Migrant Worker

This weekend I was out searching for migrants and was actually relatively successful!  In my last post, I was griping about the lack of results I was getting while scanning the fields and hilltops for Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaires, and Say's Phoebes.  I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of shorebirds on the flooded fields and couldn't wait for the next wave of spring arrivals.  That time has arrived!

I must admit, after writing that post I went out the next day and had a bird I was quite pleased to encounter.  I spent a few hours out with Jeremy K. and we started at Summit Park.  Before he arrived, I booked around the northern half of the park and lucked out with my first Chipping Sparrow of the year.  When Jeremy K. arrived, we were walking around the reservoir and I picked up on a familiar song.  It's wasn't familiar from a Victoria standpoint, but rather from the work I do in northern Alberta.  It was the song of a White-throated Sparrow and we managed to quickly locate the bird.  It was an immaculate specimen and I had to work a bit to get a shot of it, but it was worth the effort.  I think that sighting was how I got my groove back.  In your face, Stella!

White-throated Sparrows don't get much sweeter than this one!  It was great to hear it belt out its signature "Oh-sweet-Canada-Canada" song.

Alright, now let's get back to this weekend where my groove was in full effect.  Apparently my direction-reading skills were pretty diminished as I did my volunteer Sky Lark census a day early, but my bird-finding skills were going strong.  While circling the Victoria International Airport on Saturday morning, I had two female American Kestrels, an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk, and - the big highlight - a Whimbrel.  The Whimbrel was calling as it flew over and then it doubled back and landed in a recently plowed field along Willingdon Rd.  I was really hoping for a Long-billed Curlew, but a Whimbrel is certainly a good find!

After the survey was over, I made a stop in at Saanichton Spit and kept the trend of interesting birds rolling when I spotted a bulky swallow-like bird overhead.  A quick look through the bins confirmed this all-dark bird was the first reported Purple Martin of the spring in British Columbia.  The only other birds of note there were a lone breeding-plumaged Dunlin, two Greater Yellowlegs, a couple of peeps (presumably Leasts) that I only saw flying, and an American Pipit calling as it flew over.

I decided to drive home by cutting across Central Saanich Rd. and this turned out to be a very good plan!  While passing the rather tantalizing agricultural fields on the west side of the road, I pulled over on a whim, hopped and jumped the ditch, and then scanned the field from the fence.  One skinny, plastic pole out in the middle of the fields appeared to have a bird-like shape on top of it and that object appeared to be blue.  I quickly jumped back over the ditch, grabbed my scope, hopped back over the ditch, checked if the shape was still there, dropped the tripod legs, and finally had the scope focused on the spot.  At that moment I knew what the bluebird of happiness was all about - I was thrilled to see a male Mountain Bluebird after putting in the hours over the last two weeks!  I watched it for a bit and then got distracted by a flock of American Pipits.  When I went to look at the bluebird again, that sky blue scoundrel had given me the slip.  It was nice while it lasted.

I thought I'd hit up the flooded fields and flats around my place in the early afternoon in hopes of more good shorebirds.  I started at Maber Flats where the only shorebirds were two Killdeer and a couple of Greater Yellowlegs.  I moved on to Oldfield Rd. and bumped in to Ed Pellizzon and we played catch up while enjoying an incredible raptor display.  The first raptor was a Cooper's Hawk that I spotted sitting on the ground while walking to meet Ed.  The hawk spotted me and took off with something in its talons.  I just managed to discern that it had taken a European Starling - keep up the good work!  Next, we watched a single immature Bald Eagle circling with a kettle of ravens (I counted approximately 40 at one point).  Shortly after, two Red-tailed Hawks crossed over the flats and we were surprised at how pale one of them appeared.  I am not sure if it's a light-morph Harlan's Red-tailed or a light-morph of our usual Western Red-taileds, but it certainly stood out.  We also tallied a Sharp-shinned passing over and then a Peregrine Falcon made an impressive pass over the flooded fields.  Just before Ed and I parted, we were treated to a return pass from the Sharp-shinned Hawk and this time it was carrying what appeared to be a vole in its talons.

Moving ahead to Sunday, I tried birding out a Ten Mile Point which was not all too exciting.  The best sighting was a pair of Marbled Murrelets - one in breeding plumage and the other still wearing its winter duds.  I also enjoyed a group of cooperative Pine Siskins and managed to snap a close-up shot when one delicately perched on a dead grass stems only a couple metres away.

Pine Siskins are currently here in full force and it's hard to go anywhere without encountering several flocks.

After Ten Mile Point, I then flip-flopped on where to go and ended up putting in half an hour at Mount Tolmie.  I parked in the lot just below the summit and walked out to a viewpoint that looks over the north slope.  I braved the heavy drizzle and scanned the oaks with my bare eyes just hoping for movement.  On cue, a bird crossed the gap and I managed to get my bins on it just in time to see the bird was sporting nice buffy wing bars.  I've filed that field mark in my head as Townsend's Solitaire and when the bird landed, I was able to confirm that's exactly what it was.  I carefully made my way down the slope and managed to get great views and some photos of the solitaire.  What a treat!

This seems to be how I see most of my Townsend's Solitaires locally - they love open, rocky Garry Oak hillsides!

Next weekend I will be heading off to Fort McMurray for work, so hopefully I will have time to take a day off this week that I can dedicate to birding.  I want to hit up Jordan River or even further west in hopes of turning up some interesting migrants.  If it doesn't happen, the next update might come from far afield.

The Lull

It shouldn't feel like we're in a lull, should it?  There is, however, just a hint of a lull in the air.  We had that brilliant wave of warm weather and migrants came rushing in.  It went from a bunch of the resident songbirds starting to warm up their pipes to flashy Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers singing all over the place, Rufous Hummingbirds whirring by, and swallows darting over the local water bodies.  We're past that now, it's quite chilly again, and I find myself waiting for the next wave of excitement.

There are a few birds that could bring delight during this lull, but I haven't been into chasing them and I can't seem to find my own.  This is the window that you can find Mountain Bluebirds and Townsend's Solitaires on rocky hilltops, estuaries, or open areas with lots of perches.  Additionally, we're in that blink-and-you-miss-it frame where Say's Phoebes could be found.  I have circumnavigated the airport several times, visited some unconventional hilltops, checked tree farms, and even visited sites that had Mountain Bluebirds a few days earlier, but I still haven't connected with any of them.

Despite my lack of success in the bluebird/solitaire/phoebe department, I have managed to dig out a couple of birds that I am always happy to encounter.  I have checked in on the flooded fields along Oldfield Rd. a couple times in the past week in anticipation of shorebirds rolling in.  I am always greeted by Killdeer, but no yellowlegs or peeps yet.  At this time of year, though, it is always worth sorting through the teal.  Common ("Eurasian") Teal (Anas crecca crecca) is one of the birds I seem to have a knack for finding.  I manage to find at least one every winter or spring at either Maber Flats, Tod Creek Flats, Panama Flats, or along Oldfield Rd.  On April 8th, I had a rather striking male Common Teal flashing its prominent white stripe across its side, which is the result of the lower scapulars being edged in white.

Our local Green-winged Teals (Anas crecca americana) have a vertical white stripe at the shoulder.  On this bird, that mark is absent, but there is an obvious horizontal white stripe that is indicative of a Common Teal.  Other features that point to this being the Eurasian counterpart to our local Green-winged is the courser vermiculations on the flanks, bolder white markings in the facial pattern, and the cream-coloured sliver in front of the vertical black mark near the tail.

I went back to Oldfield yesterday in hopes that the rain had pushed down some shorebirds.  We're still a touch early, but I thought it was worth a shot.  The fields were very quiet so I headed back to the car.  Just as I reached the car, I saw a Common Raven harassing a larger bird.  The combination of the bird's shape and the location threw me off, so I raised my binoculars and immediately noticed a white tail base.  As the bird banked, the wings showed immaculate white flashes.  Picture perfect immature Golden Eagle!  I went to get my camera as I was right beside the car, but the eagle decided to try to shake the raven.  When I reeled around to snap off a couple shots, the Golden Eagle was no longer directly overhead and I had to try to get the shot through the trees.  My manual settings were not ready for the backlighting, so it's really just a record shot of this unexpected beauty!

Even in this underwhelming photo, the white flashes in the wing and size compared to the Common Raven (top) make it easy to tell this is a classic immature Golden Eagle!

So... when is this micro-lull over?  I would say some time in the next week to week and a half.  If you look back through the BCVIBIRDS archives - a very valuable resource - you can see that some of the good shorebirds should start turning up in a week or so.  My fingers are crossed for a self-found Long-billed Curlew or Pacific Golden-Plover, but I am really hoping that someone will turn up a Say's Phoebe.  That is my Victoria nemesis!

Holy Crap: Duncan's Sewage Treatment Ponds

Last Sunday, I decided to reward myself for putting in a day of shopping for my upcoming trip to Thailand.  My plan for the day was to seek out crossbill flocks around Shawnigan Lake due to the prevalence of Western Hemlocks (Tsuga heterophylla).  The White-winged Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera) irruption this year spurred me to check this area because hemlocks are the conifer of choice for that species.  It was a total bust due to my impatience and the lack of good treetop viewing conditions.  I only had two Red Crossbills (L. curvirostris) in the area.  My consolation for the area was a Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttoni) on West Shawnigan Lake Rd.

Due to the lack of crossbill action, I quickly cut the reigns on my idea and decided to head up to Duncan.  I opted to take a side route in to the town, passing Cowichan Bay on the way.  I turned on to the Cowichan Bay Dock Rd. (Westcan Terminal Rd. on Google Maps) and immediately was deterred by the horde of cars parked by the gate.  I decided to continue on and found a trail I had never taken before around a kilometre further along Tzouhalem Rd.  The trail follows a dike around one of the Dinsdale's farm fields, if memory serves me correctly, and it overlooks a section of the Cowichan River estuary that I have never checked before.  The outing wasn't overly productive, but I turned up a couple of Sharp-shinned Hawks (Accipiter striatus), three male Eurasian Wigeons (Anas penelope) among 90 or so Americans (Anas americana), and the most intriguing was a flock of 20+ American Pipits (Anthus rubescens) that vanished into the relatively short grass.  Normally I wouldn't say that a flock of pipits is intriguing, but the paucity of reports this winter locally paired with the fact that the Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) is still in the farm fields near Courtenay made me really want to scan through them carefully.  Perhaps there's something interesting like a japonicus American Pipit mixed in?  Unfortunately I only managed to see only two or three of them peeking up above the grass.  Very frustrating!

I was feeling a little defeated after putting in a pretty solid day's effort and coming out pretty empty-handed, so I decided to hit up the Duncan sewage treatment ponds as a last resort.  I think most people know how enamoured birders are with garbage dumps and sewage treatment facilities, but there is a reason!  Birds find our toilet flushings to be the best thing since sliced bread.  I think that saying even works because gulls and ducks love bread.

Look at all those gloriously disgusting scaups and gulls drawn to our waste!

I am now back from Thailand and see that I did not complete this post.  Nice!  I guess three weeks late is better than no post at all.  So, rather than wax poetic about fuzzy details, I'll just get to the stars of the show. One bird that immediately jumped out from the group of gulls closest to the corner I was viewing the ponds (near the Freshwater Eco-Centre) was a second-winter Glaucous Gull!

The overall creamy white colouration and pale iris point to this Glaucous Gull being a second year.

Mmmm... Duncan leavings!

Can you tell the Glaucous Gull ruled the roost?

The other bird was found while carefully scanning through the Lesser Scaups (Aythya affinis) and Ring-necked Ducks (A. collaris) for something like a Tufted Duck (A. fuligula).  One bird had a dark back much like a Ring-necked Duck, but everything else about it was more scaup-like.  It turned out that it was both - a hybrid Ring-necked Duck x Scaup sp.!  Have a look for yourself:

You'll have to forgive the quality, but the bird was quite far away!  The second duck from the left on the back pipe is the hybrid.  You can see the mantle shade is lighter than the black chest, the bird has a broad pale band on its bill, and lacks the obvious white shoulder spur of a Ring-necked.  For reference, you can see all the other birds on the pipes are Lesser Scaup with the exception of the rightmost bird on the second closest pipe (I'm including the pipe you can only see a sliver of in the bottom left), which is a Ring-necked Duck.

Flapping, but blurry so you can't really get much out of it.

You can see the broad pale band on the bill a little better here.

And just one last horrible record shot just for in case it adds a little something.

If you want to see the Glaucous Gull, it has now probably moved its way up to the Parksville-Qualicum area, so head up there for some great gulling in the next few weeks!

Symbolic Sight

I am back on Canadian soil after a three week trip to Thailand with Janean.  I have caught up on BCVIBIRDS and see that spring is approaching rapidly.  Tree and Violet-green Swallows are being seen hawking insects over local marshes, the herring have spawned up Island and gulls have concentrated along the shores to feast on roe, and Yellow-rumped Warblers are singing.

The timing of my Thailand trip was perfect: leave in the winter and come back to spring migration!  I was zipped out the Vantreight bulb fields late this afternoon and a particular event seemed be the perfect symbol for the transition from winter to spring.  The small reservoir along Wallace Dr.surrounded by the agricultural fields had an overwintering Yellow-rumped Warbler, which I saw a month or so ago.  It is quite possibly a "Myrtle" Warbler based on the whitish throat and sharper chip note, which is heard often as it darts out of the willows to snap up insects.  Today, I immediately heard this bird and then saw the rather drab-looking bird, which could be a female.  Then, I heard a more typical "Audubon's" Warbler call note from across the pond.  I walked around to the other side of the pond and found a dazzling male "Audubon's" in the blackberry brambles.  Around this small reservoir, I had a drab Yellow-rumped that had spent the winter and a newly arrived male.  We are in this transition.

Certain birds are cuing up spring, but look around and you'll see the local flora is also putting out signs and if you're willing to look extra close you will see the invertebrate fauna is also providing a suite of symbols, as well.  I have seen flies moving about, a few tiger beetles were out at Saanichton Spit, and I may have even heard a bee zip by today.  I look forward to getting out for an outing on the weekend to see what else is around!

Right-breasted Nuthatch

In this case, White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is the right-breasted nuthatch.  In the Victoria checklist area, they are considered accidental according to the 2001 checklist and it's a bird I've always wanted to see locally.  Imagine my surprise when I checked BCVIBIRDS midday on Friday and learned that Mike Shepard had found a White-breasted Nuthatch along Cedar Hill X Rd. near the Uplands Golf Club.  Janean and I had to run a work-related errand in the Ten Mile Point area to finish our work day, so we made a quick attempt around 4 p.m.  A birding army of three was already there doing their best to find the rarity from the east.  We all put in a good effort, but we just couldn't turn any of the Red-breasted Nuthatches (S. canadensis) into the sought-after species.

Janean had a running course and pottery the next day, so I decided to walk the 10 kilometres from Commonwealth Pool to the golf course.  I managed to get back in the vicinity of the previous day's sighting by 11 a.m., which gave me more than an hour to search for the nuthatch.  Mike McGrenere rolled up beside me on his bike while I was still walking and he slowed his pace to join me for the last half kilometre.  We decided to split up to maximize the ground we were covering, but we were luckily spared our futile efforts when Jeff Gaskin popped out to advise us the bird was being seen along the edge of the golf course.  He led us along the fence that separates the golf course from a gated community and we soon saw Aziza Cooper and Mary Robichaud beaming as they watched the White-breasted Nuthatch clinging to the side of a pine tree.  Rarities just don't get much more confiding, granted you can find it in the first place!

Like I said... confiding!

Finally I have photos that I don't have to call "record shots"!

It looks like the White-breasted Nuthatch found a pine seed hidden in the cracks of the bark - score!

As if seeing the White-breasted Nuthatch wasn't enough, the line of pines had some great bird activity.  The added highlights were dozens of Red-breasted Nuthatches in the trees and on the ground and a flock of Red Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) systematically stripping the pine cones of their seeds.  I decided to try to get a photo of the crossbills and had the most amazing views of a few individuals that were so content feeding that they paid me no mind.  In fact, one male dropped from a cone a few metres away to an even closer cone and then to another cone even closer still.  I actually had to take a step back to be able to focus my lens!  I also had a humorous event involving the Red-breasted Nuthatches when I noticed the White-breasted around 30 metres away.  I decided to beeline to it and as I approached I had at least two Red-breasted Nuthatches fly out from under my feet!  The pine trees were creating a buffet for several species and they were not about to let a few nosy humans stop them from capitalizing on it!

This is just one example of the non-stop Red-breasted Nuthatch action going on under the pines.

Here's another shot of a Red-breasted Nuthatch picking through the needle litter.

I could have nearly reached out and grabbed this Red Crossbill after it moved one cone closer!

And here's the prize the crossbills were using their specialized bills to extract from the cones - amazing!

Canada's First Orange-flanked Bush-Robin

That was my attempt to confuse and delight your senses... did it work?  Orange-flanked Bush-Robin is another name for a wee Asian flycatcher many British Columbia birders are now familiar with: the Red-Flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus).

On January 13, 2013, a birder by the name of Colin McKenzie visited Queens Park in New Westminster and saw a bird that had him drawing a blank.  He studied the bird and jotted down some detailed notes and passed the information on to George Clulow and Mike Toochin.  I am not sure what exactly the notes said, but I envision it being something along these lines: "Small brown-backed bird with red flanks and a blue tail." Regardless of what his notes actually said, it was enough to convince George and Mike that the bird in question was almost certainly a Red-flanked Bluetail.  I follow sightings in North America close enough to know this species has turned up on islands off California, including one just over a year ago on San Clemente Island.  Every time something of that magnitude turns up in California, I wonder if it had to pass by British Columbia or whether they sneak by hundreds of kilometres offshore.  Either way, I always hoped an Asian flycatcher would be turned up in British Columbia some day.  Well... it happened!

My first chance to try for the mega rarity was January 19, but the Brothers Kimm - Jeremy and Jason - put the invite out to head out on the 20th instead.  I accepted and contacted my good friend, Tom Plath, to see if he would be up for picking up three wishful birders at the ferry terminal.  Tom was more than happy to oblige, which was great because I have very poor navigational skills on the Lower Mainland.  Our plan was set then - Jason would head down from Duncan, pick us up, and we'd walk on the ferry and meet Tom on the other side.  A minor hitch the morning of the twitch day came in the form of Jeremy K.'s car rolling up to my place and no sign of Jason.  Apparently Jason forgot to set his alarm and woke up around the time he was supposed to be at his brother's place.  Jeremy K. wasn't about to let the day go to waste, especially when we had a ride waiting for us on the other side, so he took matters into his own hands.  We booked it to the ferry terminal and Jason decided he would still try to make it in time.  I am not sure how he did it, but he managed to be the second-to-last walk-on passenger on the ferry.  Crisis and guilt averted!

Tom was waiting for at the Tsawwassen terminal and he was in good form.  He got us down to Queens Park in good time and it was one of those anticlimactic twitches where there is minimal work required to find the target.  The paparazzi was on the scene as expected, but it didn't seem like anyone was intently staring at the bird when we arrived.  Within a couple minutes of assessing the area, I saw a bird fly in and land at the top of a low perch.  I saw a few Red-flanked Bluetails on my trip to Thailand and this bird brought in a flood of memories.  The bird was sporting a warm brown back, orange-red flanks, a blue tail that varied in vibrancy depending on the light, a prominent white eyering, and a dingy brown wash the upper chest that was contrasted by its white throat.

The morning light and slight fog created a rather ethereal setting for the Red-flanked Bluetail.

After our entire group had great looks at the bird, we relaxed and spent the next couple hours casually watching the bird, chatting with fellow birders, taking some photos, and shaking our heads at the shuffling, bumbling photo mob.  Publicity for birds is a bit of a double-edged sword and the Red-flanked Bluetail was a great example.  One one hand, many people learned about this rare bird and were interested in catching a glimpse.  This brings about a greater awareness and appreciation for wildlife.  The flip side of the coin is the inexperienced masses coming out to catch a glimpse of this Asian vagrant and maybe even get a photo.  The end result is a bird that has to work a little harder to stay alive because it is continually flushed by people getting a little too close.  Luckily this bird seemid quite adept at foraging and the coldest snap of the winter is likely behind us.

I know the whole twitching thing is not for everyone, but it's pretty cool to go see a bird that you'll almost certainly never see on Canadian soil again in your lifetime!  I'll wrap this up with a big thanks again to Tom for being the commander-in-chief and Jason and Jeremy K. for being two good twitching buddies.  The perfect recipe for a good twitch is seeing the target bird and having good company!  A few more pictures of this beauty should be a nice way to finish off this post.

The Red-flanked Bluetail stayed in the shadows for the most part, which made getting nice photos very tricky.  Although not the crispest photo, this shows off the namesake blue tail perfectly.

Ooooh... look at that red flank!

This photo shows off that contrasting white throat nicely - great bird!

Successful Brambling Scrambling, but Sapsuckin' Ain't Easy!

You may remember the Cattle Point Entrance Oaks Effect from November where Ian Cruickshank's sighting of a Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) spurred birders to descend upon the site resulting in Steven Roias finding an Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans).  My parodied title references the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect, but I think a new catchall title for these events on southern Vancouver Island is needed.  I believe I will call them the "Ian Cruickshank is Human Effect".  In these events, we realize that Ian's preternatural birding abilities are still human - he sees nearly everything but throws us a scrap to clean up every now and again.

On January 9th, Ian strolled into the neighbourhood to the south of Camosun College's Lansdowne Campus during a break between classes.  Naturally, the combination of luck and skill led him to a sapsucker that he felt was likely a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius).  The verdict is still not set in stone on this bird, but it definitely looks good for a Yellow-bellied.  There are so many pitfalls in sapsucker identification due to the frequency of hybridization.  Regardless of the bird's identity, birders again flocked to the scene of Ian's find.  A couple of Mikes - Shepard and McGrenere - were in attendance and encountered a bird that had some features that led them to believe they had seen a Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla).  The Shepard variety of Mike managed a photo of the bird in question and upon further scrutiny he confirmed it was indeed a Brambling.  What an amazing rarity pair in one neighbourhood!

I got back from Ontario the same day the sapsucker was discovered, but I had to wait until the weekend for a chance at catching up with the wayward duo.  I rolled up to Watson St. this morning at 8:30 a.m. and a few other birders were already patrolling the neighborhood.  The ground was downright frigid and the air had a chill, but I intended to stick it out until I had laid eyes on both the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Brambling.

There was no shortage of bird activity to distract me while searching for the rarities. A couple of Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) and a rather pale Merlin (F. columbarius) - possibly a taiga bird (ssp. columbarius) - were in the area.  One of the Peregrines seems to favour a big deciduous tree near the corner of Richmond Rd. and Watson St.  Additionally, a Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor) put in a brief appearance.

The silence was broken just before 11:00 a.m. when Rob Gowan exclaimed "I see it... I've got the Brambling!"  Those in proximity raced over, but it was too late.  The sought-after Asian finch had dropped back out of view between Cochrane St. and Forrester St.  The search committee waited for several minutes before a few got antsy and decided to head over to Forrester to see if it popped out on that side.  Classic mistake, but luckily it didn't end in tears or night terrors.  The bird flew back in to an oak in front of me and it quickly dropped down to the edge of a driveway.  I managed to get David Newell, Ian, and Rob Gowan on the bird and we were able to enjoy the bird briefly before it vanished towards Watson.  As I mentioned, the choice to head to Forrester St. wasn't a tick-or-cry situation.  The Brambling returned time and time again for the rest of the day to the feeder in behind a house on the corner of Cochrane St. and Dean Ave.

View Brambling feeder in a larger map
I managed a few shots of the Brambling through the fence, which I've cropped to make it look normal.  The lighting was poor, but I am managed some so-so shots.

This is only the second Brambling I have seen, with the first being nearly ten years ago!

Any tips on aging and sexing this species is appreciated.  I think the remnant grey in the hood puts this in the male camp, but is it a first-winter or after hatch-year (AHY) bird?

After seeing the Brambling, the search for the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was on.  It was not to be, though.  Several of us paced the streets back and forth, focusing on a few trees that have visibly been utilized by the sapsucker in the last few days.  Ian started getting antsy because the sun was shining and we were just wandering back and forth, so we pooled in my car with fellow searcher, Jason Straka, for a short jaunt out towards the Ten Mile Point area.  We didn't dig up anything unusual, but a stop on the corner of Queenswood Dr. and Arbutus Rd. was delightfully bustling with Red Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) in the cone-laden conifers and Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) in a hawthorn loaded with fruits.

The colours of this sight will warm up any soul in below-zero temperatures!

After meandering our way out to Ten Mile Point, we made our way back to the rarity zone for a last ditch effort for the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  No dice.  They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't apply here.  I think absence makes you nervous in the birding world.  I'm going to  put in a short effort for the bird on Sunday and then I won't be able to try again until the next weekend.