Having finished work early and enduring the two bus journey back to Cedar, I decided to dodge the raindrops and go for a walk round Hemer Park. Now, I didn't expect to see anything particularly thrilling here but I was quite surprised by just how birdy it was today.
In fact, had I been a Brit birder, in BC for the first time, I would have been pretty overwhelmed!
Uncharacteristic as it is for me to do so on this blog, I will list every species I saw/heard on a relatively relaxed 2 hour-ish wander around the northern end of the park.
Canada goose, Wood duck (inc. fem with 10 ducklings), Mallard, Great blue heron, Turkey vulture, Osprey, Bald eagle, Glaucous-winged gull, Band-tailed pigeon, Rufous hummingbird, Pileated woodpecker, Willow flycatcher, Pacific-slope flycatcher, Northwestern crow, Raven, Tree swallow, Violet-green swallow, Chestnut-backed chickadee, Bushtit, Red-breasted nuthatch, Brown creeper, Bewick's wren, Winter wren, Marsh wren, Swainson's thrush, American robin, Starling, Cedar waxwing, Orange-crowned warbler, Yellow warbler, Western tanager, Spotted towhee, Chipping sparrow, Song sparrow, Dark-eyed junco, Red-winged blackbird, Brewer's blackbird, Purple finch, Red crossbill.
Of course, there are a few birds missing off that list that a more competent birder would have picked up on, but on the whole, it's a fair demonstration of the variety of birds that can be easily found on a brief afternoon visit to Hemer.
The undoubted highlight for me, was the willow flycatcher - which was actually a tick! My previous visits to Vancouver Island have either been too early or late for this species, and I've not encountered them in their wintering grounds.
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