At about 1300 on 26 April 1980 Brian Kautesk found a Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. The bird was flycatching along the shore of Lost Lagoon, a small freshwater lake in the park, where it remained until the evening of 27 April. It occupied a small island covered with Red Alder (Alnus rubra), Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa var. arborescens), and other small trees and shrubs, some of which were dead. It usually perched low, not more than 3-4 m above the water.
At least 16 competent observers, including Gerry and Wendy Ansell, Audrey Banton, Dan Bastaja, Norm Chesterfield, Mark Daly, Al and Jude Grass, John and Teresa Ireland, Doug Kragh, Allen Poynter and the four of us, saw the Black Phoebe. Richard Cannings, Al Grass and Robin Weber obtained recognizable photographs (see Figure 1), which have been deposited in the Photoduplicate File at the British Columbia Provincial Museum, Victoria (BCPM photorecord 658). In addition, Wayne Weber and Brian Kautesk took detailed field notes, also on file at the Provincial Museum.