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.   
 

Mid-Island Year-Tick Fest

Yesterday (Tuesday) Jenny had to go up to Nanaimo for much of the day for work purposes and so I decided to do the decent thing and keep her company. Of course this meant that I had to fill my day somehow, and I eventually chose to spend several hours on my old stomping grounds.
I started off at Holden Creek.
Although somewhat disappointing on the shorebird front with just a pair of least sandpiper and a couple of killdeer present, the wet fields had attracted a flock of c40 American pipit, and around 20 savannah sparrows. An American goldfinch was singing near the sluice, and a single northern rough-winged swallow came through, joined by barn and violet-green swallows.
An osprey circled over, and several turkey vultures cruised over the firs. A pair of greater white-fronted geese were among the Canadas in the fields.

I then headed along Gordon Road where I added common yellowthroat to my yearlist in the marshy area near Harmac Road. The ubiquitous red-winged blackbirds were here too, as was a showy, singing marsh wren.

Arriving at the Nanaimo River estuary, I noted a hefty and ominous cloud headed my way. Could be good, I thought... and indeed it was as a pair of purple martin preceded it and showed well above me for a few minutes.  Further hirundines came trickling through including my first cliff swallows of the year. No swifts materialised, but you can't have everything...
A female northern harrier was hunting over the marsh and a lone cackling goose was hanging around with 4 Canada geese on the river mouth. A handful of green-winged teal, American wigeon, pintail, bufflehead and common mergansers were also present. 
The tell-tale call of yellow-rumped warblers revealed a couple of males - one each myrtle and Audubon's. Since my last visit on 9th April, the number of savannah sparrows had gone through the roof and they were all over the place. White-crowned sparrows, having been absent all winter had replaced golden-crowneds with just on of the latter seen. A single Lincoln's sparrow was in the brambles by the big oak.

After grabbing some barely edible grub in Cedar, I went to see if anything was happening at Quennell Lake. Not much, as it happened. 12 northern shoveler, a few GW teal and lesser scaup were pretty much the best of the bunch. Tree, violet-green and barn swallows were all present in good numbers.

My next port of call was the airport where I hoped to see vesper sparrow. The first bird I saw as I stepped out of the car was however a lovely bright chipping sparrow, one of a pair present. I soon heard what I thought sounded right for a vesper singing and eventually located it sat in a distant bush.
It soon came a little closer but refused to stay still long enough to allow me to get a pic.
It then flew toward me and started feeding on the ground just about 6 feet away from where I was stood, scope and tripod at the ready. Way too close to focus, follow and photograph with my primitive set up... oh well, i got a really good look at it and even managed to read one of the numbers (2) on its metal ring! I probably could have seen more but for the fact that it was constantly moving, and favouring short grassy areas that obscured the ring somewhat.
It also sported darvic rings: orange over blue on the right, and a black over the ABA ring on the left. That should identify the individual - not sure who uses this info but if anyone reading this wishes to pass this on to the relevant person/people or let me know who to contact, I'd appreciate it.
I did get some nice sharp pics of it with its back to me, and the one here is the only one that shows its head. Not too sharp though... apologies.

After having my fill of this fine bird, I left it grubbing around in the dirt and headed off to Buttertubs Marsh before picking Jenny up. 
On my way, I noticed another osprey - adding sticks to a nest just by the highway south of College/5th. Noticing the time, I realised that my time at Buttertubs would be short and I barely had time to walk up to the platform. There were a handful of yellow-rumped warblers along the way, as well as downy woodpecker, Anna's hummingbird and marsh wrens blasting out from the rank vegetation. On the water there were just hooded mergansers and a pair of wigeon.

All in all a decent day's birding, and a reminder of why I love birding around estuaries.  

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...

Birding Back Up North

Arrived back up north from the sub-tropics in the early hours, and boy did it feel cool and damp.
After a good lie-in and some essential chores, I headed out to reacquaint myself with the Nanaimo River estuary.
Now that the wildfowl hunting season has finished, I had the place to myself for a couple of hours. And what a treat it was, to do some birding without feeling as if one was in the middle of a re-enactment of the Battle of the Somme. I'm sure that the birds, were they capable of conscious thought, would agree.
Among the usual commoner stuff, I clocked a short-eared owl, a juvenile female northern harrier and 5 western meadowlarks. There were good numbers of pintail and American wigeon plus smaller numbers of green-winged teal, gadwall and bufflehead. A couple of dozen trumpeter swans were out on the estuary mouth.
The only thing of note that I could find in among the reduced numbers of golden-crowned sparrow and dark-eyed juncos was a lone fox sparrow. A Cooper's hawk buzzed through causing considerable panic.
There were plenty of bald eagles, mainly juvs and sub-adults sat around the area today. Hence the pic of a grumpy looking individual here.

Mystery revealed!

OK - there seems to be little point in going through the identification process with this. 86% of participants plumped for green heron.
Which of course, it is.
Thanks to Steve Large for the shot of this 1st year bird, taken in late summer 2010 at Buttertubs Marsh, Nanaimo. Check out Steve's amazing bird photography here.

To the right, you will see a new mystery bird - enjoy!

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.  

A Change of Scenery

I decided to give the mosquitoes a night off, and allow my back and shoulders to return to something like normality, and not bother with the estuary this evening. Besides which, the tide times are crap...
So, after work I took a lovely sunny stroll around Buttertubs Marsh. Of course it was pretty dull bird-wise and even the dragonflies were a bit thin on the ground.
Maybe that had something to do with the merlin that was hunting them, hobby-like, over the water.
The only wildfowl present were the numerous young and eclipse-plumage adult mallards, wood ducks and hooded mergansers. There were also 3 pied-billed grebe - always a pleasant sight.
I was listening out in case any rails were squabbling in the reeds, but there wasn't a peep. I'd have thought that with young birds about there'd be a bit of aural conflict here and there, but no. 
There was very little going on songbird-wise, visibly or audibly and other than the odd red-winged blackbird, common yellowthroat and Anna's hummingbirds it was pretty quiet. I did see a mink swimming by - pity it wasn't eating bullfrogs. Back to Holden Creek for me, I think...

Another mystery revealed...

OK - it's a quiet news day, so let's do the mystery bird thing!

First up - savannah sparrow. There are a couple of features here that might suggest this species, such as the strong facial pattern and obvious breast spot on a white belly.  There even appears to be a hint of a median crown stripe. But, the fine, buffy colouring and dark streaking on the chest and obvious grey feathering above the eye-stripe should be enough to eliminate savannah alone.

Nobody went for American tree sparrow – no surprise really, that was pretty much the joker in the pack.
 

So, how about song sparrow? I’m surprised this didn’t get more votes to be honest. I apologise for under-estimating the abilities of my readers… Again the fine dark streaking, on the chest and the flanks tend to rule out this highly variable species, and the overall build of the bird seems rather delicate, and doesn’t seem quite robust enough for song sparrow. This individual’s dark breast spot obviously failed to fool too many of you.

We finally come to Lincoln’s sparrow – the obvious favourite with 72% of those taking part going for this species. Well, do you think I’ve mentioned the fine warm toned breast and fine dark streaking enough? They’re pretty useful pointers, as is the broad grey eye-stripe and, what can be seen of the buff-coloured sub-moustachial stripe. As alluded to above, the bird seems to be rather dainty, which certainly implies Lincoln’s. And indeed, that’s what it is. The fine bill and buffy eye-ring are clearly visible on the shot on the left, as is that striking facial pattern.

As promised, in retaliation for the quality of responses so far being far too good, I’m hoping to baffle you all with the new mystery bird on the right…  Good luck! 

A quiet day, birdwise...

After dropping Jenny off Departure Bay ferry terminal this morning, I realised that I had enough time on my hands to pay a quick visit to Buttertubs Marsh before heading into work. And a quick visit it was, too.

For those not familiar with this wetland site - it's not really a nature reserve as  such (despite claims to the contrary), but more of a jogging track with a big pond, where some wildlife happens to live, in the middle.
And since they put those lovely new signs up, where the bit about dogs being prohibited (might as well be in 8pt type) is largely unreadable for the majority of elderly pooch pushers, the place is also now a dog crap magnet.
And while they don't have any hides (or blinds) they do have a sort of tower platform, from which the accompanying pic was taken.
This will appeal very much to my old mucker Ray, who has not exactly tirelessly campaigned for, as tirelessly complained about the lack of, a tower hide at Leighton Moss for what seems like decades. They have one at Minsmere, you know...
Anyway, I didn't see much - a pied-billed grebe, lots of wood ducks, plus the regular passerines and swallows etc. Apparently, American bittern breeds here, but you have more chance of seeing a Sasquatch as meeting anyone who can provide meaningful information about whether they actually still occur here, never mind anyone who's bothered listening or looking for any in years...

Post-work I took a trundle to the Nanaimo River estuary to see whether the rising tide might push a few waders out of the creeks etc. A pair of lesser yellowlegs were on the pools, while a pair of greater yellowlegs were on the river. Otherwise, it was down to an osprey, merlin and the usual other stuff to entertain me.
A quick look at Holden Creek revealed just 15 least sandpiper visible from the raised viewing area. The number of Canada geese is really increasing daily here with approx 200 now present.

Am I being gull-ible?

Headed down to Buttertubs Marsh with Adrian for a bit of early morning birding and it was rather quiet, unfortunately.
Wildfowl comprised: 3 drake hooded merganser, 1 drake ring-necked duck, 2 mallard, 3 wood duck (inc brood of 7 ducklings) and a bunch of those Canada geese. A western tanager made an appearance.
Good numbers of common yellowthroat, yellow warbler, etc around. A male Anna's hummingbird showed well, as did a racoon - providing Adrian with a mammal tick! Still didn't hear any frackin' rails - what's going on?!

Yesterday - incidentally, I came across this gull in Nanaimo. It was very white, as you can see, and rather dainty compared to the nearby glaucous-wingeds. I assume it's a very worn and bleached-out 1st w GW, it's all dark bill suggests that, as much as anything else (and I doubt a Kumlien's would turn up here!). It actually had no tail, which was odd. Anyway, any thoughts would be welcome!

Not so quiet on the Western front

I really need to spread my wings, so to speak, if I'm gonna catch up with any other stuff than that which frequents the estuary - at this rate, I could go all year without seeing a whole bunch of island birds...

Anyhoo, off to the Nanaimo River estuary I trailed this morning, and despite a good scour around, I was unable to discover anything too exciting.
Highlights included watching a merlin mobbing the adult female northern harrier, and seeing another 4 purple martins (2m 2f) joining the other common swallows. Incidentally, all common species of hirundine were present, tree, barn, violet-green, northern rough-winged and cliff.
A group of 6 least sandpiper flew low over, heading toward the Holden Creek area.
8 white-fronted geese were seen flying back and forth a couple of times.
The mighty cock pheasant was singing his delightful song from the fields.

A check-in at Holden Creek was next, and things looked a bit bleak. A lone greater yellowlegs was still on the channel as were a pair of copulating killdeer. Then I noticed a small calidrid on the muddy edges of the creek. It was a lone western sandpiper - my first at this site, and hopefully the vanguard of more to come.

Before I went to gather Jenny from the world of Elvis costuming, I popped into Buttertubs Marsh for a quick peek. There were lots of yellow-rumped warblers around, all those seen were 'Myrtle'. Got great views of a couple of common yellowthroats too.
A pair of wood duck were kicking around.

Early evening, we took a wander around Hemer Park. Wildfowl included ring-necked duck, hooded mergs, bufflehead and 3 wood duck on the pool. 'Pacific' wrens were singing all over the forest, as were varied thrushes. We came across yet more YR warblers were in a large feeding group.  Oh, and we came across a fine looking green frog.

Sprinkling of migrants...

Things looked good as I arrived at the Nanaimo River estuary this morning - there seemed to be robins all over the place. Had there been some overnight movement? I counted about 60 in the area around the big oak, plus a group of 30ish starling. There didn't appear to be anything associating with them though, and I was quickly distracted by a northern harrier hunting over the fields. It was an adult female, presumably passing through.

From the platform, it all looked pretty quiet - just the usual distant gulls. I could discern the regular glaucous-winged, mew and Californias only. Wildfowl continue to decline in number, the expected species were all present but with individuals. A drake Eurasian wigeon was still present, as can almost be determined by the accompanying photo. Not quite as good as last week's snow goose pic, but I'm trying. Now I come to look at it again, I'm assuming it wasn't someone doing a wildfowl puppet show behind that hump...
A sharp-shinned hawk flew through, briefly landing up in the hawthorns, and my first 'patch' turkey vulture passed over. Two tree swallow also came through. A western meadowlark was singing out in the fields and a northern shrike was hunting out there.

I squeezed in an hour at Buttertubs Marsh in the early afternoon but it was fairly unremarkable. Despite the profusion of yellow-rumped warblers that are around the island, I didn't find a single one! A lone male Anna's hummingbird showed well, and yet more tree swallows and 2 violet-green swallows were seen. Another 2 turkey vulture passed over.
The only waterbirds seen were hooded merganser, ring-necked duck and pied-billed grebe. Unless, of course, you count mallard and Canada goose, which generally speaking, I don't. Or 'The Heron'.
A few American goldfinch brightened things up and a group of 6 golden-crowned sparrow were by the feeders along with bushtit, chestnut-backed chickadee, etc.

A slight hint of spring

I awoke to be thrilled by the beautiful, calm, bright morning - seems a while since I've seen any blue sky...
As per usual, dropped Jenny off at work then headed off to the Nanaimo River Estuary for a dig around.
Once again, I arrived to find that I had the place to myself and I set off toward the big oak with something of a spring in my step, thanks to the sound of birdsong in the air.
House finches, Bewick's wrens and song sparrows were all being motivated to give their lungs a good blast in the sunshine.
The 'big' flock was in and around the brambles just by the tree, and I soon picked up the white-throated sparrow feeding on the ground with some golden-crowneds. The sound of a Western meadowlark drew my attention away and I noticed 3 birds close by, with a small group of starlings.
As I looked up I noticed that Ralph Hocken had arrived and was taking pics of the meadowlarks from the path up from the parking area.
I headed off down the long hedge for a while but it was pretty quiet. A lone Northern shrike and a bunch of flickers were the only things of note.
I could hear the lovely sound of a singing meadowlark and looking round, noticed the three birds in a hawthorn in the adjacent field.
I headed back and caught up with Ralph, who had got some great shots of the 'larks. He hadn't seen the WT sparrow though, so we decided to try and find it again. Unfortunately, a concerted effort failed to come up with the goods and despite grilling the flock, the target bird remained elusive. We did, at least, get views of the Lincoln's sparrow.
Out on the marsh, the trumpeter swans numbered fewer than 30 birds though, like last week, they had pretty much all cleared out by midday.
As usual, the majority of wildfowl consisted of American wigeon, pintail and green-winged teal with smaller numbers of gadwall and mallard. The drake Eurasian wigeon was present and a few bufflehead, greater scaup, common merganser, common goldeneye and gaggle of Canada geese completed the set of web-footed wonders.
A pair of amorous red-tailed hawks were having fun in the distance and a couple of peregrine zipped through.
26 great blue heron were hanging out on the marsh and a belted kingfisher was on the river.

Early afternoon, I made my customary pre-Jenny-pick-up, stop at Buttertubs Marsh but it was pretty unremarkable. Still a dozen or so ring-necked duck and a few hooded merganser, plus 3 pied-billed grebe on the water. Very little in the way of notable passerines - just a couple of varied thrush, a brown creeper, ruby-crowned kinglet and some singing red-winged blackbirds.
A Cooper's hawk nearly took my head off though...
Later, on our way back to Cedar, a merlin flew over the road just south of Nanaimo.

Late afternoon we took a stroll around Hemer Park.
Five trumpeter swans were still on the pool, along with a few hooded mergs, couple of bufflehead, 3 RN duck and a common merganser. A pileated woodpecker was making a racket up in the trees, but I didn't see it. A hairy woodpecker put in a, silent, appearance.

I had a real sense of the coming spring out there today, and although I realise it's only just into February and things could still get very wintry yet, the feeling that things were about to change was really overwhelming. For a newcomer like me, it's going to be absolutely thrilling (and doubtless mind-boggling) to witness a first full Vancouver Island spring. Bring it on...!  

No gun salute

It was a bit grizzly out there this morning. Misty and grey with a lot of moisture in the air and occasional showers to add to the fun. Nonetheless, it was OK weather for birding and I had the Nanaimo River estuary to myself for almost 3 hours. Not a hunter in sight.
As I arrived, I did meet a birder who was coming away from the area, he'd not seen too much though he did mention a peregrine.

Undeterred I headed out and opted to 'do' the long hedge first. As it turned out it wasn't such a bad idea as I soon found a mixed flock and almost immediately saw the white-throated sparrow. Once again the majority of birds here were golden-crowned sparrow (c.20) and dark-eyed junco (c.40) plus a few song sparrows and towhees thrown in for good measure.
A juv northern harrier then drifted in from out on the estuary, hunted briefly over the marsh then went and alighted on a dead tree in the fields, where it remained for a couple of hours or so. A red-tailed hawk was also sat up on a snag nearby.
4 Western meadowlark were sat up in a tree out in the fields - the first I've seen here in a while.
Up to 60 trumpeter swans were on the marsh along with some 'newly' arrived Canada geese (do they know the hunting season's over?) and a small group of American wigeon.
I eventually came across another mixed group of passerines and hoped that this was the flock with the American tree sparrows. Despite my best efforts I couldn't see or hear any, although a very smart Lincoln's sparrow was amongst them.
I headed back down along the hedgerow, but with the exception of the resident flickers and a gang of red-winged blackbirds it was pretty uneventful.
From the viewing platform I could see that the majority of the ducks were out on the water - it was low tide and they were quite some distance. Scoping through them, I picked out a lone Eurasian wigeon amongst the many American wigeon (ironically, back in  Lancashire, many of my old birding chums have been heading out to see an American wigeon in with a load of common Europeans - quite a rarity!). As usual the bulk of the wildfowl comprised of pintail, A. wigeon, green-winged teal and mallard. Gadwall numbers were up with around 40 birds present. Buffleheads, common mergansers and common goldeneye were also seen.
A rather impressive 22 great blue herons were on the marsh, and of course bald eagles were a constant presence.
I came across the big flock again, near the platform, and once more saw the white-throated sparrow in with them but, as usual, it eluded being photographed. The ruby-crowned kinglet was with them again.
I walked out to river mouth a short way and was delighted to flush a short-eared owl, which then proceeded to hunt briefly over the marsh before taking to ground again. Whether the owl was as delighted as I was, is up for debate...
      
On my way to collect Jenny from work in the early afternoon, I made a  quick stop at Buttertubs Marsh  which was rather unremarkable. Apart from the return of the mallards, a dozen ring-necked duck, 2 hooded merganser and a pair of pied-billed grebe it was somewhat on the quiet side.