Yesterday in Vancouver, one of my favorite populated places on Earth, completing a whirlwind 24 hours tracking down two new lifers. First, a Redwing, in Victoria, seen after waiting for four hours until it showed up to feed on holly berries with some robins. (Photo courtesy of Andreas Trepte)
Then caught the ferry back to Vancouver and was able to hit the Daily Double before the sun went down and saw another rare vagrant, a Siberian Accentor, which breeds in northern Siberia (surprise!) on both sides of the Urals. It is migratory, wintering in southeast Asia. Sometimes these birds go left when they should be migrating right, or vice versa, and they end up on the wrong continent! (Photo of the actual bird seen yesterday, taken by Nathan Ng)
British Columbia is having another mild winter, and the birding is great. The Vancouver landfill has now become one of the most densely populated wintering grounds of Bald Eagles: there are thousands in the area, flying around everywhere! (Photo courtesy of Brian Mahoney)
