Fall birding picks up a pace...

Popped down to the Government House grounds this morning in search of passage migrants. Didn't discover anything too thrilling, but there were certainly numbers of birds present.
In among a couple of bushtit flocks I came across at least 8 Wilson's warblers, 1 very grey-headed orange-crowned warbler (without a tail), 2 willow flycatchers and a drab female western tanager. Of course, the regular chestnut-backed chickadees, brown creepers, red-breasted nuthatches and what-have-you were all in attendance too.

A sharp-shinned hawk came through, hotly pursued by a trio of angry Anna's hummingbirds.
Otherwise, the other highlight was a very noisy young racoon (or racoonlet, as I like to call them) that was clambering around in an oak, while its mother kept watch below. It wouldn't keep still enough for a good pic, so here's the best I could manage.

In the evening I nipped down to Clover Point to see what was going on. Gulls. That's what was going on. Thousands of gulls. The rocks below the point were covered with glaucous-winged and California gulls, with about half a dozen Heermann's gulls thrown in. Offshore, birds simply carpeted the water. Among the large rafts of gulls were good numbers of rhinoceros auklets, common murres, a few pigeon guillemots and at least 5 marbled murrelets.

Small groups of red-necked phalaropes were moving around, and a string of phalaropes were picking delicately at the surface. I counted a total of 106. Here's a fuzzy picture of just 2 of them.
As the tide continued to rise, a moulting adult black-bellied plover flew in, joining 4 black turnstone on the rocks.

Thursday Coastal Birds
In between various bits of more important stuff, I managed a couple of hours of coastal birding yesterday.
Starting off at Clover Point, I just about managed to check through the roosting gulls before the rock-jumping hordes and cavorting canines did their best to rid the area entirely of avian life.

Among the multitude of California and glaucous-winged gulls were 9 Heermann's gulls, 5 mew gulls and a single Bonaparte's gull (pictured). Yet more gulls were scattered around offshore but the lingering morning fog made seawatching a waste of time. Within range, I could just about make out good numbers of rhinoceros auklets and common murres, but little else.
Heading along the coast toward Oak Bay I made a few stops at likely looking spots, but found little more than I'd seen at Clover Point.
At Oak Bay Marina things picked up a little. The big yellow rocky island, so beloved of roosting shorebirds, was once again the focus of attention. 'Scoping from Turkey Head, I counted 83 black-bellied plover, 1 dowitcher, 14 black turnstone and a surfbird. At one point the plovers all took to the air, showing a full complement of black axillaries, ruling out the presence of any attendant golden plovers.

On the beach, a group of 7 killdeer were feeding alongside a single spotted sandpiper. Nearby several black oystercatchers were seen, with a further 3 killdeer. 4 greater yellowlegs were feeding along the shore. 
Although I take killdeer totally for granted these days, it's not all that long ago that had I received a call telling me that one was running around on Heysham Golf Course, I'd have been off like a shot to see it. With that in mind, here's a nice pic of one of the Oak Bay birds, just to remind myself of just how smart they really are (and to rub my Brit birder buddies' noses in it a bit...).

Cacophonous Cowbirds Cause Concern

I wasn't going to bother going birding this morning, but the gloomy skies and overnight rain convinced me otherwise. I just couldn't get the image of a kingbird perched on top of a garry oak out of my head...
Anyhoo, my premonition proved unfounded (in all honesty, I'm rather relieved that I haven't suddenly developed some life-changing extra sensory perception) and the Government House grounds were pretty quiet.
A Wilson's warbler was enticed out from some dense, verdant undergrowth courtesy of some gentle pishing, and a pair of noisy male brown-headed cowbirds were busily pursuing a female. Even the local starlings seemed unimpressed by these brood-parasites' presence. 
The usual other suspects; red-breasted nuthatches, bushtits, orange-crowned warbler, Cooper's hawk, spotted towhee etc, etc, were all seen or heard around the woodland trail.
I left just in time - a photographer, along with his subjects, was just revving up for the finals of the Great Canadian Shouting Contest. He was very good at it. 

Around mid-day a group of c20 cedar waxwings were at the junction of Pentrelew Place and Fort Street.

Walking In A Whimbrel Wonderland

The wind had turned a little too much to the west for my liking when I got up this morning, but I headed down to the grounds of Government House nonetheless - just in case.
Passing the solitaire's hangout, I noticed that the holly was almost completely bereft of berries, and that the bird was nowhere to be seen. Not so surprising.
As I trawled the Woodland Trail, I was increasingly aware of the apparent lack of new birds and the only migrants noted were a couple of Wilson's warblers and a hermit thrush, along with the regular orange-crowned warblers. Both adult Cooper's hawks came out to play, but otherwise it was pretty quiet and I found myself at home by 8.45am.

Later, after some work and a few more job applications dealt with, Jenny and I took a walk down to the waterfront and followed Beach Drive, through the golf course (no whimbrels, but lots of golfers) up to Oak Bay Marina. While sat on a bench enjoying a cup of tea at the evocatively titled Turkey Head, we watched as a bald eagle flew across from one of the islands clutching a nearly fledged gull. Lovely.
Soon after, the distinctive call of a whimbrel alerted me to a single bird flying by, heading due south, low over the water. I believe that may well be the first I've seen on the island, and certainly the first hudsonicus I've seen anywhere for a few years.
Used as I am to seeing the nominate race back in the UK, it was great to see this bird in flight, showing the diagnostic features of this distinctive form. It made the considerable walk back along Oak Bay Ave to Rocklands that bit more bearable!

Another New Bird For the Year

This morning's 'first for the year' was a lovely bright Wilson's warbler, seen along the lower path at the Government House grounds. It really was something of a saving grace, as until I had the pleasure of seeing it the birding had been dull as ditch water.
It didn't really pick up much after that to be honest, and the remainder of my visit was taken up with seeing the regular birds in-residence.

For those reading this blog who may be unfamiliar with the commoner birds of western Canada (or at least this wee pocket of Victoria...) here's a full list of birds seen and heard this morning.

Great blue heron (flyover)
Mallard
Cooper's hawk
Glaucous-winged gull
Anna's hummingbird
Hairy woodpecker
Downy woodpecker
Northwestern crow
Violet-green swallow
Chestnut-backed chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted nuthatch
Brown creeper
Bewick's wren
Golden-crowned kinglet
American robin
Eurasian starling
Orange-crowned warbler
Wilson's warbler
Spotted towhee
Song sparrow
Dark-eyed junco
House finch
Pine siskin
House sparrow

So, while that would be an exceptional day on the Scillies or the Outer Hebrides, down here that's fairly mundane stuff.

I'm surprised, as others seem to be, at the lack of number of common migrants passing through so far this spring. I have had no falls of anything - last year I was regularly encountering 30+ groups of yellow-rumped warblers and such, and I find it quite amazing that I have only seen 1 rufous hummingbird so far...
Perhaps the 'good' weather has allowed direct passage to breeding grounds, allowing migrants to bypass stop-offs? There doesn't seem to be any blocking weather to the south of us, so I can't see any reason for a hold-up. Be interesting to see how the spring develops.

* Oh, and thanks the Nathan Hentze for providing the relevant contact info regarding the Nanaimo vesper sparrow. Cheers.

Tennessee Waltz...

Yesterday morning (Tue) I went down to the estuary, and there had obviously been a bit of movement as the big oak, and immediate area, was alive with warblers. Several yellow warblers, 2 Wilson's warblers, a couple of yellow-rumped and a few orange-crowned.
Also there was a curious little warbler that caught my eye... my first thoughts were that it might be some very pale, washed out orange-crowned, maybe a 1st year bird. But I have absolutely no idea whether birds hatched last year, retain a juv plumage or indeed, if they do, whether they would bother moving north until in breeding plumage.
Anyhoo - as I watched this interesting critter I noticed that it had a tendency to feed in the lower vegetation around the base of the tree, as opposed to all the other birds, which were feeding in and around the canopy. Its jizz reminded me of a phyllosc.    
On the whole it resembled an orange-crowned but for the following things: very pale off-white undertail coverts, a clear eyestripe (creating a pale supercillium effect), a pale yellow wash restricted to the breast and greyish head, contrasting with the olivey upperparts. My thoughts were, that it was possibly a female Tennessee warbler.
Now, I have since been informed by Derrick Marven that 1st year non-breeders do return in spring & look pale and washed out, and having since done some reading on the matter, I am no less, or more, confused! These avian beasts can lead one a merry dance...
I also hadn't realised quite how scarce Tennessee warbler is on the island, which of course doesn't preclude it from being one but does make it less likely. Had it been a male Tenn. then, it wouldn't have been a problem - however, I'm going to have to scrutinize more of these atypical orange-crowneds and see if I can find more that looked like this bird! Oh, what fun...!

Other birds noted through the fug of confusion included: downy woodpecker, northern harrier & 2 peregrines hunting waders over the estuary.
A racoon was along Raines Road (my first here) and later 2 band-tailed pigeons (my first of the year) were near the Nanaimo River bridge.