Easy Pickings

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The start of this Big year didn’t go exactly as I thought it might. I was anticipating getting up on Jan. 1, and while having coffee, getting a few ticks from my feeders. However, they were uncharacteristically quiet.  I suppose no one told the birds they shouldn’t be out celebrating on New Years Eve. I got the first bird of the year at Maple Ridge Park. An American dipper was singing loudly on rocks under the bridge. So if an AMDI was #1 on the year, I wonder what the last number will be. 
With non essential travel restrictions in place I don’t expect I’ll get out of the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley zones in January or February.   In 2020, 176 species were recorded here so I think I’ll be kept busy. 
The first week was a wet, windy and wild one. Nevertheless, every day I picked up multiple new ticks.  This is the easy part. All the common birds will get my numbers up quickly.  Most of my time was spent in Pitt Meadows picking up easy ones like Great Blue Heron (GBHE) and Mallard (MALL). 
I focussed on getting ones like the Prairie Falcon (PRFA) and Gyrfalcon (GYFA)that may not be around until next December, but won’t chase after ones like Belted Kingfisher (BEKI) or American Goldfinch (AMGO) which I haven’t seen yet.  These will fall into my lap at some point.


I will however zero in on any rarities so after receiving a heads up about Pine Grosbeaks (PIGR) on 224th, I spent some time each of the next few days looking, but haven’t found them yet. I finished up the first week on a dry day at White Rock and Blackie Spit. It was very productive with 15 new ticks, including Surf and White winged Scoters(SUSC, WWSC), Red-necked Grebe (RNGR),  Long tailed Duck (LTDU), and Snow Buntings. 

 

 

 

 








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