The Ovenbird Blog

Week 6 Frigid Vancouver

by Ellen Horak | Feb 9, 2025 | Canada 400

Monday we were expecting to wake up to snow and maybe have to hang around the hotel part of the day but there was nothing on the ground in Richmond. It was -8 though. We decided to head out to try for a lifer Gyrfalcon. These are a sensitive species so I cannot see reports on ebird but I had some information from birders of a few spots to check. Unfortunately, I took us to an older location by mistake that was an hour away from the area we wanted to go to. Ugggh – it happens when we have so many things to do in the evening and we are tired and I just don’t recheck all my information. The area had received snow and lots of it – we felt like we were in Northern Ontario complete with roads that were not plowed AT ALL! We finally got to the right destination and started driving blocks of fields. It was similar to looking for a Snowy Owl, drive slow, stare at fields, look for lumps beside bushes, up on posts etc. The wind was vicious and the few birds we saw were being battered about. We did this for 2 hours and no Gyrfalcon. But the consolation was our 150th bird of the year – a Western Meadowlark.

Our next destination was a Wetland area where a Black Phoebe, a southern Arizona/Texas bird was hanging. Last week when we arrived we would have had a lovely walk/saunter on gravel paths to get the bird but I had made the decision to head to the Island first. Today things were quite different – and we were wearing running shoes.

It was a heavy slog in, we got turned around figuring out the area the bird was in having never been there before, and started nagging on each other. This tends to happen when things are not going our way, LOL. We finally found the area and hung out checking out the few birds around. No Black Phoebe. There was a Northern Shrike (Butcher Bird) in a tree right at the same area. I watched it for a bit and realized that it was eating something. Uh-oh! but a quick look with my bins showed a mouse impaled upside down on a branch with its little pink legs sticking up in the air.

Sad, but at least it was not the Phoebe. We spent over an hour scouring the brambles, watching along the water edge, our feet were wet and cold, we were discouraged and though we knew the bird was most likely still there and close by we just knew we could not stay any longer.

Its always tough when you get a day like this when things just don’t go well. But we try to hold onto the things that do go well. On the road outside the wetland we had two Varied Thrushes land beside our car for even better pics than the other day. They as such a gorgeous bird.

We headed to our next stop for a Marbled Godwit and again faced vicious winds and cold made worse by our socks that were still wet. And no Marbled Godwit. Three dips in one day. Sigh!

The last stop of the day was for Owls – Short-eared and Barn. I had info of where the two species hunted and we arrived around 4:20. Ten minutes later two Short-eared Owls flew over the field and entertained us for the next 30 minutes often coming very close to where we were standing on the road. It was awesome! We already have Short-eared on our list and have a picture but it was still nice to have the experience.

We wanted the Barn Owl for our year list. It is not an easy bird to add. We waited there for 1.5 hours going back and forth to sitting in the car to stay warm until dark fully descended – no Barn Owl. Four birds, four dips. Yikes, this happened just a few weeks back on our Toronto trip. Hope it’s not going to become the norm!

We ordered pizza, headed back to the hotel to hot showers and planned what we should do tomorrow with more snow and frigid temperatures forecast.

Tuesday we woke up to snow in Richmond, where it rarely snows, apparently. We decided we still needed to get out there with only two days left so we had to figure out a way to keep our feet dry. We used garbage bags the hotel kindly provided and put them over our socks, tucked into the top of our socks and then our pant legs over top of them. You end up with damp sweaty feet but better than ice cold wet ones.

We headed to Blackie Spit in the morning hoping to track down those Marbled Godwits but they were still not around where we could see them. We did manage to find some small sandpipers and added Western and Least to our year list.

Next we headed to an area where Barn Owls are known to roost. It was a lovely walk with 40 or so Bald Eagles sitting in trees and not very skittish when you walked close by. It was awesome to have an adult fly directly down the path towards me and over my head! We also got up close looks at Eagles building a nest. The video is below. We walked around, checking all the evergreens and the tangles but did not find a Barn Owl.

With snow still very much in evidence we opted to head up to Stanley Park and see about adding a Barrow’s Goldeneye. We had put one in as a hybrid earlier and wanted to make sure we saw the “real” thing this time. Stanley Park is a gem, and never disappoints us as far as birding goes. It was the first time we had seen it in snow!

We went out to the beach and immediately saw a number of Barrow’s Goldeneyes. Jerry took pics, we confirmed that they were true Barrow’s and just like that something else was off the list.

We walked the Lost Lagoon Path because Jerry needed a picture of a Bushtit and half way around we saw a dozen Bushtits flying through the Rhododendron bushes. It was a challenge to get a picture as they are super fast and small and the bushes were thick with leaves and snow.

Eventually Jerry thought he had enough that one would be good and we finished up the walk and then headed back down to Boundary Bay for another Owl watch at dusk.

We walked the Dyke path and there were already Short-eared Owls out hunting along with Northern Harriers. We saw a Harrier grab a duck from a small pond and land heavily with its dinner. A coyote came up the side of the dyke and casually wandered towards us a bit and then headed back down the other side.

We chatted with a couple of photographers that had shown up and they offered up the location of the celebrity Northern Hawk Owl that we had heard about last week. I was hesitant to see it as I had read that the crowds were huge and we try and avoid those situations with Owls. But, it was the end of the day so we took a quick drive over to hear that it was no longer being seen. We headed back to the hotel and went out for Indian food and plotted how we would spend our last day. A Ruff was reported close to Blackie Spit and so we had 6 birds still on our list to get: Gyrfalcon, Barn Owl, Ruff, Black Phoebe, Marbled Godwit, Northern Hawk Owl. The problem was we had one day and not really one full day because of the cold most birds were staying hunkered down till it warmed up around noon. We had to make some decisions as to what we went for. Luckily they all were located in the southern area but with more than an hour between some spots.

We started Wednesday with a quick stop where the Ruff had been seen and found Long-billed Dowitchers that it had been seen with but they were all tucked in and nothing looked different. We opted to head to the Hawk Owl spot next even though it was back-tracking because it made more sense the Owl would be out rather than the Phoebe or shorebirds. Are you still following? LOL When we arrived at the Owl site there were only about 5-6 photographers and all of them were standing around. That was not a good sign. But as we left our car and walked down the path people started running. That is a good sign and sure enough we could see the owl on a hydro wire above the road. What a strange place for this little owl to end up in. Homes, industry, a busy road and just a few small fields to hunt in. We took pictures and a few videos and left in 11 minutes including the walk from the car and back.

Next stop was almost an hour away, second try for the Black Phoebe. It had not been reported since Feb 2 and we had been there on the 3rd and not seen it. This time we had our “plastic bag boots” on our socks and thankfully the snow was tamped down by various dog walkers so that we were not completely covered by the time we got to the area. There was open water where there had been snow and ice two days ago so we were optimistic that if the bird was alive it would appear. We waited an hour. No Phoebe. I hope it survived the storm but it seemed unlikely that it would not have needed to feed during the time we were there.

From a time perspective we knew we would have to let the hope for Gyrfalcon go. It was another 30 minutes further away and then to drive for a few hours hoping you catch it flying was a long shot. We opted instead to head back for the Ruff and Marbled Godwits, taking quantity (YEAR BIRDS) over quality (LIFER). We headed back to Elgin Heritage Park and searched again for the Ruff. The Dowitchers were around and actively feeding so we started to feel hopeful that the bird was around. A few other birders arrived and we learned that the Ruff had been seen in the morning at Blackie Spit!, on the grass! near the gate! Ugggh! we were there yesterday morning and opted not to go this morning but we were 5 minutes away at Elgin! I’m not on the BC What’s App network but I think I might have to for the summer. I then met Roger Foxall, a birding legend, who at 83 has so many cool stories to tell of birding exploits! I could listen to him for hours! He has the most lifetime birds in Canada at 565. We have seen 440 species in Canada.

We searched for the Ruff together and nothing. We opted to head to Blackie Spit to try for the Godwits again and Roger said he would join us. We got to the Spit and Jerry saw the Godwits far out on the sand as the tide was out but at least we had another bird – 2 out of the 6. Roger never arrived but we figured he had opted to head home instead. We then headed back to Elgin park again for one last look for the Ruff. We pulled into a different parking lot by accident and noticed a couple of cars and then pulled out and headed to the area where the Ruff had been yesterday. We had a quick look – no birders, no birds. At that point we decided to call it a day.

When I sat down to a glass of wine at the pub an hour later all my emails updated and there was a message, “Ruff here right now”! It was from 3:42 and Melissa, the reviewer, had sent it to me. Roger had asked her to let me know and he had driven back to the Spit to try and find us to let us know that the Ruff was near the second parking lot (the one we turned into accidentally)! OMG! So close…yet sooooo far!!!! I felt so bad for Roger driving around trying to find us and I felt so bad that I did not check my email! The Ruff is not a lifer, and it is a bird that does shows up in Ontario but it is a big rarity anywhere in Canada and would have been nice to add it to the list so early in the year.

We flew home Thursday happy with what we had accomplished, 61 birds added to our year list. We missed 5 birds that I had on my “wish” list. A couple of these might still be found on our summer trip out here but certainly they are less likely. We stayed at the Steveston Cafe and Hotel in Richmond because it was central to the airport, ferry and most of the birding spots. We like finding places that are local, have some history or community behind them and this fit the bill. Established in 1895 it featured the hotel rooms upstairs with a cafe that served a delicious breakfast included in the price, a liquor store open till 11 every night and seniors discount on Tuesdays and a pub, The Buck and Ear that featured happy hour specials every day. Everything we needed within steps of our room. We will stay here again on our summer trip.

I switched off my notifications for British Columbia and switched the Ontario notifications back on and right away I saw King Eider in Hamilton! You will remember that I have said I would not go back to Tommy Thompson for a 3rd attempt at the Eider that continues to be seen there, so I know where we will be heading on Friday.

After visiting Babi at memory care we headed off to Jones Rd on the lake with some optimism but we knew it was windy and cold and the lake was likely to be choppy. Sure enough, viewing was not very good. There were 6 other birders that came and went while we were there and no one could confirm either the female or the male that had been seen over the last three days. Jerry and I both thought we saw it but because of them diving for food and the waves and wind we were just not able to feel comfortable enough to confirm and add it to our list. The forecast for Saturday was little wind which generally means a still lake but we also wanted to see our kids and grandkids.

Saturday morning we headed out to watch 2 of the grandkids at swimming lessons and instead of heading for the Eider as we planned we went home because I was not feeling well with stomach issues. An hour later a report came in that indeed, the lake was like glass and the male Eider was being seen. I dragged myself up from the couch and heating pad and we set out for Jones Road. We had enough time to try for the Eider and still make it to our grandson’s hockey game.

We scoped while birders doing a lake count scoped beside us. it took maybe 10 minutes for me to find the female Eider and get everyone on it and confirm that it was indeed the female. Jerry managed a poor picture as she was a long way out. Maria and Carolyn showed up and we searched for the male Eider as the female had moved behind the point. Maria found it and we all got on it and had good scope views but pictures were darn near impossible for Jerry’s camera. I guess that would be the advantage of going to the Toronto bird. We headed to the hockey game (they won 5-4) and headed home to make soup and rest. Sunday was spent catching up on blogs, pictures, lists and plans for the year ahead because of a snow storm. Jerry went out to shovel and had a Sharp-shinned Hawk fly over so he is officially 1 bird ahead of me this week! Although, there was no picture to confirm…highly sus, as my granddaughter Evie would say.

Week 6 12 more species added. Species seen 161 Ellen 162 Jerry