I had a quiet Sunday morning visit to a good portion of the nests. The sky was overcast, sparing the gulls and myself from the full strength of the sun. It gave me the opportunity to see some of the chicks that are usually tucked away in shade and hidden from view.
The chicks at Pyramid nest are doing well. Here they are with a parent. Given their lack of excitement and begging, I suspect they were fed shorty before this photo.
Now that we’re far into the breeding season, all the chicks are larger and more mobile. As a result they’re much more visible, making it significantly easier to spot nests that were otherwise invisible due to barriers that blocked my view.
On my way from the Burrard nests I heard the excited chipping of some chicks about to be fed. After a quick scan of nearby rooftops, I spotted the heads of three fledglings poking out above rows of anti-bird spikes.
The building is located on Beach Ave, so that’s what I’ll be calling this nest.
I arrived at the Burrard Street Bridge to a chaotic scene – five or six gulls were circling near the bridge, calling out loudly. I soon spotted the silhouette of a hawk cutting erratically through the air.
Though it easily out-manoeuvred the gulls, the hawk knew it had no chance of finding a meal and vanished before I was able to get a good look at it. I suspect it was a Cooper’s Hawk, but it was little more than a blur to my mammalian eyes. I have seen Peregrine Falcons hunting in that area before, but the shape didn’t look right for a falcon.
In any case, with the gulls alarmed and defensive, I spotted a new nest with at least one chick located on top of the bridge architecture.
This brings my the number of nests I’m monitoring to 18.
My usual routine is to visit the nests early in the morning. This lets me avoid other people as well as the worst of the sun and heat. But I’ve come to realize there is a disadvantage in that most of the gulls and chicks are still sleeping and hard to spot.
On Monday, July 26th, I was behind schedule and ended up getting to the nests around 11am… The weather was cooler and more overcast than usual, and we had a good rainstorm that lasted the previous two days. It’s disturbing that saying that sounds like bragging…
I started off on the Burrard Street Bridge to check out the Clipper nests. I got a good view of an adult and the three chicks from the second nest – here they are celebrating the arrival of mom or dad.
I couldn’t see them clearly, but it looked like the chicks from Clipper nest #1 were napping on the other side of the cinder blocks where I usually see them.
