Time and tide, etc...

My daily lunchtime trundle down to Nanaimo waterfront was met with a zillion people today, and lots of activity in advance of the weekend's Dragon Boat Festival.
Needless to say, it wasn't all that birdy. Of note, were the first mew gulls I've seen for a while - 3 in total, mingling with their brutish glaucous-winged cousins.

Post-work, I headed down to Holden Creek to see what the high tide had thrown up. As it happened, not a right lot. Hence the rather dudey pic of 'The Heron'. (kingfisher yesterday... heron today... tomorrow Canada goose?).
The only interesting stuff was a small group of flighty calidrids, probably westerns. I kept willing a  juv peregrine, that was clumsily clambering around in some distant hawthorns, to come over and flush any lurking waders from the boggy marsh, but it failed to receive my telepathic urges.
At least it's Saturday tomorrow, and I can have a good search at low tide.

OK - Mystery Bird Revealed Time!

Once again my attempts to hoodwink the greatest ornithological minds of Vancouver Island, and beyond, was met with failure.
Least sandpiper? Do me a favour.
Pectoral sandpiper? Hmm - I think I was the only one who voted for that one, to mislead...
Short-billed dowitcher? Well, 18% of the constituency were fooled. It does, at least, resemble a dowitcher in size and structure...
Wilson's snipe? Could be. There were even bonus points to anyone who emailed me to point out the green-winged teal in the top left hand corner. Naturally, no one did.

So, it's time for a new one. I have obviously continued to be too kind. This new one is not too bad, but be warned my next is going to be a stinker...