Swan fine day...

Paid an early visit to Holden Creek this morning where there were still at least 15 long-billed dowitcher feeding in the main channel. 5 killdeer were in the area.
Also 250ish green-winged teal plus a handful of wigeon and a couple of pintail there. Otherwise it was pretty quiet.

Made my way round to the Nanaimo River estuary (Raines Rd) around 10am where the trumpeter swan-in-residence was again on the river. Soon another single trumpeter came over heading west and that was followed a couple of minutes later by a flock of 9 headed, more logically, south-east.
Not much going here this morning either, a single juv harrier was posing well in the occasional bursts of sunlight but I couldn't locate any shrikes or meadowlarks today. With it being low-tide, all the wildfowl were way out. Added to that was the disturbance by the odd hunter out on the marsh and the glut of fisherman on the river...

Around midday, a quick count from the condo revealed 98 Pacific loon plus the usual common loons, horned grebes, double-crested cormorants etc. Then a single Bonaparte's gull flew by - the first one I've seen from the house.

...................

Following an unsuccessful attempt to buy a used car, I headed to Buttertubs Marsh in an effort to salvage some of the afternoon...
That wasn't overly fruitful either. Pretty much the same stuff as was there a couple of days ago except with fewer coot and wigeon. A party of American goldfinch were a pleasant distraction, despite being in non-breeding plumage.
A merlin whipped through and a group of 5 grey geese passed high over - could only be white-fronted I suppose. Meanwhile a flock of c.120 Canada geese dropped in.
Otherwise it was business as usual.