British Columbia and Washington Trip for Taiga Flycatcher ~ January 15, 2026

I had just seen Canada's first record of European Robin in Montreal on Saturday. Another first record for Canada was a Taiga Flycatcher, a Eurasian bird, that had been discovered in Vancouver, British Columbia back on Christmas Day, and it was still there. Since it would be another life bird, I wanted to go see it, but I always hesitate spending the money for a flight to the West Coast when there is only one target bird there. Not seeing the bird would be a depressing, costly trip. I had seen the Mew Gull in British Columbia, Canada way back in 1986. Since then, it had been split into two species with the North American version now labeled "Short-billed Gull". I realized that I had never seen a Short-billed in the 'Lower 48' or even in the United States, so that would be another goal to try for. Then, looking over my photo list, I found that I had never photographed a Red-breasted Sapsucker, so that became a third possibility.

I checked the weather forecast for Vancouver and it showed four straight days of sunshine with no wind starting on the 15th, a rare occurrence for there. The 'usual' weather for the Pacific Northwest is cloudy or foggy with occasional showers or drizzle, so I decided to search flights for that time period. With the number of delayed flights seeming to be commonplace anymore, I now search for non-stop flights wherever possible. I searched flights to Vancouver and found them to be $1000.00 or more. There was no way I was going to spend that much for one 'lifer', so I searched flights to Seattle, which is about a 3-hour drive away from Vancouver. I found a non-stop flight from Newark, New Jersey to Seattle and back for around $700.00. That was tolerable, so I booked it on Monday and hoped that the bird would stick around a few more days.

---

Thursday, January 15, 2026

I headed for the Newark Airport at 4:00 AM, parked, and took the shuttle to the terminal. The flight took off around 7:45 AM. About two hours into the 6-hour flight, the pilot came on the intercom and asked anyone with medical experience to hit the call button. I looked at the guy sitting next to me and said, "That's not good." We eventually found out that an older lady at the back of the plane was having a heart issue and her blood pressure was dropping dangerously low! Apparently, whoever the medical volunteer was must have stabilized her because we didn't end up landing in North Dakota. While on descent into Seattle, I took these photos through the window of the Cascade Mountains and Mount Baker, which is the third-highest peak in Washington.

The Cascade Mountains

Mount Baker

When we landed in Seattle, everyone was told to stay seated until the paramedics came and took the lady with a medical issue off of the plane. She was well enough to walk off, albeit slowly, and then we followed.

I got my car pretty quickly, entered the Taiga Flycatcher's location in Vancouver, and started up I-5. I was supposed to get there around 2:30 in the afternoon, but that didn't happen. I went through customs in about 15 minutes and continued on to Vancouver. At the tunnel under the Fraser River, three lanes had been cut down to one and there was a huge backup. I eventually got through there and started into the city. There are no bypasses or 'ring roads' around Vancouver, so you have to drive straight through it. The traffic was heavy on the streets, which were mostly two narrow lanes on each side with a double-yellow line between. Many of the stoplights don't have left-turn arrows, so if one car wants to make a left, the entire left lane stops. Impatient drivers then dive into the right lane traffic. By the time I got to Sunset Beach Park, it was near sunset. I went to turn into the parking lot and found the gate closed! I tried driving around the surrounding blocks, looking for a place to park, but there were signs everywhere that stated you needed a permit to park there. I finally found out that there was construction going on at the park and the entrance to the parking lot was at a different spot. I parked my car and went over to the stand where you pay to park. Every time I went to enter the information, a screen came up that said, "The printer is not working". After several tries, I finally managed to get all of the information in, paid with my credit card, and took a cellphone photo of the screen.

When I finally grabbed my gear and started walking to the area where the bird was most often seen, it was already sunset. I checked the area on the northwest side of the Vancouver Aquatic Center and couldn't believe it when I found the bird in less than five minutes! I took multiple photos of it in the fading light and surprisingly got some nice ones at pretty close range. It probably helped that I was the only birder there at the time. Here are my best ones of my life Taiga Flycatcher showing the white outer patches midway down the black tail.

Taiga Flycatcher

I had made a reservation from home at the Abercorn Hotel, which was near the Vancouver Airport, so I slowly made my way back out of the city and checked into it. I grabbed something quick to eat and headed back to my room to relax since it was a long, but successful day.

---

British Columbia and Washington Trip for Taiga Flycatcher ~ January 16, 2026

I had planned to spend today looking for the flycatcher had I not seen it the afternoon before. Because I had such a short amount of time with it before it got dark and because I thought I might get better photos in much better light, I fought my way back into Vancouver, getting to Sunset Beach Park at first light.

Views from Sunset Beach

I starting walking over to the Aquatic Center and saw a pair of Barrow's Goldeneye feeding right next to the beach. I waited until the sun came up and started taking photos of them.

A male Barrow's Goldeneye.

A female Barrow's Goldeneye.

Pairs of Barrow's Goldeneye.

I also got photos of Bonaparte's and Short-billed Gulls, Pelagic Cormorant, and Horned Grebe.

Bonaparte's Gull

Short-billed Gull

Pelagic Cormorant

Horned Grebe

Also seen from the beach were Bufflehead, Glaucous-winged Gull, Western Grebe, and Bald Eagle. Around 90 American Wigeon were feeding in the grass in the park across the channel. I continued on to the Aquatic Center and met four other birders searching the area for the flycatcher. They had not seen it yet. We exchanged phone numbers so we could call each other if it was spotted. I knew that it was often seen in the trees along Beach Avenue, so I slowly walked back and forth down along there. Just southeast of Jervis Street, I met a birding couple and while I was asking them if they had any luck, I looked over to the next tree and there it was! We watched it while I called the other group on the phone that were watching for it at the Aquatic Center and told them that we had the bird. They came up and we pointed it out to them. It was a pretty warm day, so insects were probably more available. That might be why the bird spent around half of its time in the top half of the trees. Occasionally, it would come down to the lower branches, drop to the ground, grab an insect, and fly back up into the tree. One of my priorities was to try to get a photo of it with its tail spread, but the bird was so quick that it was very tough to do. I managed to get this blurry one after many tries.

The unique tail pattern of the Taiga Flycatcher.

I got some other photos showing different angles of the tail including a couple showing the interesting feather pattern around its cloaca.

Taiga Flycatcher

Other birds seen while following the flycatcher included Anna's Hummingbird, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and the "Oregon" form of the Dark-eyed Junco.

The "Oregon" form of the Dark-eyed Junco.

By 1:00 PM, about a dozen birders were watching the flycatcher. I figured I wasn't going to get any better photos than I already had, so I decided to get out of Vancouver before rush hour and headed south back towards Washington. Before reaching the border around the town of Delta, I passed a line of trees bordering the Vancouver landfill that contained at least 50 Bald Eagles. I wanted to stop and take a photo, but there was nowhere to safely pull over and do that. It took about 20 minutes to go through customs. At the booth, the border agent asked me what brought me all the way out to western Canada from Pennsylvania. When I told her, I came to see one small bird, her eyes opened up, and she asked what kind of bird it was. I told her the story about the Taiga Flycatcher that was from Asia, was the first-ever record for Canada, and that it had been there since Christmas. She saw my camera on the passenger seat and asked me if I got a photo of it. I said that I got a lot of them. She told me to have a good day, and I told her that I already did.

With my main purpose of the trip already "in the bag", I did a quick search on eBird for a recent, local Red-breasted Sapsucker sighting. The Sehome Hill Arboretum in Bellingham had one, so I headed there. I parked near the Jersey Street entrance and hiked the fairly steep trail up to the observation tower. Along the way, I saw a few Golden-crowned Kinglets and Dark-eyed Juncos, but not much else. At the top, there was a pretty nice view from the observation tower.

Looking north from the tower towards the Coast Mountains in British Columbia.

Looking northwest from the tower towards Bellingham Bay.

On the way back down from the car, I noticed a "gray bump" on the side of a large tree trunk and realized that it was a Barred Owl! I was far enough away that it wasn't even concerned about me while I took these photos of it.

Barred Owl

I continued down I-5 to the Tulip Inn in Mt. Vernon and stayed there for the night.

---

British Columbia and Washington Trip for Taiga Flycatcher ~ January 17, 2026

I had picked Mt. Vernon as my overnight stop because I wanted to spend the morning at Deception Pass State Park looking for Short-billed Gull, plus Red-breasted Sapsucker was also a possibility there. I drove the half-hour to the Rosario Head section of the state park, getting there just before sunrise. A Great Blue Heron flew into a tree next to the parking lot. Along the northern side of the point, I spotted 4 Horned Grebes, 2 Marbled Murrelets, a group of Pigeon Guillemots, 4 Buffleheads, 5 Common Goldeneye, 8 Red-breasted Mergansers, a pair of Harlequin Ducks, and numbers of Pelagic Cormorants.

Horned Grebe

Pigeon Guillemots

Pelagic Cormorant

Harlequin Duck

Gulls found there included Western Gull, the ubiquitous Glaucous-winged Gull, and my first confirmed 'Lower 48' Short-billed Gulls. My second goal was complete.

Western Gull

Short-billed Gull

Over on the south side of the point, I saw Red-necked Grebe, another Horned Grebe, more Short-billed Gulls, and a Belted Kingfisher.

Red-necked Grebe

Horned Grebe

Short-billed Gulls

Belted Kingfisher

While I was on the south side, a mixed flock of birds appeared. They included Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Brown Creeper.

Chestnut-backed Chickadees

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Red-breasted Nuthatch

In the same area, a male Anna's Hummingbird was chittering at a female from a snag.

A male Anna's Hummingbird.

A female Anna's Hummingbird.

Pacific Wren, American Robin, and Fox Sparrow were also noted along the trail.

I left Rosario Head and drove over to the West Beach section of the state park. Looking out towards the Salish Sea, I found 11 Red-breasted Mergansers, 6 Common Goldeneye, more Glaucous-winged and Short-billed Gulls, an Eared Grebe, a Red-necked Grebe, and a Ring-necked Duck.

In the channel leading to Deception Pass, I saw 2 Surf Scoters, at least 9 Red-throated Loons, a Pacific Loon, a Common Loon, many Pelagic Cormorants, a Double-crested Cormorant, and around 50 Pigeon Guillemots.

A male Surf Scoter showing off its colorful bill, white eye, and distinctive head pattern.

A large rock just offshore held 2 Black Oystercatchers and 2 Black Turnstones.

Black Oystercatchers

Black Turnstones

I saw 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches on my walk back along the channel where I took this photo of the Deception Pass Bridge.

Looking east towards the Deception Pass Bridge.

A cropped version showing a tractor-trailer crossing the bridge to give height perspective.

Four Hooded Mergansers were seen on the way out of the park. On my way back to I-5, I stopped and walked out onto the Deception Pass Bridge to take photos from 185 feet above the water.

Looking east from the Deception Pass Bridge with Mount Baker on the left.

Looking west from the Deception Pass Bridge towards the Salish Sea.

Jason had texted me that a Whooper Swan had been found the day before fairly close to Seattle. I had seen one in California, but didn't have it for my photo list, so I decided to drive the 1-3/4 hours down there and see if it might show up again. Along Route 20, I stopped to take this photo of Mount Baker, which is the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascade Range after Mount St. Helens.

Mount Baker

I got to the Whooper Swan location a little after 3:00 PM and found 11 Trumpeter Swans, but no Whooper Swan. There were 23 American Wigeon there, too. I stayed there until dusk with no luck. While there, I booked the Fairfield Inn near Bellevue and drove there when it got dark. There was a Red Robin restaurant close by, so I went there and sat at the bar. That's when I realized that all of Seattle was glued to the TV watching the Seahawks beat the 49ers in their NFL playoff game. Back at the motel, I searched the Seattle area again for recent Red-breasted Sapsucker sightings and made a list of four sites to check out tomorrow.

---