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.

That Was The Week That Was

Blogger's been ill, so I haven't been able to post until now. So, if you're sitting comfortably, I'll begin...
 
This morning, it was fairly quiet down at Government House with nothing to indicate any birds new in. What was presumably a remnant of yesterday's fall; 12 yellow-rumped warbler, 1 Townsend's warbler and a warbling vireo were moving around in a single feeding flock, and a single Lincoln's sparrow emerged to check out my pishing but that was about it.

Thursday Fall

A bit of a fall was evident early Thursday morning in the grounds of Government House, Victoria.
It seemed pretty quiet until I jammed into a flock of around 30 yellow-rumped warblers feeding high up in some garry oaks, along the lower path. Scanning through I came across 6 Townsend's warblers, 2 ruby-crowned kinglet and a Wilson's warbler. An empidonax flycatcher showed briefly but flew off, silently.
As I moved along the path, a Cooper’s hawk came bombing along and just missed my head.
The distinctive clucking of a hermit thrush was emanating from the understory, and a little persuasive pishing lured it out, but nothing else.
I came across another active warbler flock, this time comprising around 10 yellow-rumped and 2 Townsend's along with a warbling vireo (my first of the year).
Then I noticed a smart olive-sided flycatcher (another year-tick) sallying from a snag.
I decided to gain some height, to check the tree tops and went to the small ‘balcony’ outlook where I was surprised to come eye to eye with a varied thrush.
The olive-sided was visible from here too, and gave better views but there was nothing in the upper branches of the trees.
On the eastern bluffs I saw another olive-sided flycatcher, but otherwise there was little activity there so I headed home for breakfast.

Wednesday Whirlwind

On Wednesday afternoon I had the pleasure of being given something of a guide tour of Victoria and Saanich Peninsula birding hotspots by Ian Cruickshank.
We started off at Panama Flats where, thanks the persistent downpour, the flooded fields were swarming with 100s of hirundines, including a few cliff swallows and one or two northern rough-winged swallows, plus good numbers of Vaux’s swifts (year tick).
Scanning the muddy fringes we noticed a congregation of feeding dowitchers, and a few least sandpipers.
Three spotted sandpiper (year tick) were also working the edges and common dabbling ducks punctuated the water’s surface including several shoveler and a pair of gadwall.

Among other places we visited included Observatory Hill - an impressive spot affording immaculate views. Here we added such things as chipping sparrow, Pacific-slope flycatcher (YT), American goldfinch and house wren (YT).
We came across dowitchers, mostly looking like long-billeds, at several sites including a group of just over 100 at 'Red Barn Flats'. This interesting site, (so named for its location right by, yep, you guessed it - a red barn, well the Red Barn Country Market more precisely.. ) was also teeming with swallows.

A stop at Maber Flats proved interesting with a breeding plumage black-bellied plover, more dowitchers and 18 purple martin (2 of which, pictured).
A flock of 40 cackling geese dropped in and a single greater white-fronted goose made an unexpected appearance.
Along the path, the hedgerow was jumping with YR warblers and I finally caught sight of my first yellow warbler of the year.

Later, we had a brief check of the Martindale area where the highlight was an adult female northern harrier.

After a quick stop at Island View Beach where we watched a Caspian tern fishing, we headed back.
It was great to be in the company of someone who knows not only the area, but the birds so well.
Ian's incredibly acute hearing, and ability to ID everything that calls, was a grim reminder that my battle-worn ears are well and truly past their sell-by date.
Add to that, my relative lack of familiarity with the region's birds' vocalisations and it's fairly obvious that I could be missing a not inconsiderable percentage of passerines while out birding. Oh well, at least my eyesight's still 20/20. For now...
Thanks again to Ian for his enthusiasm, and generous welcome to Victoria's birding scene!

Mad Dogs and English(wo)men

My visit to Holden Creek was considerably drier this morning, thanks to the easing off of the rain. The pools on the marsh weren't quite so replenished as I'd hoped, and they were birdless, but for 4 least sandpipers.

A further 25 or so were in the Bog Of Eternal Stench, at the back of the marsh, but no other peeps were among these.
On the main creek that borders the farm fields things were slightly livelier with 5 lesser yellowlegs, 18 least sandpipers, 8 western sandpipers (pictured) and 1 spotted sandpiper.
3 more lesser yellowlegs flew over, but continued south and a flock of 6 killdeer took off from the marsh and headed in the same direction.

Later, Jenny and I took a walk down the Cable Bay Trail. This was the first time since spring that I didn't hear any Pacific-slope flycatchers in the forest - have all the breeders moved on? Similarly, I haven't seen any rufous hummers for a while... they stopped coming to my feeders a couple of weeks ago.
The woods were generally quiet bar the usual Pacific wrens, robins, chickadees, orange-crowned warblers and such. At the beach we noticed pigeon guillemot and pelagic cormorant, plus great blue heron, and belted kingfisher.
On our way back we were 'greeted' by an overly-enthusiastic golden retriever which seemed intent on jumping up and down on Jenny and covering her with muddy prints. I pulled the dog off and asked the owner to control his hound - Jen's not too comfortable around big dogs and anyone with a fraction of a brain cell would have been able to tell that she was visibly unnerved by fido's unwanted attention.
The owner, barely uttered the dog's name as a means of 'control', walked by us without acknowledging either my, reasonably polite, request or Jen's mud-covered presence, and casually walked on as his dogged trotted off after him. Needless to say a rather un-lady-like barrage of colourful descriptions, suggestions and sarcastic thanks, followed them deep into the forest.
Jenny's still fuming...       

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.
 

Black Friday

After seeing our guests off at 6.45am, I headed off to the Nanaimo River estuary for a spot of pre-work birding, despite the downpour.
As soon as I arrived at the parking area it stopped raining - wow, what luck!
The area around the big oak was jumping with yellow warblers, plus a couple of Wilson's. It became apparent however, that little had been dumped in the rain and my hopes of a kingbird, redstart, or such treasure, drained away along with the rain water.
As I was leaving however, a handful of black swifts appeared overhead and as I watched them, yet more  pass through - I estimated a total of around 70 birds. They continued to feed over the estuary and drifted toward Holden Creek.  

After work, I went to the aforementioned creek but it was just as quiet as yesterday, really. On the plus side, the spotted sandpiper numbers had crept up to an impressive 8 birds.

Early birder swiftly does it

Squeezed a quick half hour down at the estuary this morning on my way to work. Seemed quite birdy with a few seemingly new yellow warblers around and a couple of spotted sandpiper on the river.
Couldn't find anything too exciting, unfortunately, but just as I was about to leave a single Vaux's swift came over and spent around 30 seconds flitting around close by and giving great views. Last time I saw one of these in BC was back in '92 or '93, or whenever it was I first visited Vancouver Island...

Later, in the evening, Mr Dawson and I headed down to Cable Bay Trail to follow up on a Cassin's vireo nest that he had found earlier in the day. While we were there, a barred owl was betrayed by 'pinking' robins and we heard several, and saw one, Swainson's thrush.  

Golden Holden

On the way home from work, Jenny and I stopped off at the Chase River Estuary park trail - a lovely wee spot, probably not too bad for birds at the right time of day/year...

Anyhoo, I dropped the missus off and legged it down to Holden Creek.
Quite an increase in the number of least sandpiper this evening with approx. 60 birds scattered around the marsh. The killdeer have 'lost' two of their chicks. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to lose one is unfortunate, to lose two, looks like carelessness...
A single greater yellowlegs and 2 spotted sandpiper were on the main creek.

Up to 8 American pipit were feeding on the marsh, and a couple showed on the muddy creek edge briefly (pic left). Got chance to have really good look at these spanking birds - absolutely gorgeous, far better than silly bluebirds or flashy warblers.
No sign of the semi-p plovers.
3 cackling geese and 4 white-fronted geese had dropped in and joined the 'resident' Canadas.
All the swallows were showing really well in the glorious golden evening sunlight, including the cliff swallows which were gathering mud again on the creek.

Popped by the boggy area on Gordon Road to have a listen for rails but there was nothing doing. A pair of common yellowthroat were nest building and the drake wood duck was there again - where's the female gone? In a hole somewhere nearby?

Oh, forgot to mention yesterday - had my first house wren of the spring down at the Nanaimo River Estuary.

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.

Spots before my eyes

Very pleasant, though not too birdy down at the Nanaimo River estuary. Hardly surprising really, given that a pair of free-range, 'ownerless' alsatians were running around the marsh for around 40 minutes - mainly chasing savannah sparrows.
A greater yellowlegs was on the river, as was a single least sandpiper.
2 American goldfinch were zipping about as were a couple of crossbill. No real evidence of any migrants, other than 4 golden-crowned sparrows, a yellow-rumped and a handful of orange-crowned warblers. Female northern harrier still around.
Then, at 8.20am, a huge skein of c.450-500 white-fronted geese headed south, followed by another of c160 around 5 minutes later.

After work I headed to Holden Creek. A few more least sandpipers around this evening, but still only 35 in total. Another spotted sandpiper had arrived, and it was great to watch the slightly larger female displaying to the rather timid male. First time I've ever seen this - ace!  
Looks like the white-fronts had got the hint this morning and moved on...
Otherwise, regular stuff included red-tailed hawks, killdeer, goldfinches plus cliff, tree, violet-green & barn swallows.

  

Crappy Monday

You'd think that after all these years I'd know better than to go out when it's freezing, blowing a gale and chucking it down. Trouble is, some of the best birds I've ever seen, or found, have been in such grizzly conditions... what's a birder to do? Get a dousing, suffer an hour, or several, and trust that one day it'll all be worth it when that real crippler pops up in front of your bins.

So, from my opening paragraph, you, dear reader, can assume that I saw buggar all this evening. Correct.

I headed to Holden Creek, soggy shorebirds on my mind. Unfortunately, it was even worse than yesterday and just 13 least sandpiper (pictured) and the regular spotted sandpiper were present. It was utterly devoid of anything else, except a heron and a bunch of green-winged teal. Even the majority of the swallows were hiding. On the subject of swallows, I'm often taken aback by the difference in the colour of the underparts of North American erythrogaster barn swallows, compared to rustica ones - they're quite startling!

Still on the subject of swallows, I recently moved desks at work, and bagged a window - where I've been adding such stuff as bald eagle, turkey vulture, pigeon etc to my 'desk list'. Today I was rather delighted to see 8 purple martins heading right at me. Perked me up a bit.          

Cinnamon teal twosome save the day

Had a troll around the Nanaimo River estuary for an hour and a bit this morning from 6.30am.

Sadly I didn't find any major rarities, despite my undying optimism, but it was good to be out early. A mini-fall of yellow-rumped warblers had obviously taken place, with at least 30 birds along the long hedge. No other warblers among them sadly, other than a handful of orange-crowned.
A peregrine was sat out on a stranded tree-stump.
A pair of male purple martins were mucking around (pic) and the female northern harrier was hunting over the marsh. A singing American goldfinch was by the big oak.

After work, I bobbed along to Holden Creek. The water levels were extremely high.
A pair of cinnamon teal were a very pleasant surprise. The spotted sandpiper was still present, as was a single greater yellowlegs. It took me a while to locate any small waders, they were feeding in the small muddy puddles in the farm fields. Again, the majority that I could see were least sandpipers, plus a handful of westerns.
A lone cackling goose was among the Canadas.
The local killdeer have at least three hatched young.
Driving round to the estuary along Gordon Road, I had a pileated woodpecker fly over and a pair of wood duck were in the wet area.
The estuary was busy with people, but a few birds were still around... 3 belted kingfisher were flying around and all the common hirundines were seen. Otherwise it was pretty uneventful.

Spotted sandpiper spotted

As Sunday is generally a let's-behave-like-tourists day, I don't really get much proper birding in. But, as a passionate (some may say, obsessive...) birder, I almost always have my bins within reach.

Anyhoo, before our day out today, I noticed a flock of c200 white-fronted geese heading north over the house. Good start.

We headed off to Genoa Bay, where we enjoyed the sunshine, scenery and simply bucketloads of rufous hummingbirds. After lunch we made our way slowly back via a few antique emporiums, and a detour behind Nanaimo airport. Stopping by a small boggy area, I flushed a pair of Wilson's snipe who gave us several superb flyby views, before ditching down again. I bagged my first common yellowthroat of the year, and Jenny found a killdeer.

Later, I managed to get out and headed first to Holden Creek. It seemed pretty quiet, with no waders to be seen out on the marsh flashes or creek. A group of 12 white-fronted geese were feeding in the fields.
Scanning the marsh, I located a feeding gang of 8 American pipits, all looking sharp in their summer finery. Then I heard an unfamiliar call (to be fair, most calls still are), and looked toward the source and discovered a lovely spotted sandpiper as it flew in and landed on the creek edge.

With time to spare, I decided to check the Nanaimo River estuary. I guessed that it may have been busy with folk on a decent day, but hoped that it would now be quiet. Wrong. A single family were present, and while they were doubtless having a lovely time, they did it with astonishing volume. And, they had a spectacular knack for targeting the most sensitive areas, bird-wise, flushing stuff left, right and centre.

As they collectively climbed the big oak, I went to check the 'bluebird posts' and was somewhat surprised to see a female mountain bluebird in the area.
I then went to check the long hedge, as the family followed my footsteps blindly toward the bluebird and sent it flying away.
The northern shrike was still in situ, and a female northern harrier made an appearance.
I noticed that the bluebird was sat on the long hedge top, before coming very agitated. It suddenly launched itself up high, and it started to fly in wide circles, gaining height all the time, before turning and heading east with some apparent determination. It appeared to have been assessing conditions, before orienting itself - fascinating to watch!
Shame I couldn't get down earlier, who knows what had been around before the crowds...