December 17 - Another Wild Bird Chase

Today's quarry was a reported Eastern Phoebe seen at Jericho Beach. This was in the middle of some winter weather in Vancouver and temperatures were frigid. I'd seen this bird in Calgary many years ago (see photo below) and again in Point Pelee, Ontario in 2012.


Eastern Phoebe - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB - Summer 2002

It took me quite a while to get from North Delta to Jericho, and then a bit more time to find the frozen pond where the bird had been seen. It was getting late in the afternoon by this time and my hopes were dwindling. The first bird I saw in the frigid surroundings was a Song Sparrow.


Song Sparrow - Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver BC

Next up was a Northwestern Crow trying to find some food in the frozen environment.


Northwestern Crow - Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver BC

The  Mallards that habituate the park were not doing much better:

Mallards - Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver BC

Also unhappy was this Ring-billed Gull:

Ring-billed Gull - Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver BC

I gave up on the Phoebe and headed towards the shoreline to take a few scenery shots. Here's the skyline looking towards the North Shore.

The last bird I saw was an American Wigeon male swimming just offshore.

American Wigeon - Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver BC