. Even though it was really hot and beautiful male too! We found many birds were also present. Western Mead- now midday the House Wrens were Mountain Bluebirds carrying food and owlarks were singing their wonderful constantly singing. Kalin Ocana found saw nesting Tree Swallows and House songs in the fields and the trees were an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a few Pine Wrens. It was a day full of many nest- full of Western Wood-Pewees and Siskins flew over, and Ilya spotted a ing birds which was great. some American Robins and Cedar beautiful male Lazuli Bunting singing As we hiked down to the lake we Waxwings. The youth had fun photo- away giving us good views. Chipping stopped by a little pond and looked for graphing multiple butterflies and drag- Sparrows with food littered the road- salamanders under rocks to no avail. onflies here and enjoyed reading the way, Yellow-rumped Warblers filled However, we did find some baby park’s many interpretive signs. the trees and we heard a Warbling Vir- American Coots and at least ten pretty As we left very happy, we decided eo. We were amazed at the high number Yellow-headed Blackbirds making not- to check out the Evergreen Motel for a of Common Ravens too; we saw at least so-pretty calls. We also saw an Eastern Calliope Hummingbird, and a nice fe- 16 and even more later on at the com- Kingbird posing on beautiful perches. male came into one of the feeders for munity landfill. One of the highlights of the trip was an us, giving fantastic views. Thanks to We had a great visit at August Lake animal with no feathers: it was a Mule Randy Dzenkiw for that tip! We also and after lunch packed up and headed Deer doe with a spotted fawn that could saw two stunning Mule Deer stags and out to Swan Lake. Since we were at barely walk. He was suckling the moth- picked up Brewer’s Blackbirds and lower elevation we were baking on the er and came quite close, thrilling the Rock Pigeons. way there and stopped at the communi- kids. The fawn was truly adorable. On the way home in Princeton we ty landfill where I knew the kids could Bridget found a Bullock’s Oriole as saw some Northern Rough-winged pick up one of their targets: an Ameri- well. Swallows and some Clark’s Nutcrack- can Crow! After nabbing the crow and We found an Osprey on a nest and ers but we did not see a Black-billed more Ravens than the eye could see we one Osprey also flew over us. At the Magpie, which was my first time dip- pulled into Swan Lake. lake a male Ruddy Duck was doing his ping on this species in that city. As soon as we got out of the car we bubbling courtship display. His advanc- It was a great day with some great were overwhelmed by the number of es were not tolerated at all by the fe- youth. Thanks to Ilya Povalyaev for all Vesper Sparrows. We walked through male, who kept racing at him in a very the help he gave during this trip. the pretty wildflowers into the Pondero- angry fashion. We were surprised to see sa pine forest. Here we saw our only a male displaying this late in the year. Group photo by Melissa Hafting. Western Bluebird of the trip; it was a Lesser Scaup and Red-winged Black-

Page 29 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) In spring, such an inundation, or waves. In 2004, 100 birds were counted “fallout,” is usually the result of a at the south end of Long Beach on 15 Featured weather front interrupting the migration. September; five weeks later, on 19 Oc- Surveys conducted at the Long Beach tober, 300 birds were tallied at Stubbs Golf Course produced counts and esti- Island. In 2014, the first wave peaked Species, No 3 mates of 200 birds on 6 May 1999, 250 with 265 birds at Stubbs Island on 5 on 3 May 2001, 290 on 27 April 2008, September; three weeks later, on 26

Adrian Dorst’s The Birds of Vancouver and 132 on 11 May 2011. Birds gener- September, a second wave of 150 birds Island’s West Coast, UBC Press, covers ally begin arriving in late April, with was observed at the same location. 360 species in its 550 pages. Permission the peak migration period occurring As far back as 1972, birds had been has been given to include examples in anywhere from late April to mid-May. heard singing at the Long Beach Airport this newsmagazine. By the end of the third week of May all during the month of June, raising suspi- birds have usually departed. On Cleland cions that birds were breeding there. Island, migration counts were made in Breeding was confirmed on 14 June Savannah Sparrow 1970. Thirty (the maximum number) 2004, when an adult and newly fledged Passerculus sandwichensis were noted on 11 May, and the last bird young were seen together. Since then, Status: Common to abundant spring and was recorded on 6 June. For a four-year counts at the airport during the summer fall migrant. Casual in winter. Breeds. spring period from 1969 through 1972, months indicate that a small population the earliest arrival date was 19 April of Savannah Sparrows breeds there each This bird of the grasslands breeds and the latest departure date was 30 year. In some years, a good number of throughout North America except for May. young are seen in July and August. the High Arctic islands and southern Extended periods of heavy fog in Local birds occasionally overwinter. United States. In British Columbia, it spring can be devastating for migrating Resident airport birds appear to be breeds in suitable habitat throughout Savannah Sparrows. On 2 and 3 May slightly paler than the migrants, with much of the interior of the province, as 1972, 57 passerines of five species were less prominent streaking on the breast, well as in the Fraser Valley and south- killed flying into the lighthouse at Cape sides, and face, indicating that they be- eastern Vancouver Island. Savannah Scott, in the northwest corner of the long to the subspecies P. s. brooksi, Sparrows winter through much of the region. Of these, 30 (53%) were Savan- which nests on the southeast side of southern United States southward, and nah Sparrows and all were males, sug- Vancouver Island. Members of this sub- on the west coast from Vancouver Is- gesting a sex-segregated migration.311 species are also the first to arrive in land south to Guatemala. Fall migration usually commences spring. The population that migrates during the last week of August or early through Vancouver Island’s west coast September. First arrivals at Stubbs Is- region is the subspecies P. s. sand- land were seen on 30 August in 2014 Photo by Adrian Dorst. The book can wichensis, which breeds on Unalaska and 26 August in 2016. In 2004, 60 be ordered online at ubcpress.ca. Island at the eastern end of the Aleutian birds were counted at the airport as ear- chain, which lies some 2,600 km (1,600 ly as 1 September, and in mi) northwest of Vancouver Island. It 2014, birds peaked at Stubbs appears that birds make the flight to and Island on 5 September. Large from Vancouver Island by taking a di- numbers are usually not seen rect route over the Pacific rather than until mid-September or even the much longer flight following the into October. By late October, shore around the Gulf of Alaska. This virtually all birds have depart- would explain the overnight invasion of ed. There is a late date of 20 west coast beaches by hundreds of birds birds on 31 October in 2010, each year in September and October. at Jordan River. A very few When this occurs, it is inevitably after a individuals may linger to late period of clear skies, sometimes accom- November, and I have two panied by a brisk wind from the north- records for December. On 6 west. December 1989, a bird was One location where large numbers seen in Tofino, and on 1 De- convene in fall is Stubbs Island, near cember 2014, a single bird Tofino, where Savannah Sparrows feed was observed on the beach at on the seeds of several introduced varie- Florencia Bay. These were ties of European dune grass. On 19 Sep- likely very late migrants. tember 2004, 300 birds were estimated Overwintering birds are ex- there, and on 30 September 2013, 350 tremely rare. There is one birds. An estimated 200 birds were rec- record for Vargas Island on orded along the northern section of 10 January 1969,299 and one Long Beach on 20 September 1980, and record at the airport on 5 Feb- about 250 birds at the Long Beach Air- ruary 2001. As first suggested port on 11 October 1984. by Hatler et al., the fall migra- tion generally occurs in two Page 30 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) Although individual pairs are capa- female enters the tunnel and inspects ble of nesting alone, Bank Swallows his work. If they become a pair, he con- Gone Pishing prefer to nest in colonies, tunnels often tinues digging up to a depth of a metre dug in rows within areas of suitable and creates a nesting cavity at its far Chris Siddle substrate. Some burrows are reused end. Digging can take up to eleven from year to year (the old nest at the far days, a prodigious effort for so small a Bank Swallow – end is thrown out if the tunnel is used bird. The first egg of the clutch is laid again) while many tunnels are freshly in the unlined cavity. Now the female The Prodigious Digger dug, perhaps the swallows’ attempts to takes over for the next 1-3 days, with The Bank Swallow is our smallest avoid heavy parasite loads. Bank Swal- some help from her partner, to construct swallow, weighing only 13.5 grams. low nests and tunnels can become in- a nest of roots, plant fibres, grass, and That’s a gram less than a Violet-green fested with fleas, blowflies (larvae suck most sought-after and fought-over, Swallow and 6.5 grams less than a blood), mites, lice and feather lice. feathers that are added during laying comparatively heavy Tree Swallow. Slightly off topic but ghoulishly inter- and incubation. esting are the “swallow bugs” that And yet, even weighing a little less than The Larkin Cross Road Colony plague Cliff Swallows. Desperate for a a hefty cherry tomato, the Bank Swal- In the late 1980s I discovered a small low completes a long spring migration drink of hot swallow, these tubular blood suckers crowd the entrances of colony in a cut bank where a country from South America to its breeding road descends from benchland to the nests and hitchhike to new nests by range across the United States and flood plain of Deep Creek between gripping the legs of newly-arrived swal- much of Canada. Unlike the Violet- Armstrong and the North Arm of Oka- lows that visit their old digs. Check out green or the Tree, the Bank can’t pop nagan Lake. Each spring in latest April into a ready-made cavity to nest. Ra- the group photo of such a hungry swal- low bug horde in Charles Brown’s ex- or early May I would visit the colony, ther, equipped with a bill best suited as mainly, I confess, just to “get” my first cellent account of his early life as a an insect trap and tiny claws on com- of the year Bank Swallow. Spring 2018, Cliff Swallow scientist, Swallow Sum- paratively weak legs, the Bank Swallow however, was different. After reading mer. finds a roadside cutbank or an eroded about Riparia riparia’s long migration According to the literature the male riverside cliff and digs a burrow up to a north, I made several visits to the cut- Bank Swallow digs part of a tunnel (at metre long through gravel, sand or clay. bank, especially in June and July. least 30 cm) and courts a female by In human terms a swallow deciding to I missed seeing courtship because I “singing and flying in circles around excavate a long tunnel in gravel seems began my regular visits just a little too entrance, then [he] perches at or hovers like a child armed with a saw from a late in the season and because I didn’t in front of it and displays [his] throat carpentry-play setting out to cut down a know what to look for. What I did see patch: sings, sometimes quivering large tree. on one occasion were two Bank Swal- wings” (Turner). So far so good. The Yet every spring Bank Swallows lows, presumably males trying to claim accomplish what they set out to do, and they do so in harsh environments. Soil solid enough to support a nesting tunnel wears away at the bird’s feathers. The road cut or river bank is by its exposed nature an unstable place. It’s exposed to wind and in poor weather water, which these days of changeable weather can mean short sharp rainfall bucketing down on granular near vertical surfaces. Mud flows are common and cutbanks can slump suddenly. In spite of these risks and hardships, the Bank Swallow carries on. The spe- cies has evolved to dig well. Study a burrow to see the groves its triangular bill made while digging a ceiling or a floor. Compared to other swallows, the Bank Swallow has a smaller, more con- ical bill and “a proportionately larger cucullaris-lateral rectus muscle com- plex” (Garrison 1999) which I’m guess- ing means stronger-than-usual muscles around the face. The bird uses bill, feet and wings to dig with. The material dug out is ejected from the excavation by “vigorous kicks and wriggling body and wing shuffling” (ibid).

Page 31 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) the same tunnel, grapple in mid-air, have revealed that the higher on the Enderby who emailed the local birders tumbling out of flight and landing in a bank the burrow is, the better its loca- to tell them that youths enjoying sum- furious tangle of wings near my feet. tion, and the deeper the burrow, the mer boating and tubing along the Shus- Fighting about particularly well-built, more successful the nest is. wap River were destroying nests by well-located tunnels is frequent among There are problems with colonial sliding down the steep banks on their males and compared to some avian tiffs nesting beyond the aforementioned de- asses. I have witnessed, appears strenuous and structive effects of weather. For preda- Although I missed seeing details of serious. My photos of one aggressive tors all the eggs (and young) are in one courtship, I was able to witness behav- encounter show two swallows locked large sandy basket, albeit a vertical one. ior I had noticed previously, called by together, rolling down the cliff. Near Bank Swallows are not well equipped researchers the Mate Pursuit Flight. A the bottom one of them is ejected up- for extreme family defense, so for an common sight in spring near colonies side down. egg- or nestling-hungry predator the and feeding areas is of three Bank Females other than the male’s mate only problem is access. Cliff-climbing Swallows flying closely together. A also visit “nicer” burrows, the draw of a Gopher Snakes (Pitupphis melanoleu- male pursues a female in hopes of cop- well-constructed, well-located home cus) seem to be prime predators in ulating with her, and her mate flies after being as strong among Bank Swallows North America. American Kestrels will the two of them, attempting to guard as it is among many humans. The fe- grab both adults and young. At my col- her from the first male’s uninvited at- male who co-owns the burrow objects ony, a pair of Swainson’s Hawk paid tentions. These flights are easy to pick to female visitors by “spreading neck close attention to the fledglings as they out since the trio appears to fly faster feathers and aggressively displaying. were first exiting the tunnels. On 24 than surrounding swallows. Occasional- After expelling intruding females, [the] June I photographed one of the Swain- ly more than one outsider pursues the paired female displays bill gaping pos- son’s Hawk pair perched atop a pole female, who may fly a little slower than tures, bristled head feathers, and vibrat- opposite the colony, plucking a swal- usual due to the extra weight of an egg ing wings to [the] paired male until she low, then flying off with it, presumably forming within her. recognizes him” (Garrison). My guess to feed its mate or chicks. In The Birds Eggs and Young would be that he has to spend the night of the Yukon Territory (Sinclair et al.) I The female lays 4–5 white eggs at the on the couch anyway, even though he came across mention of perhaps the rate of one per day and begins sustained was blameless in the whole affair, ultimate predator, a Grizzly digging out incubation 1–2 days before the clutch is guilty only of a superior sense of loca- an entire colony along a riverbank. Of complete. She performs most incuba- tion-location-location and fine excavat- course, a common cause for nest failure tion; her mate incubating when she ing. is human disturbance. Sometimes Bank leaves the nest. The incubation period The Bank Swallow breeds across Swallows will unknowingly select a site lasts 13–16 days. The parents remove North America, Europe (where it is slated for removal like the mound of egg shells from the nest as the young known as the Sand Martin) and Asia. marble dust at a Montreal construction hatch. One of my treasures from this As a colonial species it has attracted site (Champoux and Bombardier). The spring’s investigations was a fragile much scientific attention especially in most bizarre cause of nest failure that I half egg shell I found on the ground in Europe and North America. Studies have heard of came from a resident of front of the colony. I carefully stashed the deli- cate specimen in a cup holder in my vehicle where it remained as a token of the life cycle of Riparia riparia, until my wife placed her coffee cup on it. Unless you push a mini -cam into the tunnels, the chicks’ early develop- ment is unseen, and you have to rely upon external clues to guess what’s go- ing on in the tunnel. Even determining if adults ar- “On 24 June I photo- graphed one of the Swainson’s Hawk pair perched atop a pole op- posite the colony, pluck- ing a swallow ….” Photos by Chris Siddle.

Page 32 BC Birding September 2018 Edition 28 (3) rive with food can be challenging if not nests, and two satellite groups of ten Bombardier. 1996. “Bank Swallow,” at times impossible because their arrival and four nests. pp.706-709 in J. Gauthier and Y. Au- is swift and unannounced, and the food At fifteen days of age, chicks wait bry, eds. The Breeding Birds of Que- items are often hidden in the birds’ tiny just inside the tunnel entrances. Two, bec: Atlas of the Breeding Birds of bills. However, according to the litera- three, and even four chicks can be seen Southern Quebec. Association Que- ture, during the chicks’ first days, the by the outside observer as they crowd becoise des groups d’ornithologues, parents eat fecal sacs, neat little packag- one another. It’s not unusual to see Province of Quebec Society for the Pro- es of poop produced by the chicks. Chick 4 crouched atop the backs of tection of Birds, Canada Wildlife Ser- Once the chicks are about four days old, Chicks 1–3. At this stage they are feath- vice, Environment Canada, Quebec the adults begin to carry the fecal sacs ered and recognizable as Bank Swal- Region, Montreal. from the burrow. This is something to lows. However, many chicks differ Garrison, B. A. (1999). “Bank Swal- watch for, a guide to determining from adults in showing a curious patch low (Riparia riparia)”, version 2.0. In what’s going on in the nests. But again, of short wavy parallel streaks on the The Birds of North America (A. F. fecal sac removal can be fairly subtle chin, at the base of the lower mandible. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell and easily missed by the observer, not The chicks fledge between 18 and Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, obvious as it is in some species like 22 days, returning to their burrows for 4 USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.414 Brewer’s Blackbirds where the gelati- –5 days. Fledglings form creches dur- Roselaar, C.S. 1988 “Sand Martin” nous glistening white sac contrasts with ing the day and roost in burrows, often in Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the the parents’ dark plumage. After nine not their own. They are fed by their Middle East and North Africa: the days, young leave the nest to defecate parents for up to a week and become Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. 5. in the tunnel, but nowhere an observer independent thereafter. According to Tyrant Flycatchers to Thrushes. Oxford standing outside can see. By 14 days, The Handbook of Birds of the Western University Press, Oxford, U.K. chicks run almost to the tunnel entrance Palearctic “fledged young spend much Sinclair, Pam H., W. A. Nixon, C.D. and turn around to defecate, but do not of [the]day loafing, sunning, and dust- Eckert, and N.L. Hughes. 2003. Birds eject feces outside the entrance. Parents bathing; also scratch[ing] at [the] bank of the Yukon Territory. UBC Press, remove feces less promptly when their and play[ing] with nest material in in- Vancouver. young are older but continue removal at cipient nest-building behavior. Com- Turner, A.K. “Family Hirundinidae irregular intervals until the young de- monly [they] play with feathers, drop- (Swallows and Martins) in Del Hoyo, part the tunnel (Roselaar). ping them in flight and retrieving them. J., A. Elliot and D. Christie. 2010. Chicks are brooded almost continu- May hover in front of holes, calling and Handbook of Birds of the World. Vol. 9 ously for first few days, brooding de- singing.” Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails, Lynx clining to about day 7-10, depending on My visits in July revealed fewer and Editions, Barcelona, Spain. weather. The young are fed by both fewer groups of chicks waiting for food Turner, Angela and Chris Rose. sexes, with feeding rates varying with delivery at the mouth of their burrows. 1989. Swallows and Martins: An Identi- weather and with brood size and age. In Gradually the colony emptied. If the fication Guide and Handbook. Hough- good weather the observer can expect to chicks were forming creches, they were ton Mifflin Co, Boston. record 20-30 visits per hour by parents doing so somewhere else. On my final bringing food to their young. visit early in the morning of 16 July, The literature also records that “by very few Bank Swallows were present. c. 9 days of age nestlings rush to meet Two chicks peeked out from a burrow parents returning with food, and from c. near the bottom row of tunnels, individ- AOS Checklist Update 15-17 days wait at burrow en- ual swallow made brief visits to three trance.” (Roselaar) Chicks waiting at other burrows, but whether these were The American Ornithological Society the burrow entrance are obvious and adults still bringing food to unfledged has not just given us back the Canada enabled me to roughly determine how chicks or juveniles just visiting I could- Jay: eBirders who travel may have large my colony really was. n’t tell. There will be Bank Swallows found that their life list is now longer. At first the swarm of birds flying around the Deep Creek valley most of The most likely reason is that the White outside the colony seemed uncountable. the summer, but they will become hard- -collared Seedeater has been split into I guessed that about 15 pairs were nest- er and harder to find as August be- Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater in western ing among the new and old burrows on comes September. Gradually they leave Mexico and Morelet’s Seedeater from the cut bank. Later when the parents to migrate slowly down the coast to- southern Texas to western Panama. were coming to the burrows to feed wards South America and their winter- Red-eyed Vireo in North America has their chicks, I took a photo of the entire ing grounds. They will return next also been split from what is now the colony, printed it on plain 8.5 x 11 pa- spring and by then I will be ready to Chivi Vireo in South America. per, and surveyed the colony for burrow accept the challenges of learning more In a possible Pyrrhic victory for use, crossing off the burrows on the about these amazing birds. lumpers, “Mangrove Warbler,” with its paper as birds visited them. I repeated striking red head, was not split from this process three times at twenty Yellow Warbler. Details can be found References minutes a session and arrived at the at: Brown, Charles R. 1998. Swallow Sum- conclusion that of the 188 burrows, 58 blog.aba.org/2018/06/ were in use, concentrated in three areas mer. University of Nebraska Press, Lin- aos2018.html#comment-3959348701 . on the cliff, a main colony of 44 active coln and London. Champoux, Louise and Manon

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