Once Bittern et cetera,...

We found ourselves up island in Nanaimo over the weekend, to celebrate our friend Dave's Canadian citizenship success. A boozy night of jollity and japes ensued.
While Jenny went off to sort out some business early this afternoon, I sought out some clear air and a few birds with a trundle around Buttertubs Marsh.

Wildfowl numbers were pretty unremarkable, but there was a decent showing of species: ring-necked duck, wood duck, hooded merganser, northern shoveler, mallard, gadwall, green-winged teal and American wigeon were all present. Pied-billed grebes and a few American coot were also seen around the site.
Water levels were relatively high, meaning that there was little in the way of exposed boggy areas to attract rails, waders, etc. I heard a couple of Virginia rails, but none showed themselves.
Scanning from the raised viewing platform I spotted something in the distance that looked rather interesting. Large, brown and streaky, and shaped something like a teardrop, it was an American bittern!

When I lived in Nanaimo I spent hours at Buttertubs Marsh looking for these bloody things, and here I am casually dropping by in the middle of a Sunday afternoon and finding one sat out on the edge of the vegetation. Unfortunately I didn't have my 'scope with me, and so had to content myself with fairly distant bins-only views of the bird as it busily preened and stretched.
The customary crappy photo here (blown up quite a bit) gives you an idea of just how far away the thing was.
This was actually the first American bittern that I have seen in North America - the last one I saw was a vagrant in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1991!
Other interesting birds of note seen while at Buttertubs included a party of 6 greater white-fronted geese that dropped in, while passerine highlights included reasonable numbers of yellow-rumped warblers, and 2 orange-crowned warblers.   
 

Fancy a Chat?

After driving Jenny up to Swartz Bay to catch the 8am ferry over to the mainland this morning, I got back home with enough time to squeeze in a quick trundle around the Government House grounds before starting work.
As has been the case for several days now, it was pretty much the domain of the local breeding birds. Along with good numbers of fledged bushits, the chestnut-backed chickadees, Bewick's wrens and downy woodpeckers seem to have done reasonably well with family parties busily feeding all around the site. Lots of pine siskins around too (including a flyover flock of c40 birds), indicating a successful breeding season.
Cooper's hawks were patrolling the woodland, both nests seemingly still active. A very showy warbling vireo was singing his heart out by the parking area.

After a day's scribing, I decided to spend the evening birding and thought I'd go and check out the place by Prospect Lake Road where the yellow-breasted chat has been hanging around for several days. For those reading this back in dear old Blighty, this species is a major rarity in these parts.

Somewhere in that lot, there's a chat...

I found the place easily enough, but was rather over awed by the size of the area!
So, I've got try and locate a an extremely skulking warbler which has occasionally been betraying its presence by letting out bursts of song, often keeping hidden while doing so. Marvelous. 
Oh well, it was a great, birdy place to spend a couple of hours, chat or no chat. Another couple of birders eventually came along, one was trying to see the chat for the 5th time, the other for the 4th. Kind of put things in perspective.

I got ace looks at several of my all-time favourite American warblers; MacGillivray's warbler. I even managed a crappy snap of a cracking male, as you can see here. There were also rufous hummingbirds zipping about, willow flycatchers catching flies, northern flickers and a pileated woodpecker, Swainson's thrush, California quail and all manner of obliging common species. But no sight or sound of the chat.
After 2 hours, I gave up (I'm not overly bothered, it's not a tick - but a wonderful bird to see, nonetheless...) and decided to pop by Charlton Pond, as I was driving right past it.
The water levels were way down from my last visit, and the vegetation had grown considerably making viewing slightly less than convenient. A pair of killdeer with a well grown young 'un were present, and common yellowthroats were seen and heard. I also spotted a couple of Virginia rails feeding in a corner - 2 well grown, adult-sized juvs., though no sign of the parent birds.

Buttertubs at Dusk

I fancied a break from tradition this evening, and decided to enjoy the last hour of daylight down at Buttertubs Marsh.
I wasn't expecting too much, but was optimistic that I might catch a glimpse of something crepuscular and interesting.
I arrived to see the usual cyclists and dog walkers bumbling around the place. It's hardly surprising that since the large and obvious signs clearly telling folk that dogs and cyclists are not allowed in the reserve were removed, and they erected the swanky new signage (where such directives are almost invisible) the increase in both pooches and push-irons has gone through the roof. Or at least, that's how it appears every time I go there. Grumble over.
Anyhoo - there wasn't much going on birds-wise. Red-winged and Brewer's blackbirds were gathering in noisy pre-roost flocks around the lake edges and a couple of great-blue herons chased each other over the reed tops. A couple of marsh wrens were sub-singing from the rank vegetation and a solitary Virginia rail squealed from the depths of the marsh.
The light was lovely, and a few hooded mergansers and bufflehead reflected beautifully on the calm water surface.
If it's fine tomorrow morning, I might try and get out early for a spot of pre-work birding, and try to convince myself that it's nearly spring...

Bit of Buttertubs Birding

Desperate for some birding, I managed to prise myself out of  bed Friday morning and take advantage of the cold, bright and dry conditions for a quick half hour at Buttertubs Marsh before work.
There wasn't a great deal going on, but it was just fab to be out in daylight.
To be honest, I was really hoping to find a Virginia rail, having still not had a decent look at one since my defection to Canada.
As is happens, I had no such luck. Optimism alone is no guarantee of success, it seems. These American rails certainly seem harder to locate than their European counterparts... 

The best bird that I encountered was a smart Wilson's snipe, caught crouching in a small channel of water - pity I was 'scopeless, as I could have got a decent shot of it, but I only had my happy snapper.
Hence the rather cryptic photo attached.
See if you can spot the little fella...

There was little out on the water, just a couple of hooded merganser and the odd mallard and a lone wood duck.
Creeping around in the undergrowth were a couple of varied thrushes, fox sparrows and the usual Bewick's wrens, juncos, towhees etc.
I did get great views of a marsh wren, frolicking in the frosty phragmites. Always a treat.

Saturday additions...

Just managed a quick run by Quennell Lake on our way out to somewhere less ornithological.
Of note: the American kestrel was again hunting in the nearby fields. Only 28 trumpeter swans were on the flooded field and wildfowl in general was much reduced. There were approximately 180 common merganser, and a single American coot on the lake.  

Everything damp but my spirits

Well, it was back to normal today with customary grey skies and rain. I took a soggy wander down to the seafront in Nanaimo for a spot of lunchtime birding, where a fine breeding plumage pigeon guillemot was paddling around near the float plane jetty.
Otherwise it was pretty quiet, with the usual common goldeneyes, buffeheads & double-crested cormorants  on the water. A handful of mew and glaucous-winged gulls were kicking around.
Several American robins and dark-eyed juncos were feeding together on the grassed areas - passing through?

Regular readers of this blog may recall my moaning about how Virginia rails were failing to behave properly at Buttertubs Marsh, when it was flooded, and then frozen over recently. To put things into perspective, the attached pic, taken by one of my chums back on my old patch back in Blighty, demonstrates clearly just how they should go about their business. The photo, for those who don't know, shows a European water rail (Rallus aquaticus). 

Check out the Aldcliffe blog, in the links on the bottom of the sidebar to the left of this page, to see more pics of these, usually, secretive birds.