While observations are still trickling in, we asked the current top observer, @johndreynolds, for his account of how the day went. Here is what John had to say!
"I started at 7 am at Burnaby Lake Park, which is just within an 8 km radius of my house in Greater Vancouver. One of my first birds was a long-staying Tufted Duck, which was well off course from its Eurasian homeland. By 10 am I had 185 observations of 126 species ranging from Ensatina salamander to Fan Moss. But I was slowing down, so time to move on. I returned to my car and as I was filling in my eBird checklist on my phone I heard a White-throated Sparrow - uncommon on the west coast. I raced over to investigate and found a couple of birders who swore it wasn't them doing a random play-back, but we couldn't find the bird. As soon as they left, there it was!
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/41511077
Next stop, Colony Farm Regional Park, for a quick walk where I added 18 species, mostly birds, but also an endangered Oregon Forestsnail from a place where I'd seen them before. I also ran into BC's Minister of Public Safety, which seemed appropriate for some reason. We stood 3 m apart while he gave me some intel on some birds I needed, but it turns out we both missed a Loggerhead Shrike that was reported later that afternoon and hasn't been seen since. But I digress. I checked my tides app and realized I had just enough time to catch some inter-tidal species near my house on the rising tide. So I raced home and my wife Isabelle joined me for an hour, helping me add 28 species, including migrating Chum Salmon smolts and a Hutton's vireo which I couldn't see but recorded on my phone.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/41535558
Around 2 pm I decided to call it a day, as I had some chores that I needed to do around the house and yard.
In the early evening I was on my second beer while uploading photos, and Isabelle asked how the tallies were shaping up. I figured I might be heading for around 180 species, which might rank me in 2nd or 3rd place, depending on what other people uploaded. Isabelle wasn't having it! She dragged me out as the light was fading and we picked up about 8 species of invasive plants along the road in front of our house, avoiding anything that had been planted. I was also surprised to see a Pacific Yew, which I must’ve walked past a hundred times without ever having noticed it. We went down to a dock, and Isabelle noticed a rope going down into the water. She pulled it up and there was a crab trap on the end. Nothing in the trap. But wait! What's that clinging to the side of the bait bag? A Saddleback Gunnel! Only the second I've ever seen.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/41516242
So there you go, fun day! Many thanks to Steven and the other organizers for putting it together, and it’s great to see that new observations are still coming in.
John Reynolds. @johndreynolds"
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