At 1:10pm on July 1-2017, Penny Hall found an Ash-throated Flycatcher in Port Alberni. She had good looks at the bird through her bins for 3 mins. The bird was sitting on a fence and when she approached it, the bird flew from the fence into the trees. She tried to relocate the bird into the evening but could not relocate the bird.
Directions to where the bird was last seen: Enter the trail at the bottom of Mozart Road and follow the trail along the farmer's fence line to where the big boulders are and the bird was last seen in the stand of trees right next to the cleared field.
Map to the exact location of where the bird was seen HERE
The bird has not been relocated since the initial sighting.
At 4:30pm on June 17-2017, Ted Ardley found a female Acorn Woodpecker at a feeder at his home near Aldersmith Park off Burnside Rd W and Meadow Park Lane near the Eagle View Elementary school.
The bird was viewed by multiple observers as of 6:05pm.
Directions: Park along Meadow Park Lane and walk to the end where you see a small round about and communal mail box. This is one of the entrances to Aldersmith Park. Go to the right on the trail along a chain link fence and just a few yards in look over the fence at some feeders there in a stand of Garry oaks behind the trailer.
At 6:15am on June 8-2017, Emily Williams and Emily Smith found a male Chestnut-collared Longspur, 2.5 hours north of Golden. The bird was on the east side of the Bush Arm causeway off the Bush River FSR near the south end of Kinbasket Lake. The bird was calling and foraging in the grassy area near black peat moss and driftwood. It flew across to the west side of the causeway but returned back to the east side. They observed the bird or over 20 minutes. Emily Williams relocated it and photographed it there at 9:15 am, the following day (June 9th).
The bird was not seen on June 10th.
Male Chestnut-collared Longspur - Photo: Emily Williams
At 8:30 am on June 11-2017, Hugh Griffith, Margaret Butschler and Steffany Walker found a male Chestnut-sided Warbler at Terra Nova Park in Richmond during the monthly bird survey for the Parks Department for the City of Richmond. The bird was singing his "pleased pleased pleased to meet you" song and moving 10 m up through the line of Douglas Fir Trees between the playground with the climbing tower and the slough which is east of the playground. The bird later landed 10 metres away at eye level on a conspicuous perch allowing for great clear views for about 10 seconds. Hugh described the bird as having a bright white underside, bright yellow cap and a black moustache. He said it also had a bold chestnut stripe along both sides of its body. He nor anyone else was carrying a camera with them and therefore did not photograph the bird. The Terra Nova Adventure Playground is located at the end of River Rd before the dyke.
The bird was relocated by Cole Gaerber in the conifers in the south east corner of the big pond at 7:15pm. It was last heard singing in the deciduous trees at the SW corner of the big pond.
The bird was not relocated on June 12th, despite multiple observers looking.
On June 10th, 2017, Marie Revoy found and photographed an Ash-throated Flycatcher at Wilson Creek Estuary off Field Rd in Sechelt.
On the morning of June 11th, Arnold Skei relocated the bird at the same location. The bird was seen in small alders near the boat trailers. There are 2 man made ponds on the west side inside of a gated area. It was later seen in alder trees on the right side of the first pond with the most water. It was silent the whole time he was present.
The bird was last seen in the same location as of 2:35pm on June 11th. It has not been relocated since.
At 12:30pm on June 1-2017, Lev Frid spotted an immature Short-tailed Albatross during a pelagic run from the Whale Centre out of Tofino. The bird was 35 nautical miles SSW of Tofino in a flock of Black-footed Alabatrosses. Captain John Forde was able to obtain a photo of the bird, as it sat on the water. Multiple observers, who were part of an Eagle-Eye birding tour, were able to observe the bird until 1:15pm when it flew by the boat and disappeared.
First House Swift in the Americas & First for the ABA, found in Delta, BC.
Photo: Derek Tan
"UBC zoologists have documented the first record of a
House Swift in the Americas—and begun to unravel the mystery of how the
tiny bird got from its south-east Asia breeding grounds to Ladner, BC.“These birds are amazing fliers and can stay airborne
for months at a time, but there wouldn’t have been enough insect prey to
sustain him properly over the mid-Pacific. The mystery is what sent him
so far off course.”
The bird’s well preserved but near-emaciated carcass was discovered
in May 2012 near the Deltaport container terminal, just 40 metres from
the Pacific Ocean.“Like some marathon runners, I think this fellow finally saw land and
just crashed, exhausted, at the finish line,” says Ildiko Szabo, a
curator at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and forensic ornithologist who
led the identification of the specimen.
“These birds are amazing fliers and can stay airborne for months at a
time, but there wouldn’t have been enough insect prey to sustain him
properly over the mid-Pacific. The mystery is what sent him so far off
course.”
In a paper published today in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology,
Szabo and co-authors, including UBC researcher Darren Irwin, propose
that either a storm set the bird off course, or even more likely, his
internal navigation ’compass’ malfunctioned.“Our initial reaction was skepticism that this would be such an
unusual species,” says Irwin, who studies how new bird species arise.
“But by combining a review of the bird’s characteristics with DNA
testing, we were able to confirm that this was indeed a House Swift from
Asia, making this an exceptional case of vagrancy.”
The prospect of the bird hitching a ride by ship or plane is
unlikely, say the authors. Swifts don’t typically roost on ships, and
the bird would have needed to be airborne to feed over at least portions
of the journey. The near perfect condition of the swift’s feathers also
indicates it wasn’t trapped in a plane’s wheel well.There were no indications of trauma, parasites, disease or oiling.
But the 13-centimetre swift was very underweight, and had entirely
depleted its fat stores.
House swifts (Apus nipalensis) range west to Bhutan, and as
far east as Honshu Island, Japan. And until now, this species had never
been found in the Americas. Other swift species from Asia have reached
the Alaskan islands, and European swifts have occasionally successfully
completed Atlantic crossings.The discovery is likely to excite
birdwatchers and cause a cascade of bird list updates—the species needs
to be added to the Greater Vancouver Area, British Columbia, Canadian
and American Birders Association Area bird lists.
Not only is this the first record of this species in the Americas, it is also of course, the first ABA and BC record.
You can watch a video below of Beaty Biodiversity Museum curator and forensic ornithologist Ildiko
Szabo as she discusses the House Swift that ranged across the Pacific
from Asia to Ladner, BC.
At 7:30am on May 26-2017, while conducting a seawatch at the Victoria Golf Course, Geoffrey Newell heard a Red-throated Pipit call 6 times as it flew North past Gonzales Point in Victoria.
The bird has not been relocated as of posting time.
At 4:20pm on May 13-2017, while working on the FV Nordic Pearl, Lindsay Dealy found and photographed two immature Short-tailed
albatross. She had the birds in view for 15 mins.
An exact GPS location of where the birds were was 48°50'22.0"N 126°18'56.6"W and is pinned on a map HERE. The birds were in a flock of Black-footed Albatrosses that were following the vessel.
One of 2 immature Short-tailed Albatrosses seen off Tofino - Photo: Lindsay Dealy
2 immature Short-tailed Albatrosses off Tofino: Photo - Lindsay Dealy
At 10:15 am on May 15-2017, Daniel Donnecke found and photographed an adult male Hermit Warbler at Mount Douglas Park. The bird was singing and was seen on Glendenning Trail. This is a steep trail that heads straight down into the oaks from the parking lot at the summit, which is located at the end of Churchill Dr.
Daniele saw the bird in the area of the trail where the oaks first hit the conifers. The bird was in an oak tree near the first large douglas fir tree, which is located halfway down the trail. It was in a mixed warbler flock consisting of Orange-crowned, Wilson's, Townsend's and Yellow-rumpeds Warblers.
Ann Nightingale, David Allinson and Mike McGrenere relocated the bird at 1:10pm on May 15th. It was between the 2 douglas firs between the tower and the power lines.
The bird was last seen on May 16th at 8:45pm by the cell tower at the top of the summit on the power line side. It was also seen earlier in the day on the SW slope (48.491307, -123345836) and in the conifer across from the sandy spot on the same trail and on the upper part of Glendenning Trail.
Despite multiple observers looking there was no sign of the bird on May 17th. This trail is very steep and not for those who have mobility issues. The gate to the summit parking lot opens at 12pm.
Map to Glendenning Trail where bird is being seen HERE
A video of the bird singing made by Geoffrey Newell can be seen HERE
**Upon review of new photos (see HERE), the amount of green on the back of the bird concerned me, along with the dark streaks on the bib corner (the area on the side of the chest where the wing tucks in, which is often hidden by the wing) and lower flanks. I have sent all available photos of this bird along with my concerns to a few experts. They were made aware that the photos that concerned me initially were taken in evening light. All information will be sent to the Victoria and BC Bird Records Committee. I will also update the blog with any major developments.
I believe that it is important to be completely transparent and wanted the public to be aware that Silu Wang gave her opinion. She is a Ph.D. candidate in the D.Irwin Lab at UBC and studies Hermit Warblers in the hybrid zone, in the Cascades Region of Washington State. She explained that the bird has a predominantly Hermit Warbler plumage background, but with Townsend's Warbler plumage introgression. She used the hybrid index based on the eight plumage landmarks as specified by Rohwer and Wood (1998). She was presented with all available photos of this bird and viewed them carefully. She estimated the hybrid
index (ranging from 0 to 1, with 0 being pure Hermit Warbler and 1 being pure
Townsend's Warbler) and for this bird she felt he should have a hybrid index of 0.12, which
is smaller than 0.25 (the cutoff
value for Rohwer & Wood 1998 classification). Therefore, based on
Rohwer and Wood 1998 classification, it should be a Hermit Warbler.
However, the fact that it has a hybrid index of 0.12 instead of 0 means that it does
not have a pure Hermit Warbler plumage, and that there are some traces of Townsend's Warbler introgression.
She noted that on another photo by Liam Singh, showed a greenish wash close to the tail covert see HEREShe said that some
hybrids only show a greenish upper back, and the fact that the green goes
quite far down for this bird, further supported TOWA introgression.
She also looked at the video I linked to above by Geoffrey Newell. In that video she noted that when the bird was preening his crown was light grey, but the grey went quite
forward, see screenshot HERE.
She explains that she views this bird as a Hybrid, despite Rohwer and Wood (1998), as stated below:
Rohwer and Wood 1998: Hermit Warbler (because Hybrid index =0.12 <0.25).
Wang et al in prep: hybrid (because Hybrid index =0.12, not 0).
Hermit Warbler in Victoria - Photos above: Liam Singh
Hermit Warbler in Victoria - Photos above: Daniel Donnecke
