Incredibly, we awoke this morning to snow on the ground and snow in the air.

I grumbled for a few minutes, put on another pair of socks, and set out to meet the group for another day’s birding in urban Vancouver. We started at sunrise at Vanier Park, where the little pond did its work for us: the drake Eurasian Wigeon was on the water, probably reluctant to graze on snow-covered lawns, and a marvelously tiny Cackling Goose, no doubt the one present for some days now, was floating among the Mallards.

Our first big surprise, though, came before we even got to the edge of the water. The caterwauling of Northwestern Crows barely drew my attention; they seem to cry wolf every morning on the English Bay shoreline, and long minutes of staring into the treetops has never produced so much as a glimpse of anything other than more crows. Happily, we paused to look at the flock anyway as it came out from behind the trees, and this time they actually had something: a Short-eared Owl was flying away as fast as it could, but it was no match for the speed and skill of the crows, which struck the owl half a dozen times as we watched the mob and its victim fly ever higher and ever farther out over the water.

Warmed by excitement, we got back in the vehicles and headed west to Jericho Park.

Just as we arrived, the skies brightened and the snow stopped; all we had to worry about were the great gloppy chunks of wet snow falling from the branches, several of which scored direct hits on each of us as the morning went on.

Even when the early sun made a valiant effort to break out, the ponds and woods were fairly quiet. We found a single female Eurasian Wigeon among the Mallards and American Wigeons, and Varied Thrushes and American Goldfinches paused for excellent views in the treetops. The real fun, though, was on, and over, English Bay.

Big flocks of Surf and White-winged Scoters shared the bay with decent numbers of Common and Red-throated Loons and a few Horned and Western Grebes. Red-breasted Mergansers, newly arrived, are molting into their bright basic plumage, and you can’t complain about a day when you see almost (almost) as many Common as Barrow’s Goldeneye.

The day’s best bird, and the day’s worst bird, came while I was scoping out beyond the middle of the bay. Pelagic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Horned Grebe, Mew Gull … Ancient Murrelet! The bird was distant and active, and I got to see it twice for a total of two or three seconds–and that was two or three seconds more than anyone else in the group got, transforming a great sighting into a frustrating experience. Maybe Monday, when we’re riding the ferry to Active Pass and Swartz Bay. Maybe. Fingers, toes, eyes crossed!

This is pretty much what the Ancient Murrelet looked like for most of the group.

We tarried and scanned, but finally had to give up and move farther out the bay. Acadia Beach was nude of sunbathers, but very birdy where the snow had melted on the grass. A flock of at least eleven Varied Thrushes was with us the entire time, and a male Downy Woodpecker doubled the trip’s picid tally so far.

My wellies had kept my feet dry and bitter cold, so I was happy when early afternoon came and we headed back into Kitsilano for lunch. I think we’ll all sleep tonight with dreams of alcids in our heads–and awake in the morning looking forward to Westham Island and the wonders of Reifel.

Wow. I’d thought that a maritime climate meant that we wouldn’t have to worry about precipitation of the white flavor, but I was wrong.

The north shore mountains were white when I stepped outside, and they stayed that way all day. Fortunately, the dusting on roofs and lawns here in town vanished pretty quickly, and my doughty Long Weekend crew had a great morning on Sea and Iona Islands.

Here we are standing on the Iona causeway, admiring the same flock of 3,100 Dunlin that caught the eye of an adult Peregrine Falcon. As we watched, he (a small bird) dropped out of nowhere onto a hapless Dunlin, which he carried across the little cove to eat from a conspicuous perch. That’s one falcon that’s got it made for the winter, I’d say!

The sturdy Snow Geese grubbing in the marsh at low tide had nothing to fear from that bird, of course, though I noticed that they deigned to raise their heads and move a bit into the vegetation whenever one of the local wintering Bald Eagles got up and around. Not even the eagles seemed to trouble the Trumpeter Swans, though, grumbling contentedly to themselves a bit offshore.

This species is clearly arriving in the Fraser Valley: we saw small flocks at every one of our stops, and the last was trailed by three Tundra Swans, a nice surprise and an uncommonish bird here on the coast.

Passerine birding was a little bit harder this morning in the cold and the breeze–and it wasn’t made any easier by the presence of two dashing Northern Shrikes on the island.

This one, perched above the outer ponds at Iona Beach, had his eye on the Golden-crowned and Song Sparrows, but I bet he wouldn’t have turned up that hooked beak of his had one of the four late Barn Swallows we found happened to come within easy reach.

Our timing once again proved excellent. Just as we started to get a little tired, a little cold, and a lot hungry, the skies open and we got the first real rain of the day. So it was into the cars and back to Kitsilano for a warming lunch and a review of our list, which after two mornings is now approaching 80 species.

Tomorrow: Vanier and Jericho Parks. I checked Vanier after dropping the group off at their hotel–a nice selection of ducks on the little pond, including the winter resident Eurasian Wigeon, and a couple of thousand Surf Scoters on the waters of the bay.

It’s going to be another good day. Cold, but good.

Today was the start of this year’s Vancouver Long Weekend, and I met my great group of birders from Arizona and Colorado in the chill of early morning–which here in autumnal British Columbia means 7:30, oh decadence!

The chill was very real, though. I’d promised lows in the 40s and highs in the, well, 40s, and instead it was a damp and frigid 38 when we started out, rising to 42 mid-morning, and back down to a wet and frigid 38 by the time the rain drove us in in the early afternoon. So it was a warmly clad gang of seven that set off hopeful along the Stanley Park seawall.

We had some great birding right on shore, with a particular highlight something like 20 Harlequin Ducks. I know that they’re named for the piebald plumage of the adult males, but their behavior and vocalizations can be just as histrionic; we got to see some half-hearted head-tossing on the part of the drakes, and several times a party would let loose with the breathy squeals that can be compared only to–rubber duckies.

The abundant Surf Scoters and Barrow’s Goldeneyes were joined by bunches of American Wigeon and small flights of Mallards, and farther out we found a very few White-winged Scoters and a cute female Long-tailed Duck. Divers were represented by a few Common, Pacific, and Red-throated Loons and (get this) a single (!) Horned Grebe.

Lost Lagoon, legendary for its waterfowl in years past, continued to be nearly duck-free. Hooded and a flock of marvelously salmon-breasted Common Mergansers were new for the day there, though, and sparrow-watching was very pleasant on the stone bridge, with good views of Golden-crowned and a somewhat more reclusive Sooty Fox Sparrow.

By the time we reached the aquarium, the light mist had turned to drizzle, and it wasn’t long before it became outright rain. We took a quick walk around anyway, and our steadfastness was rewarded with a very handsome Slate-colored Junco.  As we turned back towards the parking lot, an American Dipper–no doubt the bird reported here a couple of times earlier this fall–perched right in front of us at the old salmon hatchery.

Excellent fish chowder consumed in a warm restaurant restored our body temperatures, and already our day was done. A juvenile Snow Goose was in the flock of Canada Geese on False Creek, and the slightly disappointing final addition to the day’s list was a brace of European Starlings, putting us above 50 species on our first outing. Tomorrow: Iona!