Friday, June 21, 2013

June 21--Another Lark Bunting!

Getting kind of "old news" now, but I still desperately need one at least!

This morning Mike Bentley had a male LARK BUNTING in his backyard in Fernie, BC.

*No subsequent reports. Stay tuned...

Sunday, June 16, 2013

June 13-15: Brown Thrasher--North Coast

"1 individual at the Hakai Beach Institute site [CALVERT ISLAND, NE of Port Hardy].  Feeds around grass clippings and compost pile during periods when few people around (when relatively easy to observe; shy when many people around).  Has been present since at least 13/06/2013" ---Brian Starzomski (photos)
*First found by Keith Jordan.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

June 8--WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER

Isn't June supposed to be the worst month for shorebirds? Well today Daniele Mitchell photographed this
WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER at Robert Lake in Kelowna. It was present from 4:30pm to around 8:30pm when it disappeared.  It has not been seen since. This is the first photographed WR for the Okanagan and
is probably the second all time for the area. 

Friday, June 7, 2013

LEAST AUKLET and more off BC!

From Barbara Carlson:

[Reporting for Paul Lehman]

Yesterday, 6 June, Paul Lehman and Larry Peavler were cruising south in BC waters on their way back to San Francisco. They saw an adult LEAST AUKLET paralleling the boat for three minutes! It was flying with Cassin's Auklets. This was 97 km northwest of the northwest tip of Vancouver Island.

They also saw an adult Thick-billed Murre approximately 55 km east of the south end of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Late in the day, they had a MANX SHEARWATER behind a trawler approximately 50 km west off central Vancouver Island.

Earlier in the day, traveling through Hecate Strait, they saw a mass of dark shearwaters, some 80,000 Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwaters. A large number of these were molting Short-tailed, which is unusual for BC waters at this time of year.

Throughout the day, large numbers of Leach's Storm-Petrels (2,600) were seen. Also were some 700 Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, 700 Ancient Murrelets, and 11,000 Cassin Auklets. There were 180 total number of Black-footed Albatross, with 125 of these being behind the same trawler where they beheld the Manx Shearwater.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

June 6--Another Lark Bunting!

Well, here's the third male LARK BUNTING of the spring for the Kootenays! Cam Gillies photographed one in Brisco (North of Invermere) today while conducting is annual Breeding Bird Survey (See MAP).

Sunday, June 2, 2013

PARAKEET AUKLETS AND MURPHY'S PETREL - Vancouver Island June 1st

June 1---Just heard from Paul Lehman, who just passed through BC waters on a cruise bound for Alaska. Among the regulars he reports a single MURPHY'S PETREL off Vancouver Island (Heck Seamount), as well as 7 PARAKEET AUKLETS and 1 SOUTH POLAR SKUA off the west coast of Haida Gwaii.