Another rarity!

I did my usual route around Shoreacres this afternoon which includes the ponds below our house, the Kootenay River and to the end of Davidson Road to look at Slocan Pool. In the ponds were four male Mallards and hidden in the rushes were a pair of Cinnamon Teal, likely the same pair from yesterday.

At the pool were a couple of small groups of waterfowl. The first had 2 pairs of Bufflehead and one male Ruddy Duck with 4 females. The other group was about 20 Northern Shovellers.

I then spotted a whitish dot further out on the pool. I thought at first it would be a duck such as Goldeneye or Merganser but it turned out to be a gull with a dark head. Excited, I walked further for a closer look. The gulls around here usually fly over and I never get a good look to identify them. Our regular gulls are Ring-billed with the occasional Herring or California. So, any dark headed gull would be of interest. As I approached closer it flew off and I was able to see the distinctive 'M' marking of a Sabine's Gull (70). They are listed as accidental on the West Kootenay checklist.