I kept an eye on the falcon through posts on http://www.bcvanbirds.com/ and was pleased to note that it was staying in the area. Thank you to the members of bcvanbirds who replied to my request for information and directions. 
The excellent, new Canada Line whisked me from downtown Vancouver to Bridgeport Station in 17 minutes. From there it was a simple skip on the 351 from bus stop 8 to Matthew’s Exchange. 96th St. starts just east of here and heads 2kms south to the Boundary Bay Dyke Trail. As I alighted from the bus, I thought I saw the first rays of the sun breaking through the clouds. But once I got my bearings, I realised that the lights were in the west and were in fact the lights from huge arrays of greenhouses, reflecting off the low cloud.There was no sunrise today, just a gradual, insipid change from dark to murky as I walked south on 96th St. But, I was in perfect position, arriving as dawn coincided with a tide approaching it’s highest point.
As soon as I breasted the rise on to the dyke, there were birds, thousands of them. Immediately obvious were the Pintail and Teal on the water right in front of me and the Dunlin wheeling in flocks right across the bay.
Further out was a tightly packed raft of scaup. Flying over were small groups of Glaucous-winged Gulls.The dyke, with the trail on top, runs along the north shore of Boundary Bay and protects farms and a couple of airports from the sea. The tide today was reaching nearly to the trail itself. This left the Dunlin with nowhere to rest and the sky across the bay was thick with clouds of birds. When some of the flocks amalgamated, they formed a thick band of birds that filled the entire width of my vision.
I do not recall seeing so many raptors at one go before. Bald Eagle,
Northern Harrier and Peregrine Falcons ensured that all the birds on the bay were on their guard. At one point 2 peregrines were harassing a flock of Dunlin. A Merlin caught a sparrow from the grasses on the shoreline.But my goal today was a mast to the west of 96th St. that the Gyrfalcon was said to frequent. I scoped the tower from a couple of different positions, but could not see anything. I was prepared for this and had a plan in mind. I began to walk towards the east with the intention of doing so until the sun appeared. Then I would return to the west with the good light following me and facilitating some magnificent photography. The cloud stayed obstinately thick and low and I would probably still be heading east, if I hadn’t run in to Monica at 104th St.
Monica was conducting a shorebird survey for Bird Study Canada. To do this she was counting Dunlin. Not a job I would relish. She was heading west, so I imposed myself upon her and together, we returned the way I had come.
More peregrines were attacking the flocks, but the falcon I wanted to see was much bigger than these. At up to 3lbs, the Gyrfalcon is bigger than a Red-tailed Hawk and only marginally smaller than an Osprey.From a distance, Monica was able to pick out a shape on top of the mast. Could this be the Gyrfalcon?
A Short-eared Owl showed briefly and a nice flock of American Goldfinches flitted through the bushes inland from the dyke. A formation of Trumpeter Swans flew over.
As we got closer, the shape was certainly that of a falcon. At our closest approach to the mast, identification was still inconclusive. The wings did not appear to reach the end of the tail and the facial markings of a peregrine were not apparent. So evidence was favouring the Gyrfalcon, but this was outweighed by the size. It seemed far too small. We were still 250meters from the mast so scale was difficult to judge, but I was not happy. I took some photos and hoped that they would prove decisive when I blew them up on the computer.
The bird seemed settled and did not look inclined to fly, so we left him and turned our attention bay-wards again. 
The tide was receding now and the Dunlin at last had somewhere to land and feed. 
But they were still easily spooked and the never-ending stream of harriers and eagles would not allow them to settle. 
Two of the eagles put on an aerobatic display of close-proximity flying.
Monica managed to entice me into her car with the promise of a Snowy Owl. This would be a great consolation if the Gyrfalcon was not confirmed.We made our way round to 72nd St. and parked at the corner of the golf course there. Bald Eagles were very much in evidence on the way there with probably another dozen birds spotted en-route.
The area at 72nd St. has a salt marsh that does not get inundated except at much higher tides than today. Sadly there were no Snowy Owls (possibly due to hunters with dogs), but we did see a couple of Red-tailed Hawks which reinforced my feeling that the falcon on the mast was too small. Monica was surprised to see a small flock of Western Meadowlark.
I send a big thank you to Monica for her company and local expertise and for dropping me back to the train station on an afternoon that was turning chilly. On the way, just before we passed under the Frazer River. Monica topped out the day with some Common Mergansers.
Once I arrived home, I eagerly up-loaded my photos to the computer, but cannot make any more detail than I had before. If anyone from bcvanbirds is prepared to venture an opinion on the Gyrfalcon, I would be very pleased to be put out of my misery. Or if the mast builder could tell me for example that the vanes at the top of the tower are 12 feet long, that would give an idea of scale.
Stop Press, 2 independent observers have confirmed the Gyrfalcon. Thanks guys!
If Monica reads this, I wonder what she will make of my counting?
Birds species; 31
Great Blue Heron 8, Trumpeter Swan 9, Brent Goose 16, Mallard 30. Wigeon 800, Pintail 4000, Teal 700, Common Merganser 9, Bald Eagle 30, Northern Harrier 9, Red-tailed Hawk 2, Merlin 1, Peregrine 4, Gyrfalcon 1, Short-eared Owl 1, Grey Plover 80, Greater Yellowlegs 5. Glaucous-winged Gull 400, Dunlin 15000, Sanderling 1, Northern Flicker 1, American Robin 8, Northwestern Crow 18, Black-capped Chickadee 2, Song Sparrow 6, White-throated Sparrow 4, Spotted Towhee 1, Western Meadowlark 5, American Goldfinch 50,House Finch 8, Brewer’s Blackbird 100, Common Starling 150,
White-breasted Waterhen
I knew that rain was imminent, so chose to go to Singapore Botanical Gardens. It is easily accessible, taking only 15 minutes on a no.7 bus from outside the Capitol Building. I entered the gardens via the Napier Road gate at 06.00, shortly before sunrise. The gardens are open from 05.00 until midnight and entrance is free.
Since this started as a dragonfly post, I was focussing my attention around the various bodies of water, but following up interesting bird opportunities when they presented themselves. 
I heard the resonant, woody call of a Lineated Barbet and tracked it down in a fruiting fig tree nearby. A pair of very noisy Common Goldenbacks arrived into the same tree and threw the barbet into a frenzy of calling and posturing.
While I was trying, a young Oriental Magpie Robin came and joined me on the bench.
Possession of a hole seems to have sparked the dispute. After a time sizing each other up, the woodpecker lunged at the myna. The two birds fell, locked together for about 40 feet through the foliage, only separating when they hit the ground.
Back on the lawns by Symphony lake, a pair of Lesser Whistling Ducks were very approachable which made me wary of their wild status. There are Mute and Black Swans in the gardens as exotics. I saw two Hill Mynas early in the day, but their ability to wolf whistle and their extensive show tunes repertoire must disallow them on this occasion.
Here I found 4 Yellow Bittern, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Olive-backed Sunbird, 
Zebra Dove, and White-breasted Waterhen around the edges of the water. On a palm-filled island in the pond were Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Asian Glossy Starling, a Black-crowned Night Heron and another bittern.
Bird species; 25
I headed for Oare Marshes at Faversham on the Thames Estuary.
I set out from the car park along the path that runs beside the estuary, heading towards the Sea Wall hide. The estuary to my left was just approaching high slack water.
The light is much preferable in this direction although the sun was weak in the early December morning. Looking back across the eastern floods I was watching the island covered in Godwits when suddenly everything took to the air. 
Is there a term for the sudden take-off of all the birds? We use expressions like “something has put the birds up”, or the like, but is there not an onomatopoeic word like a “whoomph” or an indication of panic like a “flapper”?
it’s long, curved bill easily visible. It was flying north towards Sheppey. There are a few ibis around at the moment with a handful staying over at Dungeoness currently.
I continued on the path leading along Faversham Creek as far as the outflow where a Rock Pipit watched from the rail.
I returned the way I had come to take advantage of the dropping water level and watched the birds flying over on to the freshly exposed mud. Redshanks were first out. Soon there were Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwits too. 
A Ruddy Turnstone picked amongst the seaweed on the rock by the seawall.
This picture of a Wood Sandpiper for example, is brought to you instead of the Leopard that we would have seen if we hadn’t stopped.
I had planned the trip too tightly and almost immediately it became clear that we would have to drop a couple of sites. We started at Marievale, a superb wetland sanctuary southwest of JNB International Airport. Then on day two, we travelled to the Kruger National Park by way of Dullstroom’s grasslands and the montane forest at Mount Sheba. The whole of day three was spent in Kruger and we returned back to catch the flight home on day four after an early morning drive out of the National Park. All these sites are described in detail on the excellent website 
Long-tailed Widows were very obvious with their exuberant breeding plumage easily identified from distance. One sat close to the road for our first pictures. A wet area beside the road held Ruff, Three-banded Plover, Cape Wagtail and Levaillant’s Cisticola. Dry areas where the vegetation had been allowed to go to seed were full of Southern Masked Weaver, Red Bishop and Red-billed Quelea.
It was a 
Southern Masked Weaver
Red-billed Teal, Hotentot Teal, Yellow-billed Duck, Cape Shoveller and Southern Pochard.
Inside the sanctuary, we stopped at the Duiker Hide. White-throated Swallows sat on the cormorant posts with an African Darter. Out on the water a pair of Great Crested Grebes was courting and some White-breasted Cormorants and Black-winged Stilts were hauled up on a far off, raised mud-bank.
A causeway crosses the water and leads to the Shelduck Hide on the far bank. The causeway has always been a very productive area and today, gave us our second otter. It could have been the same one. It acted in a very similar manner, cautious, but curious. It was very active not staying on the surface for more than a couple of seconds before diving and resurfacing a few meters away. Yet it made no attempt to escape our attentions.
Reed warbler calls and songs re-ignited our discussions and 2 warblers of different sizes only served to confuse us further.
At this, Martin let out an emotional sigh and admitted that he had been waiting to see that for a very long time. Our fieldguides disagreed as to whether the bird was a heron or an egret, but this would not detract from Martin’s satisfaction.
Possibly it had been trying to raid their nest, or had just unluckily wandered too close.
We were able to take photos and look up in our mammal book to find that it was a 
Samango Monkey as we went. We had not seen the real target bird for this site which was the Knysna Turaco, so we nipped into the forest for about 5 minutes. We thought we could hear one calling, but could easily have mistaken it’s guttural croaking for a Samango Monkey. Luckily, there were two turacos in good view and we were joined by a Starred Robin as we watched. Just before we left, we noticed that an 
But it is not easy to pass up sightings of Buffalo, Elephant and White rhino, especially when the Red-billed Ox-peckers were catching the light so well. 
We found 3 of the “Big 5” within 20 minutes of entering the park, with 4 Elephant sightings.. If it weren’t for the Elephant on the road close to camp, we would have only been a matter of moments late, but there was no way through a herd of mothers with small calves who were walking along the tarmac with no regard for Rocter’s knocking-off time. Not wishing to come between an elephant cow and her suckling calf, we had to wait for an opportune moment to pass and suffer the wrath as Rocter had to unlock the gates for us when we eventually arrived.
African Fish Eagle which went through an aerobatic display to catch it’s breakfast.
Far off in an acacia tree sat a young Martial Eagle and a small flotilla of White-faced Ducks drifted across the open water.
Shortly after we left the Zebra, we encountered a large Elephant moving along quite swiftly in the direction that we had just come from. We surmised that he was probably heading for the dam and may make a spectacular photo opportunity, but we were not keen to retrace our steps on the chance that he would perform for us. It was a very big dam and he would approach from the opposite end, about a kilometre from the viewing point.
We stopped for a small herd of Impala, one of which was playing host to a Red-billed Ox-pecker. Further on the Lilac-breasted Roller sat for us. Martin surprised me by suggesting a few improvements that could be made. To a Lilac-breasted Roller? He thought the head too big.
As we approached Skukuza, proper breakfast was fast becoming elevenses, so we decided to stay for lunch while we were there. We had to cross back over the river to get to Skukuza and a herd of male Impala were drinking from a pool beside the bridge. 
The reflections were too much to resist.
There were Greater Black-eared Starlings, of that we were sure, but there were also some with magenta coloured bellies which would indicate that they were the southern, lesser version. Once again the park checklist failed to mention the southern lesser and it too was a long way from home. So now we had 3 issues to discuss as soon as we had a moment.
A notice in the shade informed us that these were either, Peter’s or Wahlerg’s Bats, probably both. Of course, we can count neither.
The hide was jammed with people hoping that the lions would come back, but it was a beautiful place to be. Goliath Heron, Grey Heron, Openbill Stork, Pied Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher, Brown-hooded Kingfisher and Water Dikkop were all here in a very pretty setting. Well worth a visit if ever you are passing. As we left, vehicles were queuing up to get in.
Our distractions this time included a 
A giraffe adopted the classic drinking pose for us at a small waterhole and a pair of White Rhinos turned back towards us by the roadside.
We had not seen any crocs here during the previous looks and assume that they must have migrated up from the river when they heard about the hippo. Spotted Hyaenas were hoping to get in on the action too. We spent a few moments taking pictures of the crocs and then a Wood Sandpiper. I am ruing that decision now. A few hundred meters up the road, a cluster of cars had stopped to look at a leopard. Of course by the time we arrived, it had slunk into the reeds and disappeared for good. It was a slightly deflating end to the trip, but we still had to get out of the park.
A Yellow-billed Hornbill sat well for us this morning at a hide on the way to Crocodile Bridge Gate. 
A Crested Barbet was obviously used to human contact and approached very close.
But a Steenbok with eyes the size of tennis balls was irresistible and I had been hoping to get a picture of a big Kudu bull all week. Shortly before the gate, I eventually managed that.
At 10.00 exactly, we left the park, but our bird list wasn’t complete yet, we managed to add to it while travelling at speed beyond Nelspruit. A White-collared Raven was on the ground by the road and topped out 4 great days and brought our final tally to 173 bird for the trip, not forgetting 26 mammals.