Big year: An overview

 Short-eared Owl-Boundary bay

What would a big year blog be without an overview of where I went wrong and what I did right? It's always fun to see the list of missed birds and this year I missed a lot this year.  According to Ebird there were 394 species seen this year, I saw 91 percent of them. That's an A in my book.

Northern Pintail-Reifel

Alot of the birds I missed were one day wonders or late reports or things I could not get to because of work. I won't mention those ones but the ones I could have got, and for the most part, Should have got.

1. Tufted Duck
There was a tufted duck near Cranbrook for almost 2 weeks, I don't exactly remember my reasoning for not going. I had gone to Cranbrook earlier in the year. I was chasing Black-necked Stilts all over the place and turns out I would've gotten one at the same place the Tufted Duck was seen. I did end up going after it later, getting a Ross's Goose out of the deal.

2 Rock Ptarmigan
This was a tough one to miss. I tried for it at Pink Mountain and after a few hours of slogging around up there I gave up. I also wasted a day going to Stone Mountain Park, only to find the gate was locked to the road that goes up the mountain. I held hopes that one would be seen on Mount Steele but birders who went out there never saw any. My last chance was Mt Mackenzie near Quesnel. The 4 day weekend I had planned on going up there I ended up getting a flu and was bedridden for a couple days leaving me no time to get up there. After that it snowed pretty much right after and I had no more chances.

3. Short-tailed Shearwater
I hoped for one on the Pelagics I went on but no such luck, they are generally seen later in season anyways. I was hoping for one when I went to Port Hardy but it was a long shot, I would've gone to Amphrite Point in Ucluelet but even then with my little scope and bad weather, the chances of me being able to see one clearly enough to separate it from a sooty were slim to none.

4. White-faced Ibis
I missed a flock of these at Wasa Sloughs by a day. Vancouver to Cranbrook is a long drive and I ended up birding along the way so by the time I got there it was too late. This year there weren't a lot of big rains in the spring which kept things on the ground. Because of it one day wonders were numerous.

5. Hudsonian Godwit
This was a big surprise because usually one shows up in fall migration either on the coast or Salmon Arm Bay, but none were reported. If I had gone to the peace river in May I might have had a chance, but I didn't have time to make a big trek like that for one or two species.

6. Iceland Gull
One was seen at Robert Lake in March but I was counting on one showing up closer to home.The only other one was in Nanaimo in early December, I hoped I would have time to stop on the way back from seeing the Hooded Oriole but it was already dark.

7. Lesser Black-baked Gull
there was one at Penticton waterfront for 2 days I made it there on the third day and it was gone. It was seen again in Vernon a few weeks later, and again I missed it by two days. Since then no other reports surfaced, and I can say I at least made a valiant effort on the bird.

8. Burrowing Owl
This one was one of those that stings. I for sure thought I would see it, I spent two days in Comox searching the beach, and then a week later I spent another day. It would have been the perfect way to finish my big year. I can at least say I saw a bunch of Burrowing Owls at Lac Du Bois this year, but they were all banded, and thus not countable.

9. Great-crested Flycatcher
This would have been an amazing bird to see. When I first went after it it was an Ash-throated Flycatcher. The next time I went after it it was a Great-crested. Part of the reason I missed this is my work schedule was changed because I took a new position and went from having 2 days off right when this was being seen, to having to work 8-4.

10. Citrine Wagtail
Easily the biggest miss, and the one I could easily have seen. I waited until February to go for it and missed it twice. My only consolation is I did see it in November.

11. Hoary Redpoll
There were no Redpolls this winter, but last winter there were a few I could have gone after, namely in Golden. But the car I had at the beginning of the year was pretty much a piece of garbage and I was unwilling to risk driving 8 hours through numerous mountain passes.

12. Brown Thrasher
Another long staying bird I was too lazy to go for, I ended up going to cranbrook like a week after it was last seen. But could easily have gotten it between jan and feb if only I had the nerve to brave the mountain passes.

Long-eared Owl

Where I went wrong.

My philosophy at the beginning was more about seeing the regular species than chasing rarities. I began to realize a little too late that rarities should be my number one priority. Jan 1st I should have been looking for the Citrine Wagtail in Comox instead of going in February. I did luck out with Gray Partridge as it was the first bird I saw in the Okanagan, and I assumed it would be one of the harder birds to find. I also did not do any owling at the beginning of the year, and perhaps if I had gotten alot of the harder to find owls such as Boreal and Great Gray at the beginning of the year I would have had more time to look for rarities instead of spending a weekends looking for Owl in late October.

Northern Waterthrush-Swan Lake Dawson Creek

I also focused too much on numbers for the longest time. I realize now that worrying about adding Mourning Dove and Brown-headed Cowbird to the list in February was pointless when I would end up seeing them everywhere in May. I probably should have been researching other birders thoughts on their big years to figure this out, but it was too late when I did. I never really got into the swing of things until April, and if I had figured it out sooner I no doubt would have had a way better finishing total. If you look at my misses, all the really big ones were between January and March.

Saw-whet Owl

What I did right.

I think what I am most proud of is how well I did in the Peace River. I did have help but considering I had never birded the area I managed to see all of the specialties, it took until my last day there but its a great achievement. Some people have to visit 2 or 3 times to nail them all down, I think doing so well there boosted my confidence exponentially. I also got all my Okanagan specialties, including Sage Thrasher, which to me was the highlight of my year maybe, as I had wanted to see them since I was a 13 year old. Lastly I managed to rock my two Pelagics. I was lucky enough to get two of them, if I had missed one or the other I  wouldn't have been successful on the open ocean.

Black-headed Grosbeak-Chetwynd

Luck definitely played a big part of this year, as it does in probably every one. If I deconstruct all my decisions its almost hard to say I would change anything. Imagine perhaps I had managed to see Sharp-tailed Sandpiper during thanksgiving weekend instead of searching for the Yellow Wagtail on the Island. If had had, then I would not have chased the one at Esquimalt Lagoon, and if I hadn't gone after that I wouldn't have gotten the Chestnut Collared Longspur. If I had gotten Willow Ptarmigan at Pink Mountain I may never have gone up to Morfee mountain and got Gray-cheeked Thrush. There are a plethora of situation where this happened, so I can't agonize over most of my choices, I think there are three main ones though.

Great Gray Owl fledgling

If I had gone for the Tufted Duck I would've gotten that bird, Ross's Goose and Black-necked Stilt, which would've saved me alot of driving later on in May. I definitely should've got the Citrine Wagail, and Also Brown Thrasher is one i could have easily gotten. But aside from that, I regret nothing.

Anyways this concludes my big year, I will be posting a final list of the 363 species I saw. All these pictures are my favourite ones from this past year.
take care
-Ryan

Solitary Sandpiper

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Its over

I understand Jeff..I understand.

Today I woke up for the first time in a year without the need to add birds to my list. It's a strange feeling, one I cannot even remember having. It feels like forever since I could just be a normal person who enjoyed birding. This last year I have lived life in a self inflicted world of artificial competitiveness. Letting go of it will probably take a little getting used to.

"A Common Pigeon! The last bird on my list, so long suckers"

My final total is definitely respectable and although I have many regrets on what I did wrong, and what I should've done differently, I need to just accept the finality of the situation. I should be proud, I think I proved to myself I was good enough as a birder to achieve this. My original goal was 350, at times it seemed like I wasn't going to reach it. Then there were times I let my optimism get the better of me and I felt like I could even break the record. When I hit 350 in late september, I definitely thought I had a chance, but reality soon set in around mid November, 363 is nothing to sneeze at though. 

I could not however reach this number without alot of help, I owe alot to the birders who aided me this year. Namely Russell Cannings, Russell gave me many timely rare bird updates as well as info on finding a lot of the specialty birds like Sage Thrasher and Grasshopper Sparrow. He also gave me encouragement in going after rarities, like when I was in Salmon Arm and he motivated me to drive all the way back to Vancouver for the Red-necked Stint.

Also thanks goes to Mark Phinney who without him I would never have got Nelson's Sparrow, Conneticut and Bay-breasted Warblers. Rob Lyske also helped me out a bunch and he deserves a good congratulations for reaching 250 species for the Metro Vancouver checklist area in one year. Its an impressive achievement. 

Thanks also goes to all the birders in British Columbia who report their sightings to all the different message groups, forums, and bird alerts. British Columbia is interesting in that there are so many sites to keep track of to get all the information, though with the BC Bird alert blog its definitely been made easier.

This year I have travelled the province and its made me realize just how great British Columbia really is. I explored so many new places, and yet there is still so much more left unexplored. the possibilities are endless. My eyes have also been opened to the fact that much of this province is unprotected, and in danger. things like the Site C dam are things which I had never really given much thought to until I drove through the valley which is set to be flooded. I really believe residents in our province would be aghast if they knew exactly what we were going to lose if this ever happens. Sadly when most people live so far away from such places, they tend not to think about it. 

Going forward I want to work on becoming a better birder in my own area, and giving back to the birding community through volunteering. I also will be doing the patchwork challenge for greenbirding.ca I plan on using Burnaby Lake as my patch and will continue regularly using this blog for updates. I also hopefully will do some bird trips this year hopefully to innuvik and maybe california again.

Thanks to all for reading.
-Ryan

Little Grouse on the Prairie

I must admit I had the title of this post in mind for about six months. I knew eventually I would get to use it, though I didn't think a hunt for Sharp-tailed Grouse would be the last tale I would tell this year. With the way things worked out by the last 2 weeks of December it was the only bird I really had left to see. The Burrowing Owl seemed to only show up when I wasn't looking for it, and with only 3 days off left I had to go for the odds. 

On Boxing Day while everyone else was spending their money on marked down electronics, I was driving to Kamloops. I braced for a terrifying trip through the Coquihalla but luckily the road conditions were tamer than expected. By about 11 Am i was scouring Long Lake, Edith Lake, and Goose Lake roads. Back and forth on each of them I drove slowly, stopping and checking all the shrubs I could. A good blanket of snow covered everything so I didn't think it was going to be too difficult to spot one. 

Birds were few and far between, aside from a few Northern Shrikes and Mountain Chickadees it was dead quiet. Around 4pm as the sun was setting I decided to call it a day. I still had a long drive back to Vancouver, my hands and feet were frozen and I had to working the morning. The grouse had eluded me yet again.

Things were looking grim. I only had Saturday and Sunday left to see the bird. I got a few tips from legendary Kamloops birder Rick Howie. The Kamloops Christmas Bird Count had seen 15 of them in the general location I had been looking in. He mentioned they liked to travel a lot and could potentially be anywhere at any time. So basically, it was going to come down to luck. I was no stranger to luck this year, be it good or bad. I woke up early Saturday morning, and drove towards Kamloops.

This time however I took the Fraser Canyon by way of Highway 1. I didn't feel like risking the Coquihalla, it was a good choice as the roads up to cache creek were bare. The whole drive the thought kept coming to me: "maybe I should try around Clinton and 100 Mile House". There were lots of Ebird sightings in the area, specifically around Big Bar Ranch and Churn Creek. I had driven that road between Clinton and William's Lake twice this year, the habitat was definitely good. But would the road even be passable for me?

I was close now to the fork in the road where, either you would keep driving into the Cariboo. Or you would turn right to go to Kamloops. I kept going back and forth on what I should do, it was the Robert Frost dilemma times 10. I didn't make up my mind until I had no choice, I kept going strait. 

Just north of Clinton I turned onto Big Bar lake Rd. The road wasn't bad, thankfully it hadn't snowed in a few days. The road itself was compact with a light speckle of gravel, I knew people lived out here so the road couldn't be too bad. I followed Big Bar Lake road for 50 Kilometers to where it branches off towards Williams Lake. That road was not in good condition so I could not continue towards Williams Lake, instead I carried  on to the Big Bar Ranch. Scanning every willow shrub around the grasslands, I found nothing. 

There was even a Sign at the ranch about Sharp-tailed Grouse. It detailed how important the shrubs and buds were for their winter diet, the grassland Eco system. This just added to my frustrations. By now it was already 12pm and I did not have much daylight left. I turned around at the ranch back towards Clinton. A few kilometers further back I saw a shape on the road. Grouse!!!!

Its a grouse alright, just the wrong kind

Ruffed Grouse

Wrong one. a Ruffed Grouse cautiously creeped across the road. as I passed it I saw two more of them, it was just a big Ruffed Grouse party. I was not impressed but I had expected this. Ruffed Grouse are pretty common in these parts and I had already seen them around here in the Summer. 

It was now 1pm and I was starting to panic. I blamed myself for choosing this way over Long Lake road, I blamed Robert Frost and his dumb Path Less chosen poem for inspiring this random decision. I felt a big sinking feeling in my stomach, could I really miss Sharp-tailed Grouse on my big year? It was bad enough I messed up with Rock Ptarmigan but two species of ground walkers? Not cool.

I had abandoned driving slowly and started picking up speed, I wanted out off this road, I had been out here for 2 hours and panic was setting in. I wanted to get back on the highway and try an area near 70 Mile House that someone had told me was a good location. But I didn't know if I would have time. The road climbed a hill and came back down into a bit of a gully, there were some willow shrubs in a small clearing, I stared at them thinking to myself "that's the kind of habitat I'd expect these guys to be in"

And then I saw a roundish shape in the shrubs on the snow. I sort of just stared and drove by dumbfounded. It was like I was so unprepared for the event of actually seeing one that I didn't know how to react. Finally when it sunk in I slammed on the breaks and skidded 30 meters. Then I cranked into reverse and hauled it back to where I saw the shape. "this better not be another Ruffed"

Sharp-tailed Grouse

It was not another Ruffed. It was a gorgeous Sharp-tailed Grouse. There were five of them in this little open area. The one closest to me made a few clucking noises as it stood there staring me down. Another one flew into a shrub to eat its buds, I sat there in my car marvelling at them. This was not just my last year bird, but also a lifer for me, and my 380th BC bird all time. 

The grouse didn't stick around too long as they heard a high pitched hum of a snowmobile approaching in an instant they had exploded from the ground and flew into some tree's out of of sight. It was a remarkable feeling and pretty much indescribable how glad I was to see these birds.

Can I burrow a feeling?

Northern Shrike

 After my epic 2 bird weekend I felt like I was on a roll. I just needed to add that Sharp-tailed Grouse and one other bird and I could officially say I was #2 all time in BC big years. My plan was to spend the 2nd to last December weekend Grouse hunting. Of course to borrow a quote from John Lennon "Life happens while you are marking plans" And if you replace "life" with "birds" it pretty much holds true. Because a day before I was about to take off for Kamloops, an unbanded Burrowing Owl was reported from Comox.

Turns out it had been seen for a few days, but the exact location was being kept under wraps. The best I could get was that it was somewhere on Air Force Beach. I wasn't too worried, after all where there are rare birds, there are usually birders. And so Saturday morning I was back on that 6:20am ferry with my sidekick Vanessa.

We made it to Comox by 9am and I followed my directions to Air Force Beach. When we got there, I could see a couple other birders walking around, but they didn't seem to have found any Owl. As I caught up with one I was told that the bird had been seen about an hour earlier, unfortunately it had been chased off by unleashed dogs. Sounds about right, I mean although there was a nice bright sign saying "please keep dogs on a leash" why would any responsible dog owner follow those rules?

I kept searching regardless, who knows where the Owl could pop up, there were lots of little holes between the large boulders on the beach, and driftwood piles. After about two hours things were not looking good. More and more unleashed dogs took over the beach, including hunting dogs baying and chasing anything that moved. Part of me felt like yelling at all the people, and I figured I might as well check some other areas in hopes that the Burrowing Owl had found a quieter place to reside.

I had no such luck. I did manage a nice 1st Winter Glaucous Gull along the the estuary, always a nice find. I returned around 3pm to Air Force beach, another hour of searching revealed no Owl. We decided we should stay over night and try early in the morning Sunday, I felt as gloomy as the dark clouds that hovered on the horizon.

Sunday at Dawn I stood on the rocks at Air Force Beach. I peered through every nook and cranny. Circled back and forth up and down the sand and driftwood, but there was no sign of the Burrowing Owl. After two hours I called it quits, and headed back home. Going home defeated is never a good feeling, especially with so little time left every choice I made mattered. Now I had given a whole weekend away when I still had one species to look for in the Okanagan.

With little under two weeks left I still had to figure out a way to get two birds. On monday I found out that the Burrowing Owl had again been seen, i felt a little bitter about it. As it stands now I have 4 more days off to see Sharp-tailed Grouse, which is never easy to find, and possibly return for another attempt at the Owl. Well things are sure becoming dramatic.

Northern Shrike

Big Weekend

There were only three weeks left in 2013. I had watched November slip by almost bird less, so when I heard of the Hooded Oriole in Port McNeill I knew it was a must see. Aside from that, it was also a second chance. In September I had missed one at Jordan river by mere hours. I got in touch with the woman who's hummingbird feeders had probably saved the life of the Oriole. She gave me directions and information on how to find the Oriole, so all I had left to do was anxiously wait for the weekend.

I knew the odds were in favour of the bird sticking it out. What choice did it really have? Port McNeill is a long way from California. And being that it had found the only oasis within the endless miles of coastal coniferous forests, I doubted it could survive an escape attempt. But you never know. I had nightmares of a Cooper's Hawk picking off the Oriole which probably stuck out like a sore thumb in such bleak environs. Saturday could not come soon enough.

I would not be doing this trip alone though, Kevin Neill needed the bird for his BC and Canada lists. I jumped at the offer of splitting costs. These ferry trips have taken a big toll on the wallet. I think I've been on more ferries this year than all my years of living previous. Its also always nice to meet new birders, which I have managed to do alot of this year.

We set out early Saturday morning. The 630 Ferry was nowhere near full at this time of year. When we got to Nanaimo it was still fairly dark and we went straight up the Island Highway to Campbell River. Luckily for us the temperature had risen the last few days making the narrow winding road to Port McNeill virtually clear of snow and cutting down the expected travel time.

Around noon we arrived in Port McNeill. It wasn't too hard to find the house with the hummingbird feeders. As we parked in front, the sun had broken through the clouds for the first time that day. Creating an odd lighting effect as the wind blew the sprinkling rain, it glistened. The Oriole was not around, so we staked out, sitting in the car to avoid the wind. I felt the familiar anxious feeling when looking for a rarity.

After about 15 minutes of waiting, we exclaimed as a bright yellow/orange bird popped up in front of the house. Hooded Oriole! Three Hundred and Sixty One.

Hooded Oriole

Hooded Oriole

We oo'd and ahh'd at the tropical looking bird, looking much out of place. It finally flew off to make its rounds and I was relieved. I had finally gotten out of the longest bird less period of my year. On the way back I got an Ebird report of a Black Phoebe in Chilliwack! Well, looks like my Sunday had just been planned for me. Overall it was a 15 hour 750km trip for one bird. I guess this is how the last month of a big year goes, it was well worth it though.

Sunday Morning me and Vanessa set out for Chilliwack. Vanessa had come in from San Jose the night before, because of the Oriole I wasn't able to pick her up from the airport. I'm sure she was happy this year was coming to and end almost as much as I was. The Phoebe had been seen by Fraser Valley birder Dave Beeke during the Chilliwack Christmas Bird Count. What a count bird.

I followed my Google Map directions making a multitude of turns down suburban streets until I arrived at Kitchen Rd. The Black Phoebe had been observed hawking insects along the slough bordering the road. I felt like it would turn out to be needle in the haystack searching, but to my relief I came upon two birders who waved me in. They had found the Phoebe!

A Phoebe on the ice. A rare sight indeed

Black Phoebe

As I opened the car door I could already hear the Phoebe. It was hunting along the slough, landing on the Ice, hovering over the open water, going from perch to perch persistently giving its fuzzy one note call. I managed a few poorly lit photos. After about 15 minutes the Phoebe seemed to become more vocal and agitated, we couldn't tell what was causing the commotion.

The bird flew up from the slough across Kitchen rd into a large tree. It called again, and took off, flying high up into the sky and over the farm fields until it became a dot on the horizon not to be seen again. I don't believe in fate really, but I had to think about the timing involved. Had I arrived 15 minutes later, I would not have that bird on my year list. Talk about a wild weekend. I scored a Hooded Oriole and a Black Phoebe in mid December. Lets hope my last two weekends pan out as well.

-Ryan

Where have all the birds gone?

Gone to warmer places every one.

Snow Buntings-Ferry Jetty

Since we last left off I had reached a new milestone: 360. A marvelous Glaucous Gull at the Chehalis estuary. And since then? Lets just say the words "dry spell" have never been more appropriate. November certainly did not pan out as I had hoped and all the rare birds I expected decided British Columbia was not the place to be.

Cooper's Hawk-Killed a Pigeon outside my house

I spent most of my days off around Vancouver picking through Gull flocks for a Slaty-backed or Iceland gull. Checking through thousands of ducks at Roberts Bank hoping for a Baikal Teal, or just walking the dykes of Boundary Bay in hopes of flushing up a Mega rarity. Every day I Checked Ebird, the rare bird alert, and every message board I could find for any reports of anything new.

American Robin-64th Street

The weather has now turned as bleak as my hopes, with temperatures below freezing and snow on the ground, but there is a glimmer. A Hooded Oriole has shown up in Port Mcneil of all places, and its been there for over a week! I will be chasing it this weekend, and if all goes well, I will update the blog with my sucess, or failure.

I leave this update with some pictures of the highlight of November, a lovely pair of Long-eared Owls from boundary bay. After years of only brief looks as I accidentally flushed them from dense bush. These two were as tame as farm cats, allowing for some good shots.

Novembird

Ruffed Grouse-Vancouver Island

November, where to begin? Failing to see the Great-crested Flycatcher? And an epic 4 day journey to Port Hardy? The complete lack of any rarities from the 2nd of November up until the last week?

To say this November was unexpectedly dull is an understatement. Last year, British Columbia had, in no particular order: Cave Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown Pelican, Citrine Wagtail, and Elegant Tern all showing up for multiple days.

Western Gull-Ferry Terminal

Western Meadowlark-Port Hardy Airport

This year, we had a Great-crested Flycatcher (which I tried for and missed) and an Ash-throated Flycatcher that spent 2 days in Prince George; I seriously considered going for it, but it was not seen after November 2nd, probably because Prince George is not a good place for a Flycatcher to be fly-catching in November. 

Female hooded mergansers-Port Hardy

Shell Creek

Kalamalka Lake unsuccessful search for LBGU

I don't really have any epic stories of tracking down birds, which is the usual for this blog, and all I can really say is I have been digging down deep and working hard to find anything I can. Right now, there are maybe 4 birds that I can get. These include: Sharp-tailed Grouse, which I have already tried for on several occasions between Merrit and Kamloops; Lesser Black-backed Gull, of which, according to reports, there may still be one residing somewhere between Penticton and Vernon; Hoary Redpoll, which hasn't shown up in BC yet this winter, but hopefully does shortly. How I will chase it down, short of flying to Fort St. John, I don't really know. I've looked into flying and its 500 dollars round trip. At this point, I am debating on whether this is something I want to do or not. 

Fox Sparrow-Englishman Estuary

Fox Sparrow-Englishman Estuary

The fourth bird was Glaucous Gull, which I managed to see last Thursday, finding one amongst the thousands of Gulls around the Chehalis estuary. 

I also managed to find Red Phalarope on my trip to Pt. Hardy where I was scoping out the ocean from the Kelly Wharf in Sayward. I had been checking out the Alcids and Boneparts gulls when a small flock of shorebirds came whizzing by. Soon, they landed in the water and there was no doubt they were Phalaropes. That was a nice win for me, as I was maybe the only one who didn't spot one Red Phalarope on the Pelagics.

Probably the craziest thing I've ever seen in my birding days happened while driving from Port Hardy to the Port Hardy airport. As I turned onto the road to the airport, I noticed a falcon like bird flying erratically around the area. At first I figured it was a Kestrel, which would be a weird enough bird way up there. Then I thought, maybe even weirder, a Common Nighthawk. When I pulled over and got my binoculars on the bird, I couldn't believe it: A Leach's Storm Petrel!!! I had already seen one on the pelagic trip, but it was a distant view of a few seconds. This time I got to savour the looks. It was buoyantly floating above the fir trees. it was definitely an unexpected surprise. 

Sunset Port Hardy

Ferry to Malcom Island

And the other bird I've added kind of felt a little dirty: American Black Duck. These ducks were introduced near Nanaimo in the 60's and have dwindled into almost nothingness since. Most of them have hybridized with Mallards, thus making finding a pure one more and more difficult. I wasn't planning on even looking for one, but Russ Cannings had found a few pure looking ones, and since he and Mike Toochin both counted the Yellow point birds on their big years, I decided I might as well have a look.

The pond they were in was filled with ducks, including many American Black x Mallard hybrids, but among them I counted 3 that I would consider still as being American Black Duck.What can I say, I was desperate. 

So here I sit at 360 species, still hoping I can see 4 more birds and be at least number two in Big Years for BC. I think I might have to write a letter to Santa Claus asking for a Rustic Bunting and Red-faced Cormorant. Maybe I will go write that letter now.

Take care

-Ryan

Cooper's Hawk-Goose Spit

Ruffed Grouse