Birding on a Wet Weekend

On Saturday I managed to scramble a few hours together and chose to concentrate my efforts on birding along the coast. My intention being to try and locate a rock sandpiper or two... 
I started off at Clover Point, scoping out over the waves and checking the rocky foreshore. I came across the expected black turnstones and surfbirds but there was nothing else wader-wise to be had. Offshore, there was plenty going on - hundreds of mew gulls and good numbers of glaucous-winged gulls wheeling around but nothing more enticing noticeable among them. The regular western-type was present around the parking area.

Red-necked grebe

Also bobbing around on the water were common and Pacific loons, surf scoters, buffleheads, harlequin ducks, red-breasted, common and hooded mergansers, horned and red-necked grebes  (pic) and several smart long-tailed ducks.
Alcids were represented by common murres, pigeon guillemots (many now in breeding garb) and a few rhinoceros auklets. The usual cormorant species were all present and correct.
I headed along the coast, checking out Harling Point and the Chinese Cemetery. Here the birds were much the same, though I did add white-winged scoter and a western grebe to the day-list.
A good scan around the Oak Bay Marina revealed little of note. I couldn't even find any greater yellowlegs; the only shorebirds seen being 6 killdeer roosting on a small islet.
At Cattle Point, a single Thayer's gull provided a little larid relief but my diligent search along the kelp draped rocks failed to turn up my hoped-for rock sandpiper and I had to be content with more surfbirds and turnstones. Oh well, next time eh? 

Another quality self-portrait...

On Sunday, Jenny and I chose to explore a previously undiscovered (by us, that is) spot by the name of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park by the Saanich Inlet. We started our hike at the McKenzie Bight access point and headed up along the Timberman Trail.
We trekked through the ridiculously verdant old growth rain forest as far as the Squally Reach Viewpoint - where on a day when the cloud wasn't at eye level, I am sure there are spectacular views to be had.
The birds were mostly silent, and mostly invisible.

Barrow's goldeneye

We returned via the Cascade Trail, a steep descent alongside an impressive wee waterfall that leads to a pebbly beach.
Here were spied a few Barrow's goldeneyes (pic) and admired the decidedly Scottish-like views. Or am I thinking of Norway..?
We slogged our way back up the muddy McKenzie Bight trail in the drizzle.

The Misty Wee Hills Of Gowlland Tod

We both really loved this placed and can't wait to visit again on a clear spring day when we will follow the high trail over to Jocelyn Hill. Maybe.
On our way home we stopped off at the Red Barn Market, and I slipped round the back to check the flooded field. Six trumpeter swans and 3 American coot were in among the many mallard.     
 

Cold front on the waterfront

Well, those forecast flurries turned out to be pretty much full-on snow yet again, and when I took my daily constitutional along the waterfront in downtown Nanaimo the below zero northerly wind cut through to the bone.
A little over the top perhaps, but it was bloody freezing. Not surprisingly, I didn't see many other folk out having a stroll.
Even the birds were behaving differently - a bald eagle made a feeble at catching double-crested cormorants, having dislodged them from their roost with a targeted swoop. It failed.
A pair of greater scaup were hugging the sheltered area near the float-plane terminal and a group of Barrow's goldeneye were seeking a windless spot by the lagoon. Other than a pair of American wigeon, red-breasted merganser and the ubiquitous Canada geese, it was otherwise fairly quiet on the water.
My first varied thrush of the season popped up in Mafeo Sutton Park, and a small flock of chestnut-backed chickadees and golden-crowned kinglets made their way through the trees.

Park Life

Hello dear readers.
The dark evenings rule out post-work estuarine meanderings, so I had to content myself with my daily lunchtime stroll to Mafeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo.
It was a bit more birdy today than it has been in recent weeks. A number of surf scoter and bufflehead were bobbing around on the water as were a couple of horned grebes, Barrow's goldeneye and a single common goldeneye.
In the parky areas, were lots of dark-eyed juncos, a couple of song sparrows and a golden-crowned kinglet.
 

Swan-ee River

Spent the first 40 minutes or so of daylight down at the Nanaimo River estuary this morning.
On the way to the parking area, I pulled over for a quick look at a group of 18 Barrow's goldeneye, new in on the river.
Going through the many, many glaucous-winged gulls on the shingle banks, I picked out a 'decent' herring gull. Small numbers of Californian gulls were floating around over the marsh.
From the viewing platform, I could see large rafts of American wigeon at the estuary mouth, while green-winged teal, mallard, pintail, common merganser and hooded mergansers made up the remaining wildfowl.
A small flock of cackling geese passed over, and the large white blob floating on the sea turned out not to be my first wild swan of the season, but a mute swan. Pah.
3 different northern harriers made appearances, and the ever-singing northern shrike kept me entertained while I scanned the marshes.
A noisy greater yellowlegs, eventually showed, and flew off in the direction of Holden Creek. 
I couldn't locate anything out of the ordinary among the small flock of chestnut-backed chickadees, or various sparrow groups.

After work, I returned to the estuary. In the half hour of fading light, I clocked a single juv northern harrier, and the short-eared owl emerged just after 6pm. It showed well again, and even treated me to views of effortless vole catching.
My disappointment at finding that crappy mute swan this morning was eclipsed by the sight of 13 trumpeter swans flying over, heading south.