Rare Birds British Columbia 

California Scrub-jay - Maple Ridge, BC Over the last 10 years we have seen the migration of a new species of Jay in Vancouver and the surrounding area. This is a dry weather bird that is found mostly along the coast from the Baja of Mexico north to Washington State has now moved into Canada. This one of a matched pair who appear to have babies in the area. At this particular time, the jay was scolding a cat that was slinking in the bushes below. There have been other Scrub-jays found in the lower mainland but none that I know of that are confirmed breeding birds. These are some of the most northerly of the species every to be found. Michael W Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
California Scrub-jay - Maple Ridge, BC
Sage Thrasher - Pitt Meadows, BC Sage Thrashers are a very rare migrant as they head through to the sage country. It just so happened that this was the second sighting this month and more over, this one one of two birds that stopped for a quick visit. They were only here for 3 or so days. Thrashers are related to mockingbirds with the Sage Thrashers typically the most northern migrators of the lot west of the Rockies, but stick to the driest areas of scrub. They also have the shortest bill of any thrashers in North America and Caribbean. Michael W Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Sage Thrasher - Pitt Meadows, BC
Great-tailed Grackle - Vancouver An unusual visitor to Vancouver was calling an empty lot in the fancy part of town home for the time being. Some of the locals were interested to know what all of the camera's were for this morning and were surprised to hear that we don't usually see this bird here. Word has it, it has been here in the same location for the last month. Great-tailed Grackles don't usually make it north of California and Arizona and are very common in the sub-tropics and tropics of North and Central America. Michael W Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Great-tailed Grackle - Vancouver, BC
Blue Jay - Richmond, BC This rare visitor to the west side of the Rockies was fraternizing with our Stellar's Jays at a common food hang out in Richmond. Michael Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Blue Jay - Richmond, BC
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King Eider - Tsawwassen, BC
White-winged Dove - Richmond, BC In the North West corner of Richmond, BC is a fantastic little park call Terra Nova, that turns up great birds during the year with this year being no exception. This White-winged dove is usually found in the dry climates of the southern US and south into Central America and the Caribbean. (Range Map) The first time I put this bird on my life list was in Dominican Republic. I never thought I would get to see it in my back yard. It appears that this dove, like others in its family have moved into cities and town where feeders are available. The White strip down the wing is the tell tale sign to tell the difference from other North American doves along with the square tail. Michael Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
White-winged Dove - Richmond, BC
Chondestes grammacus
Lark Sparrow - Surrey, BC
White-cheek or Storm Wigeon - This rare morph of the American Wigeon is what's call a White-cheeked or Storm Wigeon. They are relatively rare and have very little information that I can find on the internet. I have seen them before here overwintering a couple years ago and it would seem that the flocks that do have the white cheeks have several individuals with varying degrees of the white pigment covering some of the cheek with others continuing all the way to the neck. There were at least two birds of this flavor in a flock of 130 wigeon. We have more than 30,000 of these ducks wintering here and I have only seen this white check in two flocks of 80-130 birds. This would lead to the idea that it is a genetic trait. During my research however, there have been several birds through out North America's wintering grounds from Florida, California, Arizona and British Columbia which would lead to a this being a random color morph with in the greater population. Just some observations from a curious birder. Michael Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
White-checked or Storm Wigeon - Pitt Meadows, BC
Summer Tanager - Vancouver, BC Summer Tanager are very rare visitors to the west coast and even more rare north of the US-Canada border. This immature male bird had made an area in and around the Marpole Neighborhood of Vancouver its home for a stint. He was dodging in and out of a Laurel picking away a the feeders in the area. The red flecking on the face and partial red rump identifies this bird as a young male just coming into his soon to be overall red colors. These birds usually spend their winters from Mexico south to the northern half of South America. Immature birds sometime go on walk-a-bout in the fall and don't head south for some time. For more details on this rare bird and others in British Columbia, go to British Columbia Rare Bird Alert. Michael Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com Picture
Summer Tanager - Vancouver, BC
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King Eider - Tsawwassen, BC
Northern Cardinal- Cranbrook, BC A common eastern bird made its way to the northeast corner of BC in a town called Cranbrook. The home this wonderful visitor home at, has also made it her home for the last couple weeks. A friend of mine from the area met me as my guide for the lay of the land and the people. Thank you, Carleen, for the great morning of birding. During our search along the creek next to the house, Carleen heard, then spotted the Female Cardinal heading back towards the house with the feeders. We made our way back and met Katrin who was the first to spot the female Cardinal in the same tree where took this photo. We then met Greg, the other resident of the lucky house. Greg and Katrin are local naturalists as well as amazing hosts and I thank them for their hospitality. While chatting out on the deck, the birds very high chirp was identified and we all headed to the front where she was feeding on sunflower seeds in an ornamental crab-apple tree. Hopefully she sticks around for others to see this rare visitor to the west of the Rockies. Michael Klotz - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Northern Cardinal - Cranbrook, BC
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Curlew Sandpiper - Delta, BC