Birds
Living Wild Birds
I’m not a professional birdwatcher equipped with high-end gear and extensive knowledge. I simply observe birds while walking through the city. Nevertheless, seeing birds always brings joy.
Below is a short list of birds I’ve seen or heard in the Greater Vancouver area. Those marked with 🐦 are seen, those with 🎶 are only heard so far, and ❓ means I’m not sure. Sometimes it can be tricky seeing the small birds we usually only hear, especially without equipment or if we are not patient enough.
- Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 🐦
- Snow Goose (Anser caerulescens) 🐦
- Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 🐦
- Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 🐦
- Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) 🐦
- Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) 🐦
- Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) 🐦
- Gadwall (Mareca strepera) 🐦
- Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) 🐦
- Ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris) 🐦
- Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) 🐦
- American Wigeon (Mareca americana) 🐦
- Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) 🐦
- Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 🐦
- Barrow’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) 🐦
- Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 🐦
- Hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) 🐦
- American Coot (Fulica americana) 🐦
- Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 🐦
- Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) 🐦
- Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) 🐦
- Pelagic Cormorant (Urile pelagicus) 🐦
- Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) 🐦
- Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) 🐦
- Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) 🐦
- American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 🐦
- American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 🐦
- Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 🐦
- Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 🐦
- Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) 🐦
- Short-billed Gull (Larus brachyrhynchus) 🐦
- Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 🐦
- Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 🐦
- European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 🐦
- Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 🐦
- Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) 🐦
- Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) 🐦
- Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 🐦
- House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 🐦
- Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 🐦
- White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) 🐦
- Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) 🎶
- House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 🎶
- Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) 🎶
- Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) 🎶
outside Great Vancouver:
- Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) 🐦
outside BC:
- Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) 🐦
some random notes:
Recently Extinct Birds and Mammals
Three categories of extinct animals receive the most attention: dinosaurs, the megafauna of the late Pleistocene (represented by mammoths), and “recently” extinct birds and mammals due to human activities such as geographical discoveries. I’m particularly interested in the last category.
I’m reading related materials like books, scientific papers or webpages, driven by my personal interests. I also maintain a website: Extinction Archives, which is essentially my reading notes, but I strive to make it systematic and comprehensive. Right now, it only has Chinese version. It has both Mandarin and English versions.
For this website, my current main goals are:
- Make the website bilingual, with an English version for each page - 🚧
- Update the website interface, making it clearer and more information-centered - 🚧