Report by Peter Candido

The 2023 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday December 16th.  Volunteers were very pleased to have a dry day for the count this year, with partly sunny conditions and temperatures from 7-9 °C.  Winds were light and seas were calm.  The tide was very high for the first half of the day and dropped only slightly in the afternoon.

As was the case last year, winter finches and grosbeaks were in short supply, with very few Pine Siskins or Red Crossbills, no Pine or Evening Grosbeaks and Redpolls reported from only one area.  A note about the American Crow number:  because of a high incidence of avian influenza last year, it was deemed prudent to avoid approaching the large crow roost in Burnaby and arriving birds could only be observed from one distant vantage point, so the crow count was not representative.

The star of this year’s count was undoubtedly the Pinyon Jay found in Area B of West Vancouver.  The bird continued to be seen in subsequent days and has been documented by numerous photographs on eBird.  This was only the second record for BC and it attracted birders from across the province

The species total stands at 125 (+ 1 in count week) and 63,557  individuals, compared to 121 species and 47,537 individuals in 2022.

We had a total of 196 participants this year.  A big Thank You to all who contributed to the count!  If you notice any errors or omissions in the data, please contact me at:

 pcandido328@shaw.ca or petercandido328@gmail.com

Selected Highlights

Band-tailed Pigeon in Areas K and WW

Eared Grebe 1 in Area X

Western Sandpiper 1 in Area S

Pinyon Jay 1 in Area B

House Wren 1 in Area B

Bohemian Waxwing 1 in Area Q

White-throated Sparrow 3, one each in Areas E, L and U

Swamp Sparrow 1 in Area Q

Wilson’s Warbler 1 in Area H

Full List of Species Seen

Following is the complete list of 125 species seen ion 16 Dec 2023 and includes species seen in previous yers but missed this year. For comparison, a list of birds seen in 2022 is also included. One Yellow-billed Loon was seen during the count week.

No.	Species	2023	2022		No.	Species	2023	2022
1	Snow Goose	3156	3909		62	Northern Harrier	9	11
2	Greater White-fronted Goose	2	0		63	Sharp-shinned Hawk	4	9
3	Cackling Goose	304	541		64	Cooper’s Hawk	27	24
4	Canada Goose	2802	2076		65	Bald Eagle	186	115
5	Trumpeter Swan	22	6		66	Red-tailed Hawk	39	24
	Tundra Swan	0	1		67	Rough-legged Hawk	1	1
6	Wood Duck	144	169		68	Great-horned Owl	1	0
7	Northern Shoveler	88	56		69	Barred Owl	2	1
8	Gadwall	116	85			Short-eared Owl	0	1
9	Eurasian Wigeon	10	22		70	Belted Kingfisher	8	9
10	American Wigeon	2587	2318		71	Red-breasted Sapsucker	2	4
11	Mallard	4609	3975		72	Downy Woodpecker	66	31
12	Northern Pintail	726	177		73	Hairy Woodpecker	3	1
13	Green-winged Teal	662	573		74	Pileated Woodpecker	21	13
14	Ring-necked Duck	110	20		75	Northern Flicker	420	367
15	Greater Scaup	37	2		76	American Kestrel	3	1
16	Lesser Scaup	126	21		77	Merlin	13	4
17	Harlequin Duck	4	0		78	Peregrine Falcon	3	2
18	Surf Scoter	3455	3971		79	Hutton’s Vireo	3	1
	Black Scoter	0	9		80	Northern Shrike	1	3
19	White-winged Scoter	92	590		81	Pinyon Jay	1	0
20	Long-tailed Duck	11	4		82	Steller’s Jay	185	72
21	Bufflehead	468	317		83	American Crow	17429	5332
22	Common Goldeneye	205	300		84	Common Raven	93	63
23	Barrow’s Goldeneye	1446	1281		85	Black-capped Chickadee	1494	1693
24	Hooded Merganser	61	58		86	Chestnut-backed Chickadee	262	101
25	Common Merganser	113	47		87	Bushtit	654	530
26	Red-breasted Merganser	195	290		88	Golden-crowned Kinglet	581	377
27	Ruddy Duck	18	1		89	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	223	149
28	Pied-billed Grebe	17	5		90	Red-breasted Nuthatch	66	41
29	Horned Grebe	171	69		91	Brown Creeper	79	61
30	Red-necked Grebe	8	2		92	House Wren	1	0
31	Eared Grebe	1	0		93	Pacific Wren	250	138
32	Western Grebe	3	19		94	Marsh Wren	12	9
33	Rock Pigeon	1625	1912		95	Bewick’s Wren	64	30
34	Band-tailed Pigeon	16	7		96	American Dipper	9	4
35	Eurasian Collared-Dove	161	37		97	European Starling	2761	2583
	Mourning Dove	0	1			Mountain Bluebird	0	2
36	Anna’s Hummingbird	446	244			Townsend’s Solitaire	0	5
37	Virginia Rail	5	3		98	Varied Thrush	133	83
38	American Coot	197	85		99	Hermit Thrush	6	3
39	Black Oystercatcher	5	26		100	American Robin	655	1885
40	Black-bellied Plover	1	0		101	Cedar Waxwing	1	16
41	Killdeer	30	10		102	Bohemian Waxwing	1	0
	Black Turnstone	0	2		103	House Sparrow	161	121
	Sanderling	0	2			Evening Grosbeak	0	1
42	Dunlin	600	1050		104	House Finch	485	389
	Least Sandpiper	0	6		105	Purple Finch	17	35
43	Western Sandpiper	1	3		106	Common Redpoll	40	0
44	Long-billed Dowitcher	56	0		107	Red Crossbill	5	28
45	Wilson’s Snipe	13	8		108	Pine Siskin	283	51
46	Spotted Sandpiper	3	2		109	American Goldfinch	258	310
	Greater Yellowlegs	0	1			Chipping Sparrow	0	1
47	Common Murre	114	20		110	Fox Sparrow	197	166
48	Marbled Murrelet	7	11		111	Dark-eyed Junco	1269	1776
49	Bonaparte’s Gull	13	72		112	White-crowned Sparrow	73	92
50	Short-billed Gull	858	499		113	Golden-crowned Sparrow	266	178
51	Ring-billed Gull	224	110		114	White-throated Sparrow	3	2
52	California Gull	20	26		115	Song Sparrow	1255	1136
53	Herring Gull	4	5		116	Lincoln’s Sparrow	3	0
54	Iceland (Thayer’s) Gull	14	4		117	Swamp Sparrow	1	0
55	Glaucous-winged Gull	4622	3048		118	Spotted Towhee	616	554
56	Red-throated Loon	51	9		119	Westren Meadowlark	3	0
	Pacific Loon	0	13		120	Red-winged Blackbird	368	149
57	Common Loon	27	22		121	Brown-headed Cowbird	45	0
58	Brandt’s Cormorant	14	6		122	Brewer’s Blackbird	36	0
59	Double-crested Cormorant	852	168		123	Orange-crowned Warbler	6	0
60	Pelagic Cormorant	297	185		124	Yellow-rumped Warbler	14	12
61	Great Blue Heron	186	78		125	Wilson’s Warbler	1	0