Vancouver

Black Brants coming into land at Tsawassen ferry terminal..

A perfect destination for Lu and I. Able to combine sight-seeing, shops, museums etc with some easy birding around the parks. A beautiful city with very friendly people. We stayed in the downtown area which felt by and large very safe, though we did accidentally wander into a Fentanyl-plagued area in East Hastings that we'd been specifically advised to avoid! Lu and I have never been great with maps! We were also extremely lucky with the weather which resulted in some of my photos being well above par for me. Transport around the city was easy with the sky trains, buses and ferries but Lu and I much prefer to walk where possible.

Canada Goose - these are everywhere in Vancouver.

Cackling Goose - one of two 'minima' on Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park.

Cackling Goose - one of nine 'Richardson's' (hutchinsii) on Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park.

Greater White-fronted Goose - presumed 'Pacific' GW-fG' gambelli' - Sunset Park.

Female Wood Duck. Male below.

Drake Harlequin Ducks. Two of twelve at Tsawassen.

Female Harlequin Duck.

Drake Surf Scoter off Acadia Beach. 

White-winged Scoters - Acadia Beach. At least 20 seen but thousands winter in the area and masses of scoter sp were seen way out beyond the range of my bins.

Drake Bufflehead - Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park.

Barrow's Goldeneye.

Barrow's Goldeneyes were easy to see from the beaches and sea wall around Stanley Park. My highest count was c130+.

Male Hooded Merganser - Lost Lagoon. Female below.

Red-necked Grebes of the race holboellii. The biggest flock seen consisted of 40+ birds! Couldn't get close to any though.

American Coot.

Black Oystercatcher - Tsawassen.

Black Turnstone - Tsawassen.

Pigeon Guillemot - six were seen at Lonsdale Quay.

Bonaparte's Gull.

Short-billed Gull. And below.

California Gull 4cy - Tsawassen. One of only 4+ seen.

Adult winter California Gull - Tsawassen.

Second-winter (3cy) California Gull - Tsawassen.

First-winter (2cy) Glaucous-winged Gull. Very common in Vancouver with quite a few presumed hybrid Western x Glaucus-wingeds to watch out for.

First-winter G-w Gull.

Second-winter (3cy) Glaucous-winged Gull.

Adult Glaucous-winged Gull.

Double-crested Cormorant - Coal Harbour.

Pelagic Cormorant - a common species around the city water fronts.

California Sea Lion - Coal Harbour. Harbour Seals were common around the water fronts. We also saw an American River Otter.

Immature Great Blue Heron. Adult below. Stanley Park hold a big breeding colony.

Anna's Hummingbird.

Male Anna's Hummingbird. The angle has to  be just right to capture the pink!

Male Rufous Hummingbird. Missed the angle to capture the red throat here.

Too focused on the birds to study the plants but this Skunk Cabbage cried out for a photo!

Immature Cooper's Hawk - Queen Elizabeth Park.

Coyote - Queen Elizabeth Park. This individual brazenly strolled through the park. There are signs up saying not to approach or feed them.

Immature Bald Eagles - Tsawassen.

Adult Bald Eagle - Tsawassen ferry terminal.

Adult Bald Eagle - near Wreck Beach/University of British Columbia.

Male Belted Kingfisher.

Male Pileated Woodpecker - Stanley Park.

Northern Flickers were seen commonly around the city.

Singing Hutton's Vireo - Stanley Park. A clear, repetitive 'huit' -somewhat Nuthatch-like drew attention to this bird that was singing from the top of a very tall tree!

Steller's Jay ssp 'stelleri' - near Jericho Park.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee - Beaver Lake, Stanley Park.

Black-capped Chickadee.

Tree Swallow - Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - Museum of Anthropology gardens.

American Bushtit.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Pacific Wren - Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Female Varied Thrush - Stanley Park. Probably the species I most wanted to see. One of at least four found including a male, delivering it's eerie one-note song from deep in a dark pine forest.

American Robin.

Red Crossbill - Grouse Mountain.

Pine Siskin - Grouse Mountain.

'Sooty' Fox Sparrow - Stanley Park.

Dark-eyed Junco ssp oreganus - Grouse Mountain.

Male Golden-crowned Sparrow - this one was found singing in a flower bed in the city's west end.

White-crowned Sparrow.

Song Sparrow - very common and very vocal in and around the city.

Male Spotted Towhee.

Red-winged Blackbird.

Orange-crowned Warbler - lots of these arriving in the parks during our stay but no luck getting a decent photo unfortunately.

'Audobon's' Yellow-rumped Warblers ssp 'audoboni' were arriving in numbers - particularly attracted to the cherry blossoms. A slightly later visit to the city would see more variety of warblers.