Clover Point to Oak Bay Birding

With September looming, and the first count of the Coastal Bird Survey of the 2011/12 season around the corner, I thought I'd go out and familiarize myself with my new stretch. The area I will be counting includes the area between Harling Point and Gonzales Point.

Rather than simply going to the area in question, I chose to walk from Clover Point and see what I could find along the way.
3 black turnstone, 3 least sandpiper and a juvenile sanderling were on the rocks off Clover Point, while 4 harlequin ducks and 8 surf scoter were in Ross Bay.
Accessing the beach at various points between Ross  Bay and Victoria Golf Club, I noted several black oystercatchers, a handful of least sandpipers, more harlequins and of course plenty of California and glaucous-winged gulls. A few Heermann's gulls were seen here and there, but the largest concentration was of around 50 birds behind the golf course.
While I was exploring the rugged and not terribly easy terrain between McMicking and Gonzales Points I flushed a spotted sandpiper from the rocks, before I was drawn to the loud trilling call of another shorebird.
Scanning around I soon picked it up as it headed in-off the sea and came toward me, passing close and proving itself to be a pectoral sandpiper. It flew off over the greens before turning around, passing over me once more and heading off south along the coast, constantly calling as it went.
By the time I emerged from the rocks and back onto Beach Drive, I was pretty exhausted! (I'd actually had to steal through someone's driveway to get off the beach, and looking at some of the houses along there I'm only glad that I didn't find myself strolling through the yard of Victoria's answer to Tony Soprano...).
I continued on to Turkey Head and Oak Bay Marina. Other than the expected alcids, there wasn't much to see offshore. A bunch of waders were roosting on the rocky islands, but as I was without my 'scope they went unidentified.

A single killdeer was flying noisily around, and then I came across a group of 7 roosting greater yellowlegs (just about pictured here). Another was feeding close by.
Yet more harlequins were feeding in the area as were 10 hooded mergansers.
Nothing notable appeared on the passerine migrant front, though there was a steady trickle of southbound barn swallows throughout the day.
I decided I'd had enough at this point and trundled off down Oak Bay Drive and back home, pausing only to watch a thermalling sharp-shinned hawk - my first of the fall.

Pectoral Pair Pip Peeps

The south eastern corner of the southern pool

With a couple of hours to kill mid-morning, I was drawn to good old Panama Flats once more.
With the numbers of off-passage birds moving through here changing on a daily basis, it's hard not to be consumed by the possibilities of what may show up during the fall.
Of course, that's water-level dependent and the way things are going, we're not going to have much to entice a passing rarity before long...
Meanwhile, there were still some decent birds around today.
The number of peeps has diminished considerably - I counted 48 western sandpipers and just 17 least sandpipers. The tringas still seem relatively happy, with 9 greater yellowlegs and 8 lesser yellowlegs actively feeding around the place. 

A couple of killdeer were kicking around and a pair of pectoral sandpiper (one pictured) were in the far south east corner of the southern pool.
A couple of juvenile spotted sandpipers were still hanging around in the creeks on the Carey Road side, but there was no sign of any solitaries.

Brit Birder in Wader Heaven

I dropped Jenny of at work for 9am this morning and decided to head out once more to Panama Flats in search of transient waders.
There were pretty much the same sorts of numbers of birds present as yesterday (minus one, thanks to a successful sorte by an adult peregrine...).
I roughly estimated around 140 western and 70 least sandpipers, plus 9 greater & 7 lesser yellowlegs.  A single pectoral sandpiper was also present, as was a dowitcher.
While I was scanning through the birds, and checking the outer areas for such things as Baird's sandpipers, I was joined by Brent Beach - another local birder I only knew through having seen his postings on the local birding forum.

While we were chatting and searching, he picked up a semipalmated sandpiper that I'd completely missed. Better still, it came very close and gave us great looks and allowed for the two pics here to be taken.
Ignoring the westerns feeding out in the deeper water, it was keeping company with least sandpipers in the wet muddy areas. It was clearly a juvenile bird, but I was thrown initially by its 'buffness', but apparently (as I read later) early juvs may show a buff breast.

Other birds seen included 4 killdeer and in the vegetated creek to the east of the pools, a solitary sandpiper and 3 spotted sandpipers.
The birding here is really great at the moment and the birds are extremely tolerant of human presence and general disturbance. As long as one exercises sensible fieldcraft, the views of some of these shorebirds can be amazing.

The shot of 2 lesser yellowlegs here was taken with a standard compact camera with a 3x zoom!   

I popped into Swan Lake briefly on my way home, but it was nearing midday and the place was pretty quiet, bird-wise. The only things of note that I saw included 6 least and 2 western sandpipers, and a Wilson's warbler.   
 
 

Flats Life

The day started out cloudy and cool, and I headed off to Panama Flats this morning to see whether the overcast conditions had dropped any new birds.

As I walked down to central bund toward the pools from the Carey Road end, I noticed an adult river otter and her 3 cubs running along the muddy shore of the northern pond.
The Canada geese got a bit flighty, but the majority of shorebirds seemed relatively unconcerned.
The otters had a splash around in what little water they could find and the animals eventually ran toward me, passing within a few feet (pictured).
Having a quick scan over the pools it was good to see that there were plenty of birds around.
I counted approximately 140 western sandpipers and 71 least sandpipers feeding in the muddy waters, but couldn't locate any semi-p sands among them.

There was a lone pectoral sandpiper, and a solitary sandpiper (pictured) present as well as 4 killdeer and a long-billed dowitcher. 
There were also 9 lesser and 12 greater yellowlegs in the area. 
Mallard numbers have increased too, with around 80 birds present. Among these somewhat suspect ducks were a couple of creamy-coloured 'farmyard' mongrels.

Return To Panama Flats

3 greater & 1 lesser yellowlegs

Once again, my mind was filled with passage waders this morning so I grabbed my 'scope, and customary optimism, and headed across to Panama Flats for a spot of quality Victoria wetland birding.
And by the look of things, I'd better enjoy it while it lasts.
The glorious weather we've been enjoying lately has taken its toll, and the water is fast receding...
Anyhoo, the muddy pools still held a few birds and over the course of a couple of hours the following were noted:

Killdeer 6
Greater yellowlegs 6
Lesser yellowlegs 11
Solitary sandpiper 1
Spotted sandpiper 4
Pectoral sandpiper 1
Western sandpiper 19
Semi-palmated sandpiper 1
Least sandpiper 47
Short-billed dowitcher 2

Pectoral sandpiper

Both the least and western sandpipers counts are likely underestimates, given their mobility and constant moving around the site.
Other birds present included the ubiquitous barn swallows, plus a couple of cliff and at least 1 northern rough-winged swallow. Oh, and several 'the heron'. And, of course those big stinky noisy geese and a few duckies.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Aziza Cooper for the first time, a Victoria birder with whom I am familiar via her frequent postings on the local birding forum. Slowly, I'm starting put names to faces, and getting to figure out who some of the more active local birdwatchers are.

When I got home, there was a small, silent empid catching flies in the apple tree. It was rather greenish, with a largish pale bill and whopping great eye ring and a bit of a crested appearance. If I were a gambling man, my money would probably be on Pacific-slope flycatcher. But, I'm not a gambling man, and its identity shall remain a mystery...

Wandering tattler - not wandering

Later, after walking downtown with Jenny, who was heading for an evening shift at Eddie Bauer's, I strolled back home via Dallas Road and the splendid Victoria waterfront.
First stop was Ogden Point where my old friend the wandering tattler was defying its moniker and remaining spectacularly loyal to its regular roost. As I was armed with Jen's new camera, I couldn't resist another shot...
The remainder of the walk was rather birdless, and even Clover Point failed to excite. Possibly, the kite surfers, paragliders, dog walkers, kite flyers and other assorted show-offs had collectively scared everything two miles offshore.       

A Tale of Two Tattlers - Brit Birders on Shore(bird) leave

On Sunday I was joined by my chum Rich Mooney, who had decided he wanted to do some birding around Victoria in advance of his pending return to England after several years in BC.
I had a bit of work to do, so we didn't get out until midday, but nevertheless, we had a great afternoon and managed to clock up some 13 species of shorebird.

We started out at Panama Flats and soon located a small gathering of feeding waders, in the first of the two remaining larger pools. Here were saw 1 greater and 2 lesser yellowlegs (one pictured below, in comedy pose), 5 dowitchers (silent, but we suspected were long-billed), a spotted sandpiper, 15 least sandpiper, 1 western sandpiper, 1 semi-palmated sandpiper and a pectoral sandpiper (pictured above). Not a bad start!
The next pool was somewhat quieter with just another spotted sandpiper and 2 more greater yellowlegs.
We walked around the southern perimeter, and in a ditch just below Carey Road we came across another trio of greater yellowlegs and a family party of spotted sandpipers (1 ad, 3 juvs). We also had ace looks at lots of common whitetail dragonflies, and saw a meadowhawk sp. and a couple of unidentified darners... and western tiger swallowtail.

There were fewer killdeers present than on my last visit, with just a small family group seen. We came across another juv spotted sandpiper, and made our way down the central bund, once again grilling the small group of scattered waders we had initially encountered. 
Satisfied with our haul, we headed to the coast, stopping first at Oak Bay Marina. The wonderful sunny weather had brought out the crowds and the birds were pretty thin on the ground. We added black oystercatcher to the growing shorebirds list, and also noted the usual pigeon guillemots offshore.

Hoping that the wandering tattler was still in the Ogden Point area, we decided to check it out. Again the hordes were out enjoying the sunshine but we soon located the tattler roosting on a rock below the breakwater. And next to it - another tattler! (pair pictured)
We had a quick scan around the harbour, noting 11 black turnstone on the Pier A wall, along with more black guillemots.
We headed back with the intention of walking along the breakwater so that we could look down onto the tattlers but soon noticed that they had disappeared from the rocks. As we passed the pilot boats we relocated them, just feet away from us. One of the birds was quite vocal, and they showed wonderfully in the bright sunlight.
   
Next stop was Clover Point. From here we spotted rhinoceros auklets, a common murre, more pigeon guillemots and 8 surf scoter offshore. A lone Heermann's gull sailed by, and we were rather surprised to see a flotilla of 26 red-necked phalarope feeding on the water's surface.

So all in all, a wonderful afternoon's birding. There was a real sense that things are really starting to change, and that autumn's just around the corner... It was good fun to get out with Rich for what may have been our last Canadian field excursion together!

Shorebirds Bonanza

After a night of constant rain, we awoke to find Victoria grey, and still under attack from persistent precipitation.
By late morning I'd decided that while songbirds were likely going to be hard to find today, I could at least go out and see what watery aves were to be had. I used my new-found knowledge of the area's top spots and chose to explore Panama Flats a little bit more than I had when I was out with Ian last week.
I started off scanning, in the pouring rain, from the vantage point off Carey Road. Again, the place was alive with literally hundreds of hirundines. Among the numerous tree, violet-green and barn swallows were several cliff and handful of northern rough-winged swallows.
Out on the water I could see 5 northern shoveler, 8 gadwall, 4 green-winged teal, 6 bufflehead and 2 pintail, as well as several mallard.

Dunlin & long-billed dowitcher

Toward the back of the flooded fields were groups of dowitchers, all those I could tentatively ID looked like long-billed. I counted a total of 52. A single dunlin and other smaller peeps were just about visible through the falling rain.
After a while I decided to head round and check out access from the other side.
Parking up on Roy Road, I soon found an access point and walked in through some promising looking mixed habitat, until I found myself on the western edge of the waterlogged area.
The rain was easing off slightly and visibility was considerably better from this side.
I could even be sure about the identity of at least some of the dowitchers now as they could be heard from time to time. All those that called were long-billed dowitchers.
I could also see the smaller calidrids too, and there were 5 least and 10 western sandpipers feeding alongside the dowitchers and the lone breeding plumage dunlin.
A sudden deterioration in the weather at least brought a couple of Vaux's swift down and they briefly joined the hawking swallows over the water.

A Wilson's snipe was feeding on a grassy spit, surrounded by several American pipits (pic). At least 3 spotted sandpiper were also present, but sadly no solitary sandpiper - my 'target' bird of the day...
A common yellowthroat was singing in some waterside vegetation and a female appeared alongside a ditch at the southern edge of the pools.
I was quite surprised to see a late female common goldeneye; she didn't hang around to long and flew off north. 

Pectoral sandpiper (left) & western sandpiper

On my return back up the pool edge I noticed another wader out in the water that had suddenly 'appeared'. Through bins it appeared largish and pale, with a distinct breast and yellowish legs... a pec? I got my scope on it - yep, a pectoral sandpiper. Close by, another dunlin had joined the first. Had these two birds arrived together in the last downpour or had they been hiding somewhere?
Unfortunately the crappy weather prevented me from getting any decent shots, but the pic here should at least confirm its identity!
I found a few of these last spring, up island at Holden Creek (including a couple of males in breeding plumage), but I'm aware that they are pretty scarce down here at this time of year.

Raptor raptures

The forecast wind and rain was pretty much over and done with by the time I raised my head from the pillow this morning, so after a bit of essential domesticity, I headed down to Holden Creek for the dropping tide.

The place was teeming with green-winged teal, plus small numbers of American wigeon, mallard and pintail. There were far more wigeon there at this time last year. Equally, there were good numbers of long-billed dowitchers present into November, while today just one was on the creek. 
The mixed goose flock was in the far field and, once again partly obscured by the hedge, and accurate count wasn't possible. I could see at least 48 cackling geese and 54 white-fronted geese.

A nice surprise came in the form of a male American kestrel, hunting along the fence-posts (pictured, typically poorly) - I think this is a pretty late date for this species, though I believe small number do over-winter on the island.
Other raptors in the area included a juv northern harrier, juv peregrine, 3 red-tailed hawks and several bald eagles.
The call of a pectoral sandpiper alerted me to a single bird overhead. It did several circuits of the marsh and creek, before deciding to carry on south.

Teal for Two

Despite the promising overnight conditions there was little evidence of any significant falls of migrants around the Nanaimo River estuary this morning.
To be fair, having dropped Jenny off at work first, I wasn't able to get down there until almost 10am, so maybe the good stuff had all moved through... That said, I'd have expected a few remnants to be lurking in the hedgerows and what-not.
As it happened, the only passerines encountered included the expected sparrow species - savannah, golden-crowned, white-crowned, song and Lincoln's, a sprinkling of yellow-rumped warblers and a couple of common yellowthroat. Otherwise it was down to purple and house finches, and a single overhead American pipit, to keep me on my toes. Oh, and some flycatchery thing that actually looked quite like a western wood-pewee, from the brief look I got at it... but it shall go in the bin, uncomfirmed.
A pair of merlin and a Cooper's hawk, were doing their best to take advantage of the glut of sparrows.
Trampling the marsh, a pair of pectoral sandpiper passed over and a third was flushed from a small pool. A group of 12 dowitchers also came through, dropping down distantly on the marsh.
At one point, I heard the distinctive call of a snipe, and looking up saw a small flock of 7 Wilson's snipe passing over. They were swiftly joined by another larger group of snipe, bringing the total to a rather impressive 24 birds!

Having decided that I wasn't going to find a Siberian rubythroat today, I decided to head around to Holden Creek for a peek.
Again, the main channel by the path was teeming with teal.
'Scoping through, I couldn't see anything other than green-wingeds. Feeding alongside were a dozen long-billed dowitchers.  
There were, again, good numbers of sparrows around, including a single fox sparrow. At least 2 common yellowthroat were skulking among the gorse bushes.
The creek was hosting yet more teal, and couple of pintail, plus more long-billed dowitchers and a pair of pectoral sandpipers (both pictured).
A pair of killdeer were on the marsh pools, and a greater yellowlegs was among another group of dowitchers. In total, the number of dowitchers in the Holden area, was probably around 40 birds.

A juv northern harrier ( a 'new' bird, much more 'orangey' and generally brighter than the bird that has been present for a while), a merlin and peregrine were doing the rounds.
There were only a handful of Canada geese, and no sign of the whitefronts - so much for my prediction that they'd stick around for a bit!
Walking back along the flood bank, I noticed a small group of teal flying in and dropping into the creek.
One of them was the bird I saw the other day - blue-winged or cinnamon female/juv type.

They had joined a large group of green-winged teal on the main channel.
Keeping my distance, I 'scoped through, and eventually found the bird - pretty sure it's a juv male cinnamon teal (see pic).
Any comments to corroborate or argue against would be most welcome!

The One That Got Away...

Very few waders on Nanaimo's Holden Creek at low tide this morning, just a scattering of least sandpipers. One group of leasts, that kept getting up from the marsh and flying around contained a considerably bigger bird. Unfortunately, every time they landed on any of the small dried pools among the pickle weed, they in effect, disappeared. I tried for ages to get a view of this distinctly larger calidrid, but to no avail. It was either a pectoral, or Baird's, sandpiper. Probably, the latter.
I realise that pec's a bit bigger, but it's quite hard to judge actual size when its the only larger bird among many smaller individuals. This is especially frustrating, as Baird's sandpiper is, by far, the commonest nearctic shorebird that I've never actually seen. Oh well, such are the delights of birding.

The bog-of-eternal-stench was still hosting the yellowlegs convention, with 7 lessers and the single greater present, plus just 3 least sandpiper. 4 green-winged teal were nearby.

A large influx of some 40-50 cowbirds had taken place, and they were feeding with starlings among the cattle. Otherwise, it was business as usual.

 
       

Is There Life On Marsh?

Managed a visit to Holden Creek at low tide this morning.
Even though birds can be harder to locate at this site at low tide, at least there is access and no fear of getting cut off while out on the marsh!
As has been the case just lately, there were no waders along the creek. It seems that one is more likely to find good numbers of peeps on the muddy channels on the dropping tide, and especially when there are large numbers present in the area.
The lack of rain, and no particularly high tides, has left much of the marsh rather dry - and even the back pool, which often holds water and is consistent for attracting feeding shorebirds, was barely muddy.
Assuming I'd hit one of those blank days, I decided to check out all the potential areas, on the off-chance that I might find a bird or two.
As it happened, one smelly wet corner still had a bit of foul water in it, and consequently some birds to look at.
There were 12 least sandpiper, 3 semi-palmated sandpiper, 1 killdeer, 2 greater ( middle pic) & 2 lesser yellowlegs (top pic) and 2 pectoral sandpipers (bottom pic).
A few inspections of other areas of the marsh produced just 8 more leasts, 1 spotted sandpiper and 4 killdeer.
         

Morning glory

Went down to Holden Creek this morning for a pre-work wander.
The first bird I noticed, as I was putting my wellies on, was a collared dove sat up on an exposed bare branch in a nearby tree. First I've seen at this site.
As I walked down the path to the creek, I noticed with dismay that there were no waders visible in the channel. As I drew up to the main creek, I couldn't see a single shorebird feeding on the muddy edges.
I trundled up the bank and crossed the creek at the usual spot scanning the pools on the saltmarsh. Nothing.
I headed toward the pylon 'island', from where I usually scan the area, and flushed several least sandpipers from the pickleweed. At last - some waders!
When I got to a spot where I could actually see the back pool I was absolutely amazed - it was crawling with birds. Unfortunately, time wasn't entirely on my side but in the next twenty or so minutes I was able to determine that there were 9 lesser yellowlegs, 3 greater yellowlegs, 5 pectoral sandpiper (of which 2 were males), 5 dowitchers (3 long-billed and 2 short-billed, I think...), 1 killdeer and approximately 80 least sandpiper. Surprisingly, there were no other small calidrids that I could see.
The tide times meant that a post work visit was pointless, so I have no evening comparison.
Anyway, below is a very poor vid that at least shows the level of activity! 

Brit birder's dream day out

Quite a bit of activity around the Nanaimo River estuary this morning.
I started off at Holden Creek. There seemed to be fewer least sandpipers here today, probably c50 in total though they were spread around, and were quite mobile, so an accurate count wasn't possible. There was an increase in western sandpipers, with 20 or so in the area, plus at least 2 semi-palmated sandpiper.
On the marsh flashes, along with the peeps, were a single lesser yellowlegs and a pectoral sandpiper. See the attached vid. below.
An osprey attempted to fish on the creek for a while.

At the Nanaimo River estuary (Raines Road) a group of 3 greater and 1 lesser yellowlegs were on the pools, as were 2 killdeer and a pair of spotted sandpiper.
Up to 5 spotted sandpiper were on the river as were another 4 greater yellowlegs.

Things are getting really exciting down here now, it'll be interesting to see just what comes through in the next few weeks... For a Brit birder, this is like a dream day out on the Scillies or the Isle Of Lewis!    

Lazulike-it

After a pretty rubbish day yesterday, when I couldn't find any birds anywhere, today was a significant improvement.
Just to put yesterday morning into perspective: I arrived at the Nanaimo River estuary to find top local birder Steve Baillie tapping determinedly into his Blackberry. He informed me that I'd missed a male lazuli bunting by minutes! Nice find, Steve!
Despite an hour searching the area, I failed to relocate it - or anything else of interest. Ralph Hocken arrived, and after a while I decided to go and check the mudflats, in case any shorebirds were out there taking advantage of the low tide. Ralph came along and we soon discovered that the food-rich estuary was being spectacularly ignored by any long-billed transients. A quick, desperate, stop at Holden Creek was equally bleak.
Ever optimistic, I returned to the estuary in search of a certain bunting late afternoon, to no avail. Though, a pair of warbling vireo in the oak provided a pleasant distraction.

So, I decided to take Sunday a lot more easily. Jenny and I took a leisurely stroll to Hemer Park, before the rain commenced. Highlights here included: chipping sparrows, western tanager, black-headed grosbeak & gadwall.

Later, I headed down to Holden Creek and gave it a thorough once-over. A single pectoral sandpiper was on the 'back pool' - see pic. Other than that, just the usual spotted sandpipers, killdeer, red-tailed hawk, yellow warbler etc were noted. An osprey flew over.
I drove over to the estuary and decided to have a careful creep around the bushes near the big oak - just in case...

After rousing a few white-crowned sparrows, my pishing was met with a distinctive 'tick' call, considerably less metallic sounding that the w.c. sparrows'. I continued to pish and BINGO! Up popped the lazuli bunting. It sat out in the open for a short while, allowing a snap or two, before diving into the brambles. Thrilled (yes, it was a world tick!), I decided to leave it alone and have a quick check from the platform.
The rain was coming in now, and other than 3 green-winged teal on the river, there was little to get excited about. I headed back to the car and was amazed to see the lazuli bunting feeding on the footpath between the oak and the car park! It flew up and landed on the wire fence, posing nicely before flying off towards the fields.

    

Pec' 'pipers prove positive

The tide was encouragingly high this evening when I arrived at Holden Creek but my thoughts of hordes of refuge seeking shorebirds seemed dashed.
A check along the creek revealed the usual spotted sandpipers.
A combination of recent rain, and high tidal levels, meant that the marsh was at least wet and several of the flashes contained enough water to, hopefully, attract any passing waders over the next few days. Ever the optimist...
Scanning out across the marsh I spotted a large shorebird feeding on the very furthest pool. Great. 'Scoping it, it was as expected, a greater yellowlegs. However, some smaller waders were nearby and I just couldn't get enough on them as they weaved around in the grassy edges. Unfortunately, it wasn't only distance that was against me but the sun had decided to show up for the first time all day, and was liberally blasting down and creating lovely silhouettes.

I walked out onto the marsh and eventually positioned myself at the base of one of the pilings for the electricity poles.
Through bins, at this far better range, their identity was pretty well confirmed but a 'scoping made it certain. 4 pectoral sandpipers (2 of which are pictured, with customary lack of skill, left).
Not exactly what I'd have liked them to be, but beggars, as they say, can't be choosers and it was great to watch them feeding alongside the yellowlegs. I guess they're not particularly common birds on Vancouver Island in the spring?
Otherwise, 3 killdeer, 2 ospreys, common yellowthroat and the usual stuff kept me busy.