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#89718
Hello,
Beautiful pics!
Sorry if this post is in the wrong area... I'm new to this forum and learning how it works. Does anyone know what the lovely Rhinoceros Auklet might be eating? ( The pic posted by zwest).

Regards,
#89719
The Rhinoceros Auklet has caught a Pacific Sand Lance which is the main food for nestlings!

Pacific Sand Lance is a forage fish that can bury itself under the sandy bottom on the ocean!
They keep close to shore so not that deep!

If you want to read further about Rhinoceros Auklet and Pacific Sand Lance, click here!
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... ecruitment
#89721
Thanks for that!

Went down a rabbit hole there... that fish is an important creature for the Rhinocerous Auklet!

" At colonies throughout BC, the amount of sandlance in nestling diets has been positively correlated with nestling growth and survival (Bertram and Kaiser 1993;Bertram et al. 2002;Borstad et al. 2011).
Thanks for the link.

And also, you may have solved the mystery of what the herons have been fishing out of the shallow waters in the estuary. I've been so curious and now, I think it might be the Pacific Sand Lance.
#89722
Those are nice additions, Bruce! Zach ... thanks for continuing with the great pics, too. I haven't had much luck seeing new birds but plenty of the regular ones! haha. I'll update our count/list today and post here. I think we are over 200 now.
James
#89748
Found a closer Baird's last night in Richmond and updated the picture above.

I also came across a pair of Pacific Golden-plovers at the same place (iPhone shot through scope):

Image


And, at the Tsawwasswen ferry jetty, Brandt's Cormorants are returning:

Image

(700 meter distance, also phone scoped :mrgreen: )
#89774
Continuing the phone scope project...

Here is a Wandering Tattler from today in West Vancouver.

Image

Also, last weekend down at Boundary Bay I saw a Northern Waterthrush:

Image

and a Black Phoebe:

Image


Hope to get some more shorebirds over the next few weeks.
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