Clover and Out

I put in another hour, or so, seawatching early evening today down at Clover Point, Victoria.
The number of rhinoceros auklets seemed considerably diminished compared to yesterday, although they were still relatively plentiful. Again, there were a few pigeon guillemots further out and a lone common murre, moulting into winter plumage was just off the point.
A pair of Caspian terns came through, and the number of California gulls was seemingly greater than yesterday, and even an adult bird was present.
A couple of bald eagles kept the roosting gulls and foraging crows active, as did numerous rock-hopping humans. 

Breeding Season Bounds Along

Can't see the birds for the trees...

It's been rather quiet the past couple of days, bird-wise, down at the Government House grounds. Well, as far as unexpected or passage birds is concerned, at least.
There is actually plenty of activity - house sparrows and house finches are all over the place, mainly foraging for invertebrates in the oaks.
Violet-green and barn swallows are equally busy, as are the downy woodpeckers. Some bushtits have already fledged, and family groups can be heard pinging in the undergrowth.
Meanwhile, the Cooper's hawks seem to be keeping a low profile, though I imagine it's more a case of them being less visible in the heavily leafed trees. There are two active nests, one with an adult female the other with a sub-adult female (banded - red darvic on left leg, metal ring on the right). I suspect there is just one, polygamous, male but I can't be 100% sure. 
The highlights of a wander down there yesterday evening included 4 flyover Caspian terns and the first chipping sparrow that I have seen on the site.

One Good Tern...

After a drizzly night I woke to find that it was still grey and overcast this morning, with lovely showers to entice me out. I had toyed with the idea of going to Oak Bay Marina to see if I could locate the rock sandpiper reported from there yesterday, but the lure of a few fallen migrants proved too strong and I headed off to the Government House grounds.

Well, what a poor decision that turned out to be! After covering the area as diligently as I could, and finding little more than a single Lincoln's sparrow, I started to think about that sandpiper... and by 8am I was heading home to get the car and head off to the coast.

It took less than 10 minutes to get there, and the rain really stepped up its game. I spent a good hour scouring the rocks to the north and south of the marina but failed to find any rock sandpipers. Three distant summer plumage dunlin momentarily caught my attention, and a group of 8 black turnstone did their best to compensate but frankly, failed.
Now, I'm not too prone to chasing ticks much these days, but I've never seen rock sandpiper and it's one of only 5 or 6 North American shorebirds that I haven't seen, so I was a little disappointed not to connect with it, but hey - it's not like I won't come across one sooner or later. Sooner would be nicer, though.
On the plus side, I did get a 'year-tick' while I was out there getting soaked. A pair of majestic Caspian terns came by, improving my mood a little... 

Me, atop Moss Rock - looking windswept and uninteresting.

Later, after I'd done my daily quota of work and washing up, Jenny and I decided to walk down to Moss Rock Park - just to check it out. The views are great; looking south across Juan De Fuca Strait to the US, and the impressive mountains of Olympic National Park, and north back toward Government House.
I can imagine it being a great spot for grounded migrants in the right conditions - for the first hour or so of daylight, after which I expect they would melt away or simply re-orientate themselves and continue moving in whichever direction they should be going.  

Old Habits Die Hard

While checking through the few gulls down on the beach in Nanaimo at lunchtime, a pale flash of gull-like bird whizzed past my bins, all I got was black on the head and a bright orange bill - my obviously-still-not acclimatised bird-brain immediately thought 'Mediterranean gull', but obviously as soon as I found it and looked at it, it was clearly a Caspian tern. I must try and turn that 'autopilot' facility off.

On my way home this evening, I dropped by the Nanaimo River estuary at Raines Road, as it was the rising tide. Unfortunately, my work footwear (a sturdy pair of Doc Martens, rugged but not especially good for wading through water) prevented me from going out too far but I could see small groups of peeps flying around at the water's edge.
A cautious trudge, got me close to some waterlogged areas, and I found 3 lesser yellowlegs and several least sandpipers but nothing else. A slightly bulkier calidrid was among one flying group of leasts, presumably a western.
A single killdeer was calling from over at the river. 
Not much else doing apart from zillions of crickets and grasshoppers, oh, and the customary hungry mosquitoes.     

Peeking at peeps in the creek

Got up and had a crack at Holden Creek for an hour before setting off to work this morning.
There were approximately 70 least sandpiper feeding in the creek. A careful check through revealed just a single western sandpiper.
Also in the area, were Pacific-slope and willow flycatchers, a yellow-rumped warbler, plus the usual stuff including the male common yellowthroat, pictured.
A small cluster of grasshoppers were on the path - immaculate in flight, they look more like black and white butterflies as they fly away from me. On the deck, they were seriously drab and grey, apart from one which was a rich sandy colour. Anyone out there know what they are?


Lunchtime: 2 Caspian terns were down by the Nanaimo waterfront.

A return visit to Holden Creek after a day in the office, was interesting. Still good numbers of least sandpiper c40 on the creek and a 25 on the marsh pools. There was an increase in the number of  western sandpipers with 8 now present.
On the marsh, there were one each of greater and lesser yellowlegs, - a nice sight. Particularly as they fed together, giving direct comparisons. As you can see in the typically rubbish snap.

A corpse in the forest

Didn't manage too much in the way of birding today, the only bird of note seen on my lunchtime stroll was a caspian tern down at Nanaimo waterfront, by Mafeo Sutton Park.

After work, Jen and I took an evening constitutional down to Hemer Park.
Didn't see too much to get excited about, the merlin family were seen, and heard, en route again.
A couple of bald eagles were keeping the wood ducks on edge, but there was little else around the pool bar the usual common yellowthroats, red-winged blackbirds, etc.

The most interesting thing about our wander was the discovery of the plant shown in the photograph here.
I'm sure that most Vancouver Island locals will be familiar with it, but a few UK readers might like to know what it is.
It's a flowering plant called an Indian-pipe (also known, appropriately, as ice plant, corpse plant and ghost flower) and grows in gloomy coniferous forests. It totally lacks chlorophyll, hence its weird appearance and obtains its nutrients from nearby tree roots via a complex relationship with fungi in the earth - so my book says! Freaky eh?

Curiously, on our walk home, a flock of 20 white-winged scoter flew over, heading toward the coast.
A bit early for post/failed-breeding birds? Do they over-summer in small numbers locally?
   

A mute Point

Jenny and I took a walk down to Jack Point this evening. The tide was well in, and looking over toward the Nanaimo River estuary, I could see a mute swan in among the Canada geese. Where did that come from?!
Also, cruising around the estuary mouth were a couple of Caspian terns.
Didn't see much along the walk, a few Bewick's wrens, juncos, robins, golden-crowned warblers, etc and just pelagic and double-crested cormorants offshore.
Several seals, an otter and a sealion were also spotted.

Of interest, there was something of an influx of crossbills around the yard this morning, and I even noticed a couple in Nanaimo on my lunchtime stroll. Has there been a bit of a post-breeding movement across the island or were these just very local birds on a wander?

A visit to Holden Creek yesterday evening was pretty unrewarding - for me at least, however the mosquitos had a great time and enjoyed me long after I'd gone...