Vancouver, day one

On Thursday November 24th I flew to Vancouver, British Columbia to meet up with my wife and son. While waiting for them at the airport I saw the two expected year birds - Northwestern Crow and Glaucous-winged Gull.

Together, we drove to the nearby Iona Island and found a large flock of Snow Geese in and around a parking lot! We then walked a short way onto the south jetty where we saw few birds including a cooperative Northern Shrike. The only ducks in the water were a few Bufflehead. Three Lincoln Sparrows were in the bushes as we walked back to the car.

Northern Shrike

At a stop along the road we saw three Hooded Mergansers, but the highlight of the day was a Short-eared Owl - an ABA bird for me, and the first I had seen since I had one in Rainham in 1982! This was being harassed by a crow forcing it to fly
high in the sky.

Hooded Merganser (female)

My wife and son had seen Trumpeter Swans and Brant on their drive from Seattle to Vancouver. These were hoped-for year birds for me, but alas I did not see these on my trip.

Trumpeter Swans