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| Greater yellowlegs |
At Panama there was a little shorebird activity with up to 200 ‘peeps’ present. A careful scan through revealed a relatively equal mix of least and western sandpipers with nothing else obvious amongst them.
5 greater yellowlegs were busily feeding in the diminishing pools, as were 5 long-billed dowitchers. Spotted sandpipers and killdeers of course, were also very much in evidence.
There was quite a lot of odonata activity around the site with cardinal meadowhawks and common whitetails especially noticeable, along with various damselflies.
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| Yet another stilt photo... |
On my way to collect Jenny from the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay later in the day, I was able to squeeze in a convenient stop at Maber Flats en route.
All 11 black-necked stilts were still in the area, and showing well – an adult is pictured here.
Off-passage shorebirds were surprisingly thin on the ground with just a handful of least sandpipers, 7 greater yellowlegs and 4 silent dowitchers.
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| Cinnamon teal brood |
As I scanned through the mass of moulting mallards on the bank I picked out a couple of juvenile cinnamon teal, and soon added a further pair of youngster and an adult. The adult actually looked more like an eclipse drake, but I suspect it was perhaps just a bright female with her 4 offspring. The photo here shows the 5 teal snoozing.
Back in the UK, Brit birders will often recognise the distinctive sounds made by swallows when they detect a Eurasian hobby, or other predator on the hunt. This same sound is heard here in Canada too, primarily from barn swallows, and the high-pitched chatter and sudden swirling movements of the hirundines is a good clue to imminent arrival of an aerial threat. At Maber Flats on Saturday, this excitement preceded the speedy appearance of a merlin that caused considerable mayhem among the swallows as it whizzed through the site, making a couple of unsuccessful attempts at snatching a bird or two.
The many Brewer’s blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds and starlings foraging on the mud of the flats seemed unperturbed by the action overhead…
A short while later, while I was waiting at Swartz Bay, I added another raptor to the day’s tally – a peregrine that sailed leisurely over the ferry terminal.
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| Heermann's & California gull |
On Sunday, I just got out for a brief spell. I noticed that it was exactly a year ago that I had first come across the wandering tattler at Ogden Point, and while I thought it unlikely that it would show up on the same date, it was certainly worth having a look.
As it happens, it wasn’t really.
Other than a great-blue heron and 3 pigeon guillemots the harbour was pretty quiet and I could only see a small party of 8 western sandpipers on the nearby beach. A quick stop at Clover Point wasn’t much more productive with just 7 Heermann’s gulls among the many California and glaucous-winged gulls.
nice stilts!!!
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