Vancouver Jan-Apr 2017

Jan 7,2017
White Rock Pier
Some Long-tailed Duck photos would be nice, but they didn't come close to shore even at high tide. So a few diving substitutes are

Common Loon

 Pied-billed Grebe

Not always a sea-dweller

 Harlequin Duck

An antenna for remote-control? no, it's a GPS tracker. I did not find out which organization is studying this one.

 American Wigeon

 Eurasian Wigeon and American Wigeon in the back.

The males look very different, but the females are much harder to identify.

 Eurasian Wigeon

Brunswick Point
Two Bald Eagles chasing dinner, they didn't catch the gull.

Jan 21

Boundary Bay

Bald Eagle

not chasing breakfast

 Northern Harrier

this male caught a vole and landed on the dyke to avoid being harassed by other raptors.

 A female Northern Harrier trying to steal a Red-tailed Hawk's food.

 Short-eared Owl

Feb 13

Ambleside

Just before breeding season is a good time to see ducks in parks because they have freshly-molted feathers.

Bufflehead

 Wigeon hybrid

 Mallard

 Grouse Mountain without grouse

Mar 19

Reifel

Mallard

the patch on the secondaries may be different on different individuals.

blue

 Purple

 Ring-necked Duck

a ring necked male

the shared characterist between male and female is the ring bill.

 Wood Duck

male wood ducks do not take care of their ducklings

 a female looking out from her nest box

wigeon hybrid

Sandhill Crane

 Fox Sparrow

 White-throated Sparrow

Boundary Bay

Long-eared Owl

Iona

Only some caged starlings

Mount Baker

 Mar 20
Delta

Snow Goose

When the geese first arrived in the fall, they were mostly white. By the end of each winter season, their head would have turned brown from the iron-containing soil around here. These two seemed to have enjoyed a mud bath.

 Great-horned Owl

They are big, but they still need to be alert, regardless if they have grown up because there are two nests of Bald Eagles near this tree, and eagles have been documented taking down great-horns.

Apr 9

The migrants are on the move and passing by Vancouver.

Iona

These two female Mountain Bluebirds are among the many at Iona this spring.

Apr 16

Iona

Mountain Bluebird

here's a male blue bird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

male

 Tree Swallow

unlike Pacific, Barn and Bank swallow, Tree swallow exhibits sexual dimorphism. The male is much brighter in color as shown below

 Golden-crowned Sprrow

Apr 23

Queen Elizabeth Park

Orange-crowned Warbler

Merry Christmas

This post has some Christmas-related birds, and some surprises for me.
Nov. 22
Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park

Hooded Merganser

Many ducks start displaying themselves for mates in November; and Hooded Mergansers are among them. The males puff up their crowns and lean back when swimming forward, calling from time to time. The females also have crowns, but do not join the show, they only swim around examining possible grooms. Recording of calls are on All About Birds.

Hooded Merganser male

Hooded Merganser males

Hooded Merganser

 a funny-looking face 

Hooded Merganser male

Hooded Merganser female

Common Merganser

about a dozen of them spent the whole morning chasing whichever bird that caught a fish.

Common Merganser males

 Double-crested Cormorant

no eyebrows in November, but they have beautiful blue-green eyes. 

Double-crested Cormorant

 American Coot

The American species has a dark red front. Eurasian Coots do not.

American Coot

 Belted Kingfisher

clearly the bird weights less than 250 kg as the bar is supporting her quite well.

Belted Kingfisher female

 Great Blue Heron

Stanley must be one of the best locations for observing these big birds. They nest, rest, hunt and stay in the park. 

Great Blue Heron

 Pacific Wren

I find it challenging to get good pictures of Pacific Wrens. They like to jump around in bushes and rarely stop for more than 5 seconds.

Pacific Wren

 Golden-crowned Kinglet

The leaves in the background suggested winter was on its way.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Boundary Bay

Northern Harrier

I can prove that at least 2 birds were present. The first one's tail was forked.

Northern Harrier

 The second one's complete.

Northern Harrier

 Short-eared Owl

 Snowy Owl

Snowy! I did not expect the Harrier to flush this Snowy out of the grass. When the Harrier was first circling this area, we did not know exactly why, until this white spot popped up. The arrival of SNOW marks the beginning of winter. The acronym of SNowy OWl is SNOW.

Snowy Owl and Northern Harrier

Snowy Owl and Northern Harrier

 Iona Island

and then another surprise. Even more unexpected, a Burrowing Owl was seen in the morning! When my friends and I heard the news, it was already not new. It was one hour to night. We decided it  was worth a try. We made it to Iona from Boundary Bay before dark it became too dark to see. About 20 people were already at the site, but they said there was no sight of the owl since it was first reported. Most people left soon after, but then Hank relocated it. It was truly incredible how he saw it in the low light, with no optical aid and immediately identified a little head from some distance away as the owl. This was the first Burrowing Owl sighting I heard in metro Vancouver Since I moved here. And the only other time I've seen this species is in Othelo in Washington State.

Burrowing Owl

Burrowing Owl

Dec. 22
Queen Elizabeth Park

I received my presents, 2 lifers, half a week before Christmas. Redpolls had always been one of the top bird I wanted to find; for me, they represent the elusive north. British Columbia is as far north as I have been in Canada so I have been trying to see some northern birds here. Finally this year, a relatively big wave of Redpolls have migrated farther south than they usually do. The flock at QE park contains not one, not two, but 5 Common Redpolls and a Hoary Redpoll, which is even rarer. 

Red and white are Christmas colours which make Redpolls Christmas birds.

Common Redpoll

more rosy, streaked overall than Hoary

Common Redpoll

 The undertail covert has many streaks

Common Redpoll

Hoary Redpoll

it is so hard to tell theses species apart that they may be considered one species in the future.

the flanks are finely streaked, pretty much no pink on the breast

Hoary Redpoll

 undertail covert i almost completely white.

Hoary Redpoll

 Just a check, both left and right sides are finely streaked.

Hoary Redpoll

Dec. 23
Ambleside Park

Belted Kinfisher

the signature posture

Belted Kingfisher female

 Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte's Gull