Friday, 2 January 2015

Arrival of rare golden eagle in south Delta generates stir in birding community

BY LARRY PYNN, VANCOUVER SUN JANUARY 1, 2015

A golden eagle — a rare visitor to a region known for its bald eagles — had birders all aflutter on New Year’s Day in south Delta.

“I have been here a couple of days for this guy,” said Vancouver’s Michelle Lamberson, taking her place in a line of photographers along 72nd Street near Boundary Bay. “I’ve got some decent shots.”

The juvenile bird sat like an ornament atop a large poplar tree on the edge of a golf course about 75 metres from the roadside.

Lamberson, who is director of flexible learning special projects at the University of B.C. and a birder for eight years, added: “I’ve not seen one in the Lower Mainland before. Bald eagles don’t like them.”

Mark Wynja, a birder for more than 40 years who works in a bird-supply shop in Vancouver, said the golden eagle rules the roost along the Boundary Bay foreshore. He watched as the raptor flew into a stand of red alders and scattered four bald eagles from their perches, although they later returned.

“He tends to be the dominant bird,” he said. “He’s tougher than a bald eagle, which is a glorified scavenger.”

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