All Points South

Delighted by the onset of some low clouds I headed down to Clover Point early this morning in the hope that a few passage migrants might be lurking in the area. I was thinking along the lines of horned lark, American pipit, etc.

Sadly, I wasn't in luck and nothing quite so interesting put in an appearance, although several off-passage savannah sparrows were kicking around (pictured).
The presence of these sparrows may well be what attracted a merlin, which made a couple of spirited attempts at catching some breakfast. Equally, the merlin's presence could well have been the reason for no pipits, larks etc...
Shortly after the merlin had moved on to pastures new, I noticed a peregrine approaching from inland. It circled a few times over Ross Bay, before flapping intently to gain height before heading off across the straits. Migration in action!
Offshore, there was a red-necked grebe, plus multiple common murres and pigeon guillemots, plus a few rhinoceros auklets. I couldn't pick out anything among the gulls other than the usual California and  glaucous-winged, along with a few mew and Heermann's gulls.
13 black oystercatcher were feeding on the rocks along with just 6 black turnstone - one of which had unusually bright orange legs, ruddy turnstone seekers beware!
A group of 6 sanderling flew close by, briefly thought about landing, but then carried on.
A few harlequins were seen, as were surf scoters and a drake white-winged scoter, but otherwise it was pretty quiet.
A pair of Steller's sealions passed by, close inshore.

On Sunday I did my first Coastal Waterbird Survey of the season, from Gonzales Point to Harling Point (my new stretch). The day was hot and sunny, and with the tide being late in the afternoon the light was pretty terrible, and coupled with a heat haze, it made counting distant offshore birds pretty much impossible.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the count even though highlights were few and far between. A couple of greater yellowlegs, a spotted sandpiper, 80 Heermann's gulls and 7 Brandt's cormorants were among the more interesting birds noted.

No Pain, No Cain...

Following an invite I couldn't refuse, I headed up island on Friday afternoon to meet up with Rich Mooney and Justin Lynch. They were planning a trek up to the summits of Mount Cain and, conditions permitting, Mount Abel.
Knowing that they have both seen white-tailed ptarmigan in that same area, I was definitely happy to accept their offer to join them.
Leaving Nanaimo around 6pm, we eventually arrived at the Mt Cain ski area about 10pm. This area is about 20km from the community of Woss, and just under 300km from Nanaimo. After we set up camp we got our heads down and, despite the best efforts of the immense local tree frog population, we actually got some sleep before rising just after 5am.
Following brekkie, we commenced our ascent. Practically the first bird we came across was a fine singing male pine grosbeak - a great way to start any day! We added gray jay to the list, and hearing the distinctive hoots of a male sooty grouse we soon located the bird sat up in a tree and watched it 'singing'.

Before long we got into ptarmigan habitat and we were all finely tuned to any sound or movement. We optimistically discovered piles of ptarmigan droppings (pictured) and even came across a few feathers. But no birds were forthcoming.
A high altitude American robin was something of a surprise, and we had a fly-through merlin.
Then a large dark finch with a pink rump flew by emitting a distinctive 'churp' sound. Hoorah! Gray-crowned rosy-finch! One of the true alpine specialists that I was really hoping for. Later we heard what we assumed was it singing, but couldn't locate it. In this same area we also saw an American pipit and heard this bird singing too.

Given the high volumes of snow still present after the record winter, we struggled to find much in the way of suitable habitat for the ptarmigans to breed in. There were relatively few areas of open heather and rocky scree, and so perhaps the birds had moved to an area where food and suitable nesting sites were easier to come by? I can only imagine that if the birds were in this area we would have found them fairly easily, given the minimal snow-free habitat. Of course, small 'islands' were present here and there, and perhaps they were sitting tight in those?

Me, Rich & Justin at the Summit of Mount Cain

All in all, it was an excellent day, and other than my unscheduled speedy (and I have to say, rather scary) descent of 100 metres down into the East Bowl, it was a thrilling experience. The weather remained on our side throughout the day and the views were simply breath-taking.
The only bird of note we saw on the descent was another sooty grouse, this time a lovely female.
Rich and Justin's enthusiasm and energy made the whole thing even more enjoyable, and I'm extremely grateful to them for allowing me to join them. I feel privileged to have been able to venture into an area of Vancouver Island that would have otherwise remained a mystery to me.       
  
Read Rich's account of our day, and see more pics, at his Birding Field Notes blog.

Raptor raptures

A leisurely trundle around the Nanaimo River estuary, Wednesday evening turned out to be quite rewarding.
The tide was quickly rising, pushing the waders from the shore onto the marsh pools and ditches. Goodness only knows what may have lurking, unseen, out there... As for the birds that were seen, the only waders included 4 lesser yellowlegs, 1 greater yellowlegs, 40ish least sandpiper and 1 western sandpiper.
It was quite a good evening for raptors though, with a juvenile northern harrier (my first here since May 17) hunting over the marshes, and a merlin patrolling the area (see vid). At one point the merlin piled into the long hedge and emerged with a small bird in its talons, within seconds a peregrine appeared and attempted to rob the smaller falcon of its prey. The merlin dropped the hapless victim, and the two raptors engaged in a game of cat and mouse before a raven joined in. The merlin cleared off, and the peregrine perched up allowing me to get the shots below.






As I came back through Cedar, approximately 40 common nighthawks were feeding over the road near the Cranberry Arms, a few were also over my house nearer the Yellowpoint junction.

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! 

New birds make my day

A beautiful morning, and couple of new birds in at Holden Creek.
On the sluiced channel, a small party of 12 least sandpiper were busy feeding away, while a single spotted sandpiper worked its way along the muddy edge.
A greater yellowlegs was present on the main creek, and the pair of spotted sandpipers were feeding in tandem at the creek junction - making 3 present in all.
The killdeer family appear to have relocated onto the marsh. A pair of semi-palmated plover (shoddy pic, right) were new in out on the muddy areas on the marsh - my first here.
Otherwise, a dozen or so more least sands were the only other waders in evidence.

After work I nipped down to the Nanaimo River estuary, but there was little going on. A couple of American goldfinch were in song, as were plenty of white-crowned and savannah sparrows.
A merlin caused some panic amongst the hirundines briefly, who saw it off with impressive determination.
A couple of greater yellowlegs and a least sandpiper were on the river.
A pair of brown-headed cowbirds were working the hedgerow, no doubt seeking nests to parasitize.

Patch lowlights

It was pretty quiet down on the Nanaimo waterfront at lunchtime today, single pigeon guillemot and common loon offshore the only things of note.
A Bewick's wren was singing from one of the ornamental conifers, and the male Anna's hummingbird was perched up in his regular spot.

On my way home from work I noticed a merlin in pursuit of a starling over the highway near Petroglyph.
I went straight to the estuary for an hour, but it was painfully quiet. The ducks and gulls were miles out, with the tide, and there were no songbirds to be seen or heard at all. And I mean none. Not a song sparrow, not a towhee - nothing. In fact, other than a multitude of ravens, there was nothing until a lone flicker appeared. Its starring role was soon eclipsed by the appearance of a northern shrike - phew!
I need a better local patch...
Back in Blighty, I would have been trampling along the Lune estuary flushing smart wheatears and hearing chiffchaffs singing from the hawthorns on a day like today - mind you, I can't remember ever finding an American kestrel down there, so I suppose it's all relative!

Gulls just wanna have fun

Headed up the island a wee bit today for a grockle's day out. After a trip to Coombs, we dropped by Parksville to have a cup of tea at Rich & Lori's before heading out, Rich in tow, to see if we could find a slaty-backed gull. Two of these Asian vagrants have been seen recently, amongst the mass of birds along this stretch of coast, here for the annual herring spawn.

We went first, to French Creek. Offshore there were hundreds of long-tailed ducks & surf scoters, while there were almost constant fly-by's of birds, including numerous white-winged scoters. There were a few gulls on the beach, amongst them the commoner species: glaucous-winged, California, mew, and a cracking adult ring-billed gull - I think this may be the first RB gull I've seen on the island..? A large 1st winter glaucous gull dropped in, dazzling white. Guy Monty and Donna had arrived to do some gulling too, so we had a bit of a chat before heading round to another stretch a short distance along the coast where Guy informed us a mass of gulls were gathered.
We arrived to find the water's edge teeming with brant and gulls. Another glaucous gull was quickly found as we scanned through the birds, in search of something with a dark mantle. Today was not to be the day for such exotic rewards, but we thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle.

Back in Cedar, Jenny and I paid a quick visit to Quennell Lake for an early evening check. Still 70ish shoveler present, but only a few pintail and American wigeon. There was no sign of the large number of common mergansers that have been a feature of late, and only a handful of bufflehead.
There were, however, around 200 hirundines feeding over the lake - a mix of tree and violet-green swallow (approx. 70/30 respectively).
A northern shrike was hunting from a fencepost in the nearby fields and the single cackling goose was with just 36 Canada geese. A merlin flew through.  

Stop Press: we were obviously in the wrong place yesterday - see Mike Yip's pics of slaty-backed gull here: http://vancouverislandbirds.com