I Never Saw A Sora

I've been checking the Government House grounds over the past few days, and to be honest, there hasn't really been that much to report. Particularly in light of the superb birds being found by the birding elite of Victoria in the past couple of weeks!
For those not in the know, these have included British Columbia's 3rd record of lesser nighthawk (and only the 2nd one alive...), a Sabine's gull, a singing magnolia warbler, yellow-headed blackbird, and today, Ian Cruickshank located a Brewer's sparrow. Not bad going.
I'm only pleased that I don't 'need' any of these species, or I would have spent the last few days chasing rare birds, as opposed to getting on with work.
That said, I am rather keen to see something new, so I headed out with the aforementioned Ian yesterday evening to see if I could finally add sora to my life list.
I have never bothered twitching this species in the UK, despite their relative frequency, and I've been spectacularly unlucky on my various trips to this side side of the Atlantic, having never come across one. I heard one last year, but I will never tick a bird on call alone. So, aware that one had been showing at a local pond, I decided a mini-twitch was in order.

Anyhoo, Ian directed me to the controversially named Raper's Pond (known also as Rapier's Pond and Charlton Pond - though if we're all allowed to make up our own name for it, I'll call it I Never Saw A Sora Pond). We caught several glimpses of comedic fluffy black Virginia rails darting between clearings, but no adults and, as intimated above, no sign of sora. No worries, it was good to visit a new site and I'll doubtless return early one morning, or later one evening.
A drake gadwall was consorting with the local mallards and mallard-ish things, plus common yellowthroat and killdeer (pictured) were present. A foraging raccoon put everything into panic-mode for a moment, but failed to flush any rails...
While we were at the pond, Ian demonstrated once again his supernatural hearing and call recognition skills with occasional cries of 'western wood pewee' and 'black-headed grosbeak' as they called a mere 3 miles away.

Earlier yesterday I had found a very obliging western wood-pewee in the Government House grounds, but little else.
As it happens, Jenny and I were just out taking stroll around the neighborhood this evening and we came across what was presumably the same bird, feeding close by an olive-sided flycatcher, allowing for a lovely comparison. 
Minutes earlier, a single Vaux's swift had passed over.   

Spotting Sandpipers

Headed down to the Creek this morning, in the hope that the tide had dropped enough to allow for me to cross - it hadn't.
Looks like a terrible week for me, with high water both in the mornings and evenings. Thinking about what birds might be out there, undetected, could keep me awake at night!
So, apart from a couple of nice fresh mozzie nibbles, it was pretty unremarkable. A single juv spotted sandpiper was on the sluiced creek adjacent to the gravel pathway, but that was it as far as waders were concerned.
A lovely Wilson's warbler came by and gave me good views, as it searched for insects in the buddleia.

With 20 minutes to spare before heading off to work, I dropped in for a quick scan at the estuary at the end of Raines Rd. 3 more spotted sandpiper were on the river but again it was pretty quiet. A pair of California gulls were sat out on a log in the estuary. I really should have stayed in bed another hour...

Given the tides (and the need to get a casserole in the oven), I gave myself an evening off Holden Creek duties. By 8 o'clock however, I was getting itchy feet, so I headed over to Quennel Lake to see what was happening there.
More than I expected, to be honest, but still not much! Lots of barn swallows, but sadly no nighthawks, were feeding over the water. I did hear a whinney-ing sora, which was a first for me here.
2 bald eagles, an osprey and a merlin were doing the rounds. On the water was a lone hooded merganser, and a beaver. Yet another spotted sandpiper was creeping along an exposed edge.