Harvey and Michelle don’t live close to Ambleside, but this year we surveyed the area twice:  once as part of the Christmas Bird Count on December 16th, and once as part of the Burrard Inlet Key Biodiversity Area count on October 30th.  The area has a nice mix of ocean birds, pond birds, and some shrubbery and forest birds, so it seemed like a good place for a birding field trip.

A lot of people seem to agree.  More than 30 people quickly signed up for the walk we’d scheduled on Saturday December 30th.  In the hopes of splitting the group and having a more manageable number of birders, we decided to run a second walk on Friday December 29th.  Much to our surprise, the prequel walk also attracted a large crowd!  In the end, 22 people showed up at Ambleside on Friday morning.

We started our observations on the waterfront, examining the distant birds on the water.  The most notable bird at this location was Barrow’s Goldeneye, so we discussed how you distinguish Barrow’s Goldeneye from the Common Goldeneye. (Male Barrow’s Goldeneye have a crescent-shaped white spot just behind their bills, while Male Common Goldeneye have a circular spot in the same location.  Common Goldeneye  are also mostly white on their sides, while male Barrow’s sides are more black with a ‘piano key’ pattern).   We also saw a flock of 16 Double-Crested Cormorants flying in formation, always an impressive sight.

Many of the birds that we could see from the shore were quite distant, so we soon moved on to the ponds near the golf course.  Here we were greeted by many Mallards and American Wigeon, including at least one wigeon that appeared to be an American-Eurasian wigeon hybrid (distinguished by the rufous wash over its forehead). 

Some of us were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a Belted Kingfisher as it flew over the pond, while others concentrated on the sparrows in the brushy surroundings of the pond.  Not only did we find our old friends Song Sparrows, we spotted a Golden-crowned Sparrow and learnt that the best way to distinguish juvenile Golden-crowned Sparrows from the almost-identical juvenile White-crowned Sparrows is by using bill colour.  Ironically, juvenile White-crowned Sparrows have golden bills, while juvenile Golden-crowned Sparrows have dark bills (Thanks to Alan Mackenzie for the explanation).  As we rounded the pond, we heard Pacific Wrens, spotted Buffleheads, and saw a ‘girl party’ on the water — a group of about 5 female American Wigeon accompanied by 2 female Buffleheads.

The shrubby areas behind the ponds were fairly quiet on this grey December morning, but we did spot a Bald Eagle and some Song Sparrows, and got a very good view of a beautiful male Anna’s Hummingbird through our scopes.  As we reached the mouth of the Capilano River we found many many more Glaucous-winged gulls, a Pelagic Cormorant, and a flock of Canada Geese.  Alas, the spot of forest between the river’s mouth and the mall contained only a few Black-capped Chickadees, so we quickly returned to the mouth of the river and ambled back towards our starting point.  

This stretch of shoreline proved to be a highlight of our trip.  We initially spotted a single Great Blue Heron in a tree….but when we looked more closely, we spotted many more — there were 7 in a single tree, camouflaged by the branches and their own stillness.  Meanwhile, a male and female Common Goldeneye popped up behind our backs while some of us were distracted by the herons.  It was great to get a direct comparison with the Barrow’s Goldeneye, to cement our understanding of the differences between these very similar species.

Finally, we returned to the ponds where most of us managed to get a great view of a perched male Belted Kingfisher (likely the same bird we’d spotted on the wing earlier), providing us with a grand finale for our tour.

Today’s walk marked the debut of Nature Vancouver’s Binocular Lending Library.  All six pairs of loaner binoculars were put to good use by grateful participants.

Thanks to everyone who attended —  especially Al and Peter for bringing and sharing their scopes, to Masha and Peter for keeping eBird lists, and to everyone who shared their knowledge, experience, and sightings with other participants. 

Ebird lists

Because the group was large, we tended to spread out and focus on different birds.  This is reflected in the differences between Masha and Peter’s lists.

Masha’ eBird list:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S157431634

Peter’s eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S157446786