Spring Hopes, Eternal...

Another week has gone by, and barely a decent bird has passed my bins.
Selected highlights from my lunchtime walks around Langford Lake included my first rufous hummingbird of the spring, to the apparent consternation of one of the local Anna's hummingbirds.
A merlin was chased through by a trio of the latter species midweek, while turkey vultures, red-tailed hawk and bald eagles are seen just about daily.
Siskins are paired up and highly vocal, along with purple finches and the cacophonous red-winged blackbirds. Obvious migrants at the lake include increasing numbers of yellow-rumped warbler and a couple of violet-green swallows.
My visits to the Government House grounds in Victoria have been pretty unproductive over the past few days with no sign of any passage migrants. The local birds are getting on with the job of singing and nesting, etc. and keeping out of the way of the Cooper's hawks. A pair of presumed off-passage varied thrush were among a band of American robins on Saturday, but as many other Vancouver Island and BC birders are commenting, spring seems a little late this year. 
On Saturday night we had a barred owl hunting around the apartment and it gave us cool looks as it flew from the apple tree into the conifer by our back door.

Sunday, it was reasonably bright and dry and given the fact that I'll be away for a couple of weekends (heading back to dear old Blighty for my brother Dave's wedding) I thought I'd better get out and have what will probably be my last crack at locating a rock sandpiper this spring.
Needless to say, I didn't find one. Highlights of my coastal trawl included good numbers of black turnstone and surfbirds at many places (signs of northerly movement?). Other shorebirds included 2 each of killdeer, greater yellowlegs and dunlin (pic) at Oak Bay. A pair of hooded mergansers were close by so I took advantage and got a pic of the rather ridiculous looking drake.

Offshore, black guillemots and rhinoceros auklets were seen in their fine spring garb, a single long-tailed duck joined the multitude of surf scoters, common mergansers and buffleheads, while at Cattle Point a horned grebe almost in breeding plumage showed well (pic).
Singles of savannah sparrow and white-crowned sparrow were the only passerines of note seen here.

This time next week, I'll be tripping over northern wheatears, sand martins (bank swallows), sandwich terns, chiffchaffs, and other common stuff like that. I'll keep you posted!

* Stop Press - I forgot to mention that I saw my first butterflies of the year yesterday (Monday 2) - there were 3 Sara's orange tips flitting around down by Langford Lake in the early afternoon sunshine.

Slow Spring Starts to Warm Up

My weekday lunchtime meanderings have been fairly uneventful these past few days, with little evidence of spring migrants moving through.
A trio of turkey vultures were cruising around on thermals beyond Langford Lake on Thursday, but otherwise it's been slow. Local breeders have been letting their presence be known with purple finches and red-winged blackbirds being especially vocal. A few pine siskins have been equally melodious, twittering away all over the place.
Wildfowl numbers are starting to drop, with just a few ring-necked ducks, lesser scaup, bufflehead and common mergansers keeping the omnipresent mallards company. A pair of northern shoveler dropped by on Friday, as did a single American coot. 
The majority of the pied-billed grebes are now sporting their breeding finery, subtle though it may be. The grebes are at least down by one bird which I saw being dragged off by a mink midweek. I missed the kill, and can only assume that the mink did indeed dispatch the grebe, rather than find it already dead.
The local covey of California quails have been very active in the past few days with the males singing from the blackberry patch near my office.  

I made a brief post-work visit to Clover Point on Friday but it was pretty quiet. The usual harlequins and surf scoters etc were on the water, while a small gang of busy black turnstones worked the tideline. Gulls were few in number, and all glaucous-winged or variants thereof. A California sealion came by close offshore, giving great views as it checked me out.

Things continue to get lively in the Government House grounds. Pine siskins, house finches, ruby-crowned kinglets, Bewick's wrens, chestnut-backed chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches (pictured), northern flickers and other common species have responded well to the improvement in the weather with many well in the throes of claiming territories, singing, nest building and generally showing off.
A yellow-shafted type flicker was showing well today (Sunday) and an acccipiter shot through briefly - probably a male Cooper's given the size and structure, but I couldn't rule out a large sharpie on the views I got.
The great-horned owl seems to have vacated. The same number of pellets remain below the tree as were present during its visit last weekend, and there are no signs of it having taken up a new roost anywhere else, though it's quite possible that it's somewhere I just can't get to.
My only 'proper' migrant was a tree swallow (my first of the year) which flew around the bluffs constantly twittering away.      

All Work and No Birding Makes Jon A Dull(er) Boy

I haven't really had much time for dedicated birding just lately, so my sightings have been limited to the things that I've casually spotted here and there.
My daily lunchtime ramble around the southwestern shore of Langford Lake hasn't been without its highlights. The red crossbill pair have continued to show periodically, and even treated me to killer views as they came down to drink just feet away from me.
On the water it's been the usual hooded and common mergansers, ring-necked ducks, buffleheads, pied-billed grebes, and so on.
A couple of turkey vultures came through yesterday - my first of the spring - while red-tailed and Cooper's hawks, merlin and bald eagles put in appearances here and there.

Jenny and I spent the weekend in Seattle being tourists. It at least gave me chance top do a bit of turbo-seabirding from the Clipper, but I didn't see anything that I wouldn't have if I were stood on Clover Point for half an hour.
Pigeon guillemots, common murres, rhinoceros auklets and marbled murrelets were seen along with the expected loons, grebes and seaducks.

Once back on Canadian soil, I squeezed a quick visit in to Government House just to see what was happening. The place was positively jumping with American robins, many of which were fighting over the few remaining berries on a couple of cotoneasters. A single varied thrush joined in the mayhem.
Dark-eyed juncos were singing, as were house finches, golden-crowned sparrows and Anna's hummingbirds, while chestnut-backed chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, ruby-crowned kinglets, Pacific wrens, downy woodpeckers, bushtits and brown creepers (pictured) busily foraged away.
On my way out, I came across a small flock of pine siskin feeding high up in the trees near the gate. I scanned through but alas, no redpolls were to be found among them.

It's A Mystery

As you may have noticed, I have uploaded a new Mystery Bird (top right) - I'll post the results and identity of the previous one here soon. In the meantime, this one shouldn't divide participants quite so much as the last one did...

Anas Penelope Pitstop

It's been a pretty quiet week on the bird front, for me at least.
My regular lunchtime sorties around the southwestern edge of Langford Lake have been reasonably interesting, if hardly spectacular. The highlight this week was the appearance, on two days, of a smart Townsend's warbler in the small park (it's called Kitty La Quesne Family Park, or something along those lines). Small groups of red crossbill pass over the area frequently, but the large pine siskin flock seems to have moved on - pity, as I was hoping they might attract a passing redpoll.

The Tanager Tree with Sunday morning snow.

The western tanager keeps appearing in the apple tree outside the kitchen window, though its movements are unpredictable to say the least. Some days it arrives with foraging bushtits and chestnut-backed chickadees, other days it's just there on its own. Mostly however, it's nowhere to be seen. This popular tree also hosted its first varied thrush midweek and the resident Anna's hummingbird, now resplendent in full breeding garb appears to have lured a potential mate... watch this space!

A rare thing happened this weekend. Jenny had both days off, so while it was great to be able to spend the time together, it rather curtailed my birding.

Me, battling the elements.

That said, we took a stroll out on Saturday and headed down to Clover Point, battling the stiff onshore breeze and very wintry temperatures.
It was fairly unremarkable bird-wise, though we did see 5 sanderling, along with the usual dunlins, black turnstones and what have you. It was business as usual offshore, with the expected seaducks, grebes, loons and gulls all present and correct.
We then walked on to Beacon Hill Park. We passed the ponds and made a quick pitstop to check through the American wigeon in search of scarcer interlopers. We found just 5 males and 1 female Eurasian wigeon. Other quackers included small numbers of ring-necked duck and lesser scaup plus 15 northern shoveler.
We then headed into downtown, where the ornithological highlight was a yellow-rumped warbler feeding on a store awning along Douglas Street! An excellent lunch at Pagliacci's was another considerable highlight.

Adult cedar waxwing

Today's (Sunday) trundle took us along Oak Bay Avenue and down to the waterfront near the Marina. Shorebirds seen included the usual turnstone, dunlin, black-bellied plover and killdeer plus a lone greater yellowlegs. A trio of river otters entertained us as they fished off the end of Turkey Head (they were in the water, not stood around with rods. Obviously). A red-tailed hawk sailed over, keenly pursued by a pair of garrulous ravens.
We walked back along the coast via the golf course and Chinese Cemetery, seeing little of note along the way. Heading back up into Rockland along St Charles Street we spotted a hermit thrush feeding on some ornamental berry tree in the company of several American robins.

Cedar waxwings

After a well-earned mug of tea and a few biccies at Chez Carter, I went to see if anything interesting was lurking in the Government House grounds. It was pretty quiet, with the exception of a flock of 56 cedar waxwings, some of which are pictured here. It was interesting to note that the majority of the waxwings were 1st year birds.

Christmas Gives Birding The Bird

All this Christmas stuff has really impacted on my birding... in fact I can't remember ever having so much time off work and yet finding so little time to get out in search of ornithological diversions. Oh well, the excessive gluttony just about compensated.
It wasn't all gout-inducing revelry though, I did manage to squeeze a few local walks in; binoculars at the ready. 
I checked out life in the Government House grounds a couple of times. There wasn't too much going on. The regular common birds were much in evidence, both ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets, brown creepers, downy woodpeckers, chestnut-backed chickadees, northern flickers, dark-eyed juncos, Pacific wrens, etc, etc.

Ross Bay

I managed to fit in quick visits to Ross Bay and Clover Point too. Offshore the usual species were seen in varying numbers including red-necked and horned grebes, common goldeneye, surf scoters, a single greater scaup, all three mergansers, pigeon guillemot, common loon, harlequins and buffleheads, pelagic and double-crested cormorants. Shorebirds were thin on the ground, thanks to the very high tides. I only noted a couple of dunlin along with a handful each of black turnstone and surfbird.

On Saturday morning I had a good stroll around Beacon Hill Park, primarily looking for bushtit/chickadee flocks. Maybe I would find a wintering warbler of some kind - or even the elusive blue-gray gnatcatcher seen there a few weeks ago? No reason why it shouldn't still be around. As it happens, I struggled to locate any decent sized flocks and those few birds I did encounter weren't harbouring any exciting waifs or strays.
Nice to see varied thrushes (always a favourite) mingled in with the many American robins and a few small sparrow flocks gave me something to scrutinize, albeit briefly. 
I spotted at least 4 Eurasian wigeon (3 drakes, 1 duck) among the many American wigeon present on the park pools. A couple of northern shoveler and a small number of ring-necked duck were also on the ponds, along with a billion mallard.

A short and soggy trundle to Harling Point today (Tuesday) revealed a pair of smart long-tailed duck close offshore and a gang of some 15 black-bellied plover but little else of note.

So, it's back to work tomorrow and my near-daily lunchtime dashes to Langford Lake will resume in earnest. I haven't yet seen anything too thrilling there, but it seems to attract a reasonably diverse range of birds from time to time. There have been good numbers of pine siskins there in recent weeks and red crossbills are tolerably frequent. On the water there are usually a few species of wildfowl to be seen and both mew and glaucous-winged gulls come in regularly to bathe. And I have never seen quite as many pied-billed grebes in any one location.

I hope everyone reading this had a jolly old Christmas, and here's to a bird-filled New Year ahead!