Blue-grey Gnatcatcher near Pemberton

June 28--John Tschopp with this report: "While dealing with a customer in front of our shop, a small drab bird landed on the wooden fence. It was doing a lot of flitting and flying to and fro, Kinglet like behavior. Size about like Kinglet, but longer tail. In flight two prominent white marks would show on the lower half of tail. Distance 15 feet, no binoculars, no picture. Warm, overcast, no wind. At last it flew up into spruce chasing bugs along branches."


For location, click HERE.


No follow-up sightings yet.

May/June 2012--Raining Black-throated Sparrows in BC

This spring has seen a remarkable influx of Black-throated Sparrows into southern Coastal and Central BC with a minimum of nine birds reported. In order of occurrence, with the most recent first:

26 June 2012 - Chutter Ranch near Merritt, Nicola Valley (Jarrod Hobbs)

14 June 2012 - Cinnamon Ridge access rd., Tranquille, Kamloops (Ellie Hill)

13 June 2012 - 5km west of Hope Airport (Rick Toochin): a different bird to the following

11 June 2012 - Jacks place, Delair Road, Hope Airport area (Rick Toochin): photo below

11 June 2012 - Scarfe Building, UBC (Tracy Lau)

11 June 2012 - Bridge Pond, Squamish River Estuary (Chris Dale): video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK3Qawd1OTs

9 June 2012 - start of Grant Narrows Trail, Pitt Lake (Roger and Andrew Foxall): still present 10 June with a second individual also reported.

27 May 2012 - Front and Alberts St., Yale (Aaron Gaffney): photo below

10 May 2012 - Osoyoos Airport (Doug Brown)

Black-throated Sparrow @ Hope Airport, 12 June 2012 (Rick Toochin)

Black-throated Sparrow in Yale, 27 May 2012 (Aaron Gaffney)

BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD in the Blaeberry

May 30--Doug Leighton is reporting a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird form his feeder in the Blaeberry (near Golden). Here is his report to eBird:

"Counting dusk hummer swarm at feeder at 9:55 PM (8:55 Pacific) when this obviously larger bird arrived to feed; had Nat Geo book at hand and clearly saw all other key features (including tail) with direct comparison to female RUHUs beside it. . Too late for photos tonight but I am 100% certain on this ID."

May 31--Update: Doug has been watching the feeders all morning and no BT yet. If it shows up again he would be happy to welcome birders so stayed tuned.

May 17-27: Acorn Woodpecker in Merritt

For more, click HERE.

BLACK-THROATED SPARROW in Yale

The bird was spotted by Aaron Gaffney in a yard at Front and Alberts Street in Yale. The bird was first spotted at 2pm and was seen briefly at the bird bath. It then flew up into a nearby fruit tree and then off towards a strip of trees by the river.

Photo: Aaron Gaffney 

YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER in Revelstoke

Harry van Oort has just reported a singing male Yellow-throated Warbler near his house in Revelstoke. The bird was heard and seen briefly earlier this morning but has not been seen since. This is only the second Yellow-throated Warbler record for BC and if it is found again, more details will be posted.

Yellow-throated Warbler in Revelstoke, 26 May 2012 (Harry van Oort)

SNOWY EGRET in Victoria

At 9:30am on May 25, Warren Drinnan found a Snowy Egret at Panama Flats in Victoria.

The bird was still present on the morning of May 29 (R. Shortinghuis).

Photo by Amelie Rousseau

Lesser Goldfinch in Princeton

May 19-20: Sue Elwell had a LESSER GOLDFINCH visit her Princeton-area feeder on these dates.

We will let you know if it returns!

White-faced Ibis - Kelowna

May 20--This WHITE-FACED IBIS was found by Gwynneth Wilson et al. in the morning but it apparently stayed throughout most of the day. No word yet whether or not it is sticking around.

[Photo: Dean O'Dea]

This was at the mouth of Mission Creek in Kelowna. To check, drive south on Pandosy/Lakeshore Drive from Hwy 97, then turn right onto Bluebird Dr after crossing Mission Ck. From the end of Bluebird you can scan the sandy spit at the mouth of the creek.

Acorn Woodpecker in Sunshine Valley

An Acorn Woodpecker has been coming to a feeder in Sunshine Valley near Hope. Thanks to Brian Carson for the sighting. For more information on how to view the bird or to see more pictures please visit the link below. It was again seen today (May 18th).
http://bcbirding.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=rarebirds&action=display&thread=5431