BC Interior Bird List

[bcintbird] Additions to 2012 Interior List - February

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:56:05 -0600

Hi Dick and members: you can add Am. Kestrel, Red-tailed hawk, Rough-legged
Hawk, Snowy Owl and Short-eared Owl to the interior list for February. All
seen around Kamloops in the last 2 days. The immature Snowy Owl I am sure
is the same one that I photographed back in November, so

[bcintbird] Feb. listing

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:52:59 -0600

To help kick start the list for this month, here are some yard birds:

Common Redpoll - still have about 20 visiting the seed piles
Varied Thrush - still a lurker
Great Horned Owl - its a regular hoot-nanny in the neighbourhood with 2
pairs calling at many hours of the day and night
American

[bcintbird] Ventura Ranch KOA

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:11:26 -0600

Hi birders,

Sonja and I settled into a KOA a few miles west of Santa Paula, California,
within about 35 mins of Ventura where we were to board the Island Packers
Boat for Santa Cruz Island. The Saturday before the cruise we explored
Santa Barbara, declaring that it really wasn't going to be a

[bcintbird] Kelowna raptors

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:16:56 -0600

Birders,

Today I visited the open country that is the Kelowna Airport. Unfortunately nothing large and snowy white, but I did get a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, several RED-TAILED HAWKS, an imm. NORTHERN HARRIER, 2 ad. GOLDEN EAGLES, a MERLIN, an AMERICAN KESTREL and two COOPER'S HAWKS in the area. Up at the

[bcintbird] VARC Spring Workshops

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:29:39 -0600

The Vancouver Avian Research Centre has just posted spring dates for
Bird Monitoring and Banding and Bird Identification Workshops.

Bird Identification Workshop:

? April 28 ? 29

Bird Monitoring and Banding Workshop:

? May 11 ? 13
? June 8 - 10

The Bird Identification Workshop is designed for beginner and
intermediate birders who may wish to participate

RE: RE: [bcintbird] another Lesser Black-backed Gull

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:17:00 -0600

Yes, makes for good speculation Russ. The Anything Larus site claims that as
of July 2011, there has been no record of a pure pair of LBBG breeding in
continental NA. Apparently, there has been some hybridization with HEGU on
Appledore Island in Maine. Given that many hundreds are wintering along the
eastern seaboard

Re: RE: [bcintbird] another Lesser Black-backed Gull

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:15:26 -0600

Certainly an intriguing mystery Rick,

I would think that if these birds were dispersing randomly all the way from Greenland, they would be showing up more on the Pacific coast where there are a lot more birders and gulls. As far as I know, only 1 LBBG has been photographed in

RE: [bcintbird] another Lesser Black-backed Gull

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:56:12 -0600

The Anything Larus website speculates that the increase in numbers of LBBG on the east coast is possibly due to invasion from the expanding Greenland population as we have explored before on thid chat line. Postulating a trans-continental drift pattern is interesting. Do HEGU do this? Whatever the mechanisms and

Re: [bcintbird] another Lesser Black-backed Gull

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:35:33 -0600

Don't forget Nakusp, the site of BC's first Lesser Black-backed back in the early 90s.

Chris

Sent from my iPod

On 2012-02-01, at 9:31 AM, "Russell Cannings" <(email address filtered)> wrote:

> Hi Rick and others,

>

> I wonder if it has something to do with the birds that they are mingling with either

RE: [bcintbird] another Lesser Black-backed Gull

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:30:56 -0600

Hi Rick and others,

I wonder if it has something to do with the birds that they are mingling with either on the nesting grounds or post-breeding. I would guess it they are flocking with Herring Gulls. Since the Central Okanagan probably hosts the largest Herring Gull wintering population in BC,

RE: [bcintbird] another Lesser Black-backed Gull

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:45:15 -0600

Exciting news Chris. The Okanagan seems to be the centre of Black-backed
Lesser Gulls in the province. Now I wonder if we can formulate some theories
about why this might be and what is happening. There seems to be a pattern
here. Perhaps a brief summary of Lesser sightings over the past decade

[bcintbird] another Lesser Black-backed Gull

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:38:04 -0600

Birders,

After seeing the 2nd year LBBG yesterday in advanced plumage, I was surprised today to find a full adult basic LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at Maude Roxby in Kelowna. This leads me to believe there have been three Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the valley this winter. Mike Force and I found

[bcintbird] Lesser Black-backed & Glaucous Gull in Vernon

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:18:39 -0600

Birders,

Mike Force and I went out in the N. Okanagan today. Temperatures climbed up to near 10 degrees Celsius and the sun was warm! Bird of the day award went to an advanced second year LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL seen at the mouth of Vernon Ck in Okanagan Landing. We picked

RE: [bcintbird] Redpolls again

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:51:42 -0600

Sorry. This message was meant for the pics group.

Rick Howie

From: (email address filtered) [mailto:(email address filtered)] On Behalf
Of Rick Howie
Sent: January-29-12 11:43 PM
To: BCINTBIRD
Subject: [bcintbird] Redpolls again

Attached is a photo of a bird with little in the way of breast colour.

Rick Howie

[Non-text

[bcintbird] Redpolls again

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:43:25 -0600

Attached is a photo of a bird with little in the way of breast colour.

Rick Howie

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[bcintbird] Re: Hoary Redpoll ?

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:36:49 -0600

Hi Laure;

I'm assuming that BNA account is for Hoary Redpoll, but we're already assuming the bird is a Common Redpoll. Male Common Redpolls will have a variable amount of pink on the breast from very little to quite a bit. Only birds with a lot of pink on the

Re: [bcintbird] Re: Hoary Redpoll ?

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:55:53 -0600

Hi Doug,

This is from BNA :

*Male shows little if any pink on cheeks, breast, or rump; female almost
invariably shows none. In male, what pink there is becomes more conspicuous
as breeding season approaches. Overall, males paler than females.*
**
Of the very few Hoaries I've seen across Canada, and from my two photos

[bcintbird] Re: Hoary Redpoll ?

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:56:55 -0600

Hi Laure;

I would not assume the bird is a male based on the pink breast wash. Only birds with a large amount of pink can be assumed to be adult males as adult females and immature males will show as much pink as in your photo. The amount of

[bcintbird] VARC - 2011 Year end Report

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:02:11 -0600

Hi Birders and Banders,

All the rain and snow this month has meant little or no banding at
Colony Farm but it has given us the opportunity to work on the VARC year
end report for 2011 which we've just finished and put up for anyone
interested.

http://birdvancouver.com/pdf/varc_2011yearendreport.pdf
<http://birdvancouver.com/pdf/varc_2011yearendreport.pdf>

It's a fairly large file so please give

Re: [bcintbird] Hoary Redpoll ?

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:53:00 -0600

Hi, Thanks for your input Chris. I have to agree and yesterday I looked up
Hoary Redpoll on BNA (Birds of North America online) and found the link to
David Sibley's blog in which he discusses the continuum between Common and
Hoary and how most of the birds that are IDed in confidence

RE: [bcintbird] Hoary Redpoll ?

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:26:55 -0600

Hi Laure,

Nice that you've got redpolls in your yard! There aren't too many around this winter and they've all been way up in high elevation forests for the most part. Your bird might just be a Hoary, but might is the key word here. I'm not sure I would ID

[bcintbird] Hoary Redpoll ?

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:10:34 -0600

First of several shots on the gallery
http://natureniche.zenfolio.com/p590959410/h39dd05b4#h21c9aed3

I may not be able to answer this question, because it can be difficult to
tell the difference between pale Common Redpolls and Hoary, especially
since I couldn't get a shot of the rump without flushing the bird. (I was
standing about 2 metres aways in the

RE: [bcintbird] spotted towhee

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:37:40 -0600

Hello Janna and all,

It is interesting to note that we have had two, sometimes three
SPTO on the ground and in the bushes near our feeder, too. They have been
evident during the winter for the past five years

[bcintbird] Re: Still on the search for Snowy

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:07:30 -0600

Thanks for the helpful information. Unfortunately due to road closures yesterday and white out conditions today our trip has been postponed until a more favourable time. I'll let you know when I find them!

Amanda
Princeton

--- In (email address filtered), "Katharine Shewchuk" <ka_shewchuk@...> wrote:
>
> We certainly had good views January 9th.

[bcintbird] spotted towhee

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:59:15 -0600

Hi all.

Yesterday I was surprised to see a spotted towhee under the feeder -- briefly. It came back for a visit this morning. It's certainly a nice sight to see!

Cheers,
Janna Leslie,
Naramata

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

RE: [bcintbird] thrasher dip

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:51:28 -0600

The trip is sounding more adventurous all the time Chris. The lone camper
was actually the infamous Pinyon Pine Slasher. He normally does tires but he
is notoriously unpredictable and hates bird listers. He will occasionally
slip out of the mountains where he becomes known as the Thrasher Slasher,
thus explaining periodic low

Re: [bcintbird] South Okanagan birding

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:17:41 -0600

Before Janna Leslie and I met Laure, we had stopped at the Red Roost on Sheep Creek rd, Twin Lakes area to see what their feeders were attracting. Two Evening Grosbeaks were the prize! Also about were 10 Steller's Jay, a few Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees, a Hairy Woodpecker and

[bcintbird] thrasher dip

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:48:19 -0600

Hi birders,

After getting a new water pump in Modesto, we thanked the crew at Central
Valley VW for treating us so well, and as we drove away, I saw a
Yellow-billed Magpie fly across the road into an orchard. Most of the rest
of the day I had to content myself with making

RE: [bcintbird] Sacramento Nat'l Wildlife Refuge

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:36:13 -0600

Chris and Interior Birders,

Yes, the Sacramento NWR is indeed a wonderful birding location-- 12 months
a year. I discovered it more than 40 years ago, in 1970, and have revisited
it as often as possible since then (including a brief visit 5 days ago, on
January 22nd). Of all the NWRs

[bcintbird] Chichester

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:54:12 -0600

Birders,

I poked around Chichester Bird Sanct. in Kelowna this afternoon. Had a nice roosting GREAT HORNED OWL in the willows at the N. end of the park. Also in the same tree was a BROWN CREEPER. I watched a VIRGINIA RAIL creep through the mud right in front of me.

Re: [bcintbird] Still on the search for Snowy

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:48:54 -0600

some great photos there. Love the panaramas

On 26/01/2012 12:30 PM, amanda.lahaie wrote:
>
> Hey everyone,
>
> I was wondering if anyone has seen the two Snowy Owls on the Pennask
> Lake Road near Merritt recently. I hope to make a trip up there with
> my family tomorrow, so I'm hoping

RE: [bcintbird] Still on the search for Snowy

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:21:51 -0600

We certainly had good views January 9th. There are two individuals-one at
K15-16 and the other about K21 on the corral posts at first, then on a fence
post opposite. The gate to Minnie Lake is at K20. The mileages are from
the jct. of Hwy 5A and Pennask Lake

[bcintbird] South Okanagan birding

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:09:00 -0600

It was a fine day to be out birding in the sunshine today. I found three
new birds for my winter list starting with a group of 5 Chukar at Vaseux
Lake bluffs near the old sheep feeding station area. Over to Mahoney Lake
and there was a long-lost (at least for me)

RE: [bcintbird] Eurasian Collared doves

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:07:44 -0600

Maybe that's the secret to being so successful as an invasive species!
Anytime, anyplace, any temperature!

Bob Handfield

Kaleden

From: (email address filtered) [mailto:(email address filtered)] On Behalf
Of Tammy Proctor
Sent: January 26, 2012 10:42 AM
To: (email address filtered)
Subject: [bcintbird] Eurasian Collared doves

Looked out the front window this morning

[bcintbird] Still on the search for Snowy

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:30:11 -0600

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has seen the two Snowy Owls on the Pennask Lake Road near Merritt recently. I hope to make a trip up there with my family tomorrow, so I'm hoping they are still around.

I also had a stunning dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree

[bcintbird] Eurasian Collared doves

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:42:02 -0600

Looked out the front window this morning with a cup of coffee. Had a light dusting of snow and it looked so nice. Looked up and on the telephone line were two Eurasian Collared Doves copulating. Not what I was expecting to see this cold morning.

Tammy
Ashcroft

[Non-text portions of this message

[bcintbird] Sacramento Nat'l Wildlife Refuge

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:27:53 -0600

Hi birders,

Yesterday, only 45 minutes before it closed, Sonja and I discovered a
magical place called Sacramento NWR. The air over the marshes was full of
Snow Geese, Greater White-fronts, and Ross's Geese. Bushtits, White-crowned
Sparrows, and Yellow-rumped Warblers moved through the bushes while a Black
Phoebe caught midges from an overhead wire. This

[bcintbird] Kelowna birding

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:08:01 -0600

Birders,

I met Mike Force for a couple hours of birding around the Kelowna Mission area today. I started off alone at Hall Rd while I waited for Mike. Here, the highlight was a female VARIED THRUSH. Otherwise just the usuals. At Mission Ck where I met Mike, we walked the

Re: [bcintbird] Interesting yard bird

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:05:06 -0600

Hi Laure: perhaps the wren just sees the houses as a bunch of very large boulders scattered across the landscape. : )
Rick Howie
.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

-----Original Message-----
From: Laure Neish <(email address filtered)>
Sender: (email address filtered)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:42:41
To: BC interior birds

[bcintbird] Interesting yard bird

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:42:41 -0600

Actually it was foraging in my neighbour's car port and wood pile, but
yesterday when I returned home from a shopping trip, I heard the
distinctive "chink, chink" call of a Canyon Wren and found it with binos
across the street. This is not the first time I've seen one in our
neighbourhood in

[bcintbird] Collared Swans

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:17:48 -0600

Periodically, members of our group have reported neck-collared Tundra Swans
and we have been able to get information that all have been collared on
their breeding grounds near King Salmon, Alaska. I was just reading about
Tundra Swan P851 which was in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge near
Vancouver, Washington last January 18.

[bcintbird] New file uploaded to bcintbird

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:55:46 -0600

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the bcintbird
group.

File : /BC Winter List.xls
Uploaded by : marven007ca <(email address filtered)>
Description :

Re: [bcintbird] Re: Bird Population Estimates

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:58:28 -0600

Hi Dick
We have seen several species of owls on BBS both in Pemberton and Lake Cowichan. I do agree with you on the data though.

Derrick Marven
North Cowichan, BC

________________________________
From: Dick Cannings <(email address filtered)>
To: (email address filtered)
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 10:18 AM
Subject: RE: [bcintbird] Re: Bird Population Estimates

[bcintbird] bohemian waxwings

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:34:31 -0600

Hi all.

While on a walk through the snow up above our place I saw a flock of ~50 bohemian waxwings.

Cheers,
Janna Leslie,
Naramata

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

RE: [bcintbird] Re: Bird Population Estimates

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:40:51 -0600

Hi Jeremy:

I can only guess that they were detected on some BBS route somewhere,
sometime, and that one event was extrapolated to a healthy population! (see
my previous post)

Dick Cannings

Penticton, BC

http://dickcannings.com

From: (email address filtered) [mailto:(email address filtered)] On Behalf
Of mcbirder
Sent: January-22-12 11:09 PM
To: (email address filtered)
Subject:

RE: [bcintbird] Re: Bird Population Estimates

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:18:36 -0600

Hi birders:

A word about these population estimates. Most of them are based on Breeding
Bird Survey data that is then turned in to population density estimates
which are multiplied by some area figure. I'm not sure what they do for
owls (which aren't seen on BBS), but the 4000 estimate

RE: [bcintbird] Re: Bird Population Estimates

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:36:46 -0600

That is odd Jeremy. I would send a note to the folks at PIF and ask about
their sources. I noticed the pop estimate for Barn Owl was 4000. That seems
high to me. Let's hope the estimator has some real data behind it.

Rick Howie

Kamloops

From: (email address

[bcintbird] Re: Bird Population Estimates

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:08:32 -0600

Speaking of variable quality, I was a little perplexed by the inclusion of Chestnut-sided Warbler and Brown Thrasher on the BC list. Not only that, they both have an estimated provincial population of 1300. I know there is the odd report east of the Rockies for each of

[bcintbird] Bohemian Waxwings at last

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:36:35 -0600

Hi birders:

I had a flock of about 30 Bohemian Waxwings in my yard this morning-about 2
and a half months late, but better late than never!

Dick Cannings

Penticton, BC

http://dickcannings.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[bcintbird] Summerland report for January 22nd

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:32:32 -0600

Birders,

I made my usual trip from the Adams Bird Sanctuary (ABS) to Crescent
Beach,thence to Trout Creek. I was pleased with a count of 26 species
when things are so slow right now. I was especially pleased with some
findings. For example, a lone Robin; I was so so excited