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.

Burrard nest #4

I haven’t written much about the Burrard nests as they’re difficult to observe and photograph. The three I’ve been following are located on the east side of the bridge, which I can see from the Granville Street Bridge. This nest is on the western side, which can only be seen awkwardly from the bridge deck.

Burrard nests #3 and #4

Here’s a photo that shows the location of two Burrard nests, number #4 being the newly spotted location.

Burrard & Pyramid nests

…and here is a screen shot from the Google map I use to track the nest locations and related information.

Engineer nest

The two chicks at Engineer nest seem to be doing well. Like many of the chicks, they are now old enough for their parents to leave the unattended for a while.

Grassy nest

All three chicks look healthy and the size differences we saw a week ago are diminishing.

Chimney nest

The two chicks doing well despite the small space they have.

Culinary nest

One of the nestlings, fast asleep.

Penthouse nest

A close-up of the chick at the Penthouse nest. Despite the nest disturbance I caught back on July 24th, everything seems fine here.

Penthouse nest, camouflage

Here’s an example of how camouflaged these gull chicks are, even when they’re older and less spotted. If you know there’s a chick there you can spot it without much effort, but if you were just walking past, chances are you’d miss it.

I guess the only camouflage that would be better is if the chick looked like an aluminium can or plastic water bottle…

Restaurant nest

I caught a glimpse of both chicks at the Restaurant nest as they were making their way to nap in the shade.

Design nest chicks

Another example of how challenging it can be to spot chicks…

Design nest, zoomed in

Here they are.

I was only able to find two of the three chicks I’ve seen at this location previously. I’m hopeful the third was hidden away somewhere out of view. However, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen any chick mortalities so far. Gulls, especially urban nesting gulls, have a high rate of success fledging their chicks… but not 100%.

Cambie nest

I was not able to spot any gulls at Cambie nest on my visit. The fledglings were probably hiding, but since the disturbance I’ve been concerned about this nest. Although we saw them trying out their wings not long ago, I don’t think they would have left the nest yet.

Until next time.

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