Vancouver Area Birds

Vancouver owns a world record! More Western Grebes have spent the winter here than anywhere else in the world. Some years, up to 15,000 birds have been counted in English Bay just off Kitsilano Beach, strung out in a long line or feeding together in large, dense flocks. Small flocks can also be found around Stanley Park and in Deas Slough. Once in a while, a pair remains over summer to breed in the cattail marshes around the lower reaches of the Fraser River. The best time to watch Western Grebes feed is in the early morning. They dive for up to a minute at a time hunting for fish, which they grab with their long, sharp bills. All grebes also have the strange habit of swallowing feathers; the feathers aid to filter out skeletal parts of swallowed prey items, which are expelled as pellets.

Pairs of Double-crested Cormorants are sometimes found nesting on rocky break- waters and atop wooden pilings near the Tsawwassen ferry terminal—their large, bulky stick nests can be seen with binoculars. Winter, however, is the best time to see these birds—look for them on wood pilings and log booms in the mouth of the Fraser River. Unlike other water birds, the Double-Crested Cormorant has webbing on its feet that connects four toes instead of three. This adaptation allows it to cling to rocky cliffs and to pursue shoaling fish, such as Pacific herring and sand lance.

Great Blue Herons are often mistaken for Sandhill Cranes. These herons, however, are much more common around Vancouver, especially in open, short-grass fields or wherever there is shallow water. In winter, large numbers can be seen in knee-deep water over mudflats, especially off the causeway to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. In summer, birders are attracted to the nesting colony in Stanley Park. This heronry, in the zoo and near Lost Lagoon, is the oldest in British Columbia. Whether standing in the water waiting for a fish to cross its path, or in a dry field waiting for a field mouse to come within striking distance, the Great Blue Heron is a patient hunter. It catches its prey, which may also include frogs, snakes, crabs and insects, with a lightening thrust of its bill. At times, when the prey seems longer than the heron is capable of eating, swallowing can take several minutes.

Long legs and a narrow body allow the secretive Virginia Rail to squeeze through even the densest vegetation of marshes and sloughs. In fact, it is so cryptic and well- camouflaged in its environment that birders are rarely treated to the sight of it. Those who are fortunate enough to encounter it, however, may comment that it looks Ike a strange cross between a small heron and a sandpiper. Your best chance of spotting a Virginia Rail is along shoreline vegetation of the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. It is also common at Burnaby Lake and Deas Slough. Sometimes, if you clap your hands quickly three times in a row, it will respond with its descending wak-wak- wak call. The Virginia Rail builds a raised nest on water in dense vegetation using cattails, bul- rushes and sedges as nesting materials. If there is sufficient cover, it may also build a protective roof and a "runway."

These chicken-like birds (also known as "Mud Hens") possess lobed toes to aid them in swimming and walking on mudflats found around marshy lakes and sloughs. American Coots appear comical when they swim: their heads bob in time with their paddling feet. Autumn migrants begin arriving in late September, and numbers increase throughout October and into November, especially at Burnaby Lake and the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. A few can also be seen on Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park where they breed and are found year-round. American Coots feed by diving and dabbling for waterweeds, small snails, aquatic insects and crustaceans in wetland areas. They build floating nests made of cattails and bulrushes among the vegetation near the edge of the water.

Originally from Europe and Asia, the Mute Swan was first introduced into B.C. in 1889 in Victoria. Today, feral populations exist on southern Vancouver Island, but in Vancouver it is only regularly found as a captive bird on Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park. Unlike our native swans, the Mute Swan is not very vocal, usually only making a hissing sound. It arches its wings over its back when displaying or behaving aggres- sively, and it holds its head in an S-curve with its bill pointed down while swimming. The Mute Swan builds a very large nest composed of grass, reeds and cattails, usually among cattails in shallow water along the shore. It is not wise to venture near nesting swans because they are aggressive at this time of year and have been known to attack and hurt people.