An Extremely Varied Thrush.

Many younger and older Brit birders alike will be aware of the varied thrush that turned up in Cornwall back in 1982. As it stands, it remains the sole UK sighting and was the only European record until a bird made landfall in Iceland in 2004.

Schizochroistic varied thrush

One of the most talked about elements of the Cornish bird's appearance was the fact that it was an exceptionally unusual varied thrush. Instead of being essentially a black and orange bird, this individual completely lacked the orange plumage tones and instead had a monochromatic appearance, with the orange pigments being altogether absent and replaced with light greys and whites. There were countless discussions over the likelihood of such a rare, aberrant plumage being indicative of a captive origin but the consensus eventually settled for it being a wild vagrant (it being a 1st year bird helped).
Well, earlier this week a Victoria birder, Aziza Cooper, reported a very similar looking bird in among a small flock of 'proper' varied thrushes in Beacon Hill Park but it wouldn't allow her get a pic of it. On her second attempt a few days later, Aziza managed to get the photo shown here, and it is indeed a truly striking individual.

This kind of anomalous plumage is known as schizochroism (I looked it up!) - this is where specific coloured pigments are lacking; clearly oranges in the case of this fine bird.  

On a far more mundane note, I had my first violet-green swallows of the year yesterday lunchtime by Langford Lake. Nearby a pair of Townsend's warblers and a singing 'Audubon's' yellow-rumped warbler added to the feeling of spring.

Varied and Sundry

The snow continues... forecasts imply a hideous day of 'freezing rain' tomorrow, whatever that may be. Water halfway between liquid and ice? Oh, so a sort of snow then.
I don't believe that's one of Kate Bush's 50 Words For Snow...
Anyhoo, I was working from home again yesterday and once again the apple tree was notably attracting many of the neighbourhood birds.
A couple of varied thrushes have pretty much taken to residing in it, pecking at the remaining fruit for hours on end.

I absolutely love these delicately patterned thrushes, easily one of my favourite North American birds. As you can see I snapped a couple of shots.

British birders of a certain vintage will doubtless recall the first, and still only, UK record of this species back in November 1982 when a 1st year bird in aberrant plumage was found in the rarity hotspot of Nanquidno, Cornwall. At the time it was also the first record for the Western Palearctic, only surpassed by a spring 2004 record from eastern Iceland. 

There has been no sign of the western tanager for a couple of days, perhaps it has succumbed to the freezing overnight temperatures and perished.
Or maybe it just realised that it's a relatively short flight down to California from here.
Anna's hummingbirds, dark-eyed juncos, golden-crowned kinglet and Bewick's wren have all been seen visiting the apple tree, while house finch and American robin have joined the queue to get a bit of their five a day.
Having taken the hummingbird feeder in overnight, I was greeted at first light by the distinctive, and rather impatient 'tick-ticking' of the resident male Anna's, eager for his first energy boost of the morning. 

Migrants Brighten Up Cloudy Morning

Following a reasonably productive early evening trundle around the Government House grounds yesterday (2 Hammond's flycatcher, 2 yellow warbler, 1 Wilson's warbler, 3 orange-crowned warbler) I decided to head there this morning. Following another overcast night, I was hopeful that a few grounded migrants might be discovered.

And I wasn't to be disappointed.
Within a few minutes of arriving I heard, and then saw my first varied thrush of the fall - it was loosely associating with a small group of American robins.
Common, resident birds seemed to be curiously notable by their absence, as I made my way along the paths.
The next thing that caught my eye was a Townsend's solitaire, sat on a snag.

It was a bit of a distance away, but I managed a shot before it flew up to the top of a conifer.
Once here, it seemed to irritate the local red-breasted nuthatches and Anna's hummingbirds, who all got very vocal and excited (pictured terribly below).

I couldn't find any of the roving bushtit flocks this morning, so I didn't come across any warblers. Other than a skulking Lincoln's sparrow, a Pacific-slope flycatcher and a couple of passing ravens that caused chaos among the northwestern crows, the remainder of my search was unproductive.
And it started out so well!
 

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!

Rich pickings on the Nanaimo estuary

After a birding-free weekend in Vancouver I was pleased to see that my old mucker Rich Mooney had been down to the Nanaimo estuary in my absence and got amazing views of 4 short-eared owls. He also bagged meadowlarks, northern shrike and harriers - as expected. See Rich's blog post at his brilliant birding blog.

Having got so used to only ever seeing chestnut-backed chickadees here on Vancouver Island, I was quite taken aback by the sight of a small flock of black-capped chickadees mucking about in some shrubbery on Granville Street, in the heart of downtown. I forgot they were the common tit on the mainland! The ferry back yesterday wasn't much to write home about - the usual surf scoters, common murres, rhinoceros auklets, common loons and the expected gulls and cormorants, etc.

Jenny drew my attention to a varied thrush by our feeders this morning, the first we've had in the yard this season. There were actually 3 thrushes, plus a Steller's jay, numerous juncos and the afore-mentioned chestnut-backed chickadees.

On my lunchtime stroll down to a bitterly nippy and drizzly waterfront, there was a flock of around 50 common goldeneye by the crabbing pier. Not much else though, a couple of red-breasted mergansers and a few bufflehead.   

Cold front on the waterfront

Well, those forecast flurries turned out to be pretty much full-on snow yet again, and when I took my daily constitutional along the waterfront in downtown Nanaimo the below zero northerly wind cut through to the bone.
A little over the top perhaps, but it was bloody freezing. Not surprisingly, I didn't see many other folk out having a stroll.
Even the birds were behaving differently - a bald eagle made a feeble at catching double-crested cormorants, having dislodged them from their roost with a targeted swoop. It failed.
A pair of greater scaup were hugging the sheltered area near the float-plane terminal and a group of Barrow's goldeneye were seeking a windless spot by the lagoon. Other than a pair of American wigeon, red-breasted merganser and the ubiquitous Canada geese, it was otherwise fairly quiet on the water.
My first varied thrush of the season popped up in Mafeo Sutton Park, and a small flock of chestnut-backed chickadees and golden-crowned kinglets made their way through the trees.

Owls well that ends well.

Jen and I elected to take an evening stroll to Hemer Park when we got home from work today. It was lovely, and the outskirts of the wood were alive with comma butterflies (not sure which species - we only have one back home, I'll try and look it up...)
The forest was quiet, until we arrived on the east side of the pool, where the sun was still hitting the trees. Varied thrush still singing, plus brown creepers, red-breasted nuthatch and so on.
We stood on the platform and watched 3 beavers for 20 minutes - great! A pair of wood duck were on the pool fringes.
Then a barred owl called from our side of the pool, soon followed by another deep into the woods on the other side. This carried on for a while and when we eventually set off back we heard an agitated robin - hmm - and there were a couple of anxious chickadees and a Pacific-slope flycatcher... ah, there it is! A barred owl was sat on a low branch poking out from the side of a cedar. We had a good look at it, then left it to its own devices.  

The Lake Late Show

Despite, or probably because of, the rain, decided to have a look around Quennell Lake this evening.
Not too much really to report, though there was an apparent increase in lesser scaup. I counted 56.
Also, around 60 common merganser were also there. Still approximately 60 or so shoveler, plus 30ish bufflehead and a few green-winged teal, pintail, mallard and American wigeon.
Good numbers of both tree and violet-green swallow were feeding over the lake and a bald eagle was cruising up and down.
As usual there were great-blue herons all over the place... oh, and best of all a beaver swan across! Forgive me, but I doubt I'll ever tire of seeing those...

Yesterday evening, Jenny and I walked to Hemer Park. Not excessively birdy, but it was great hearing the melancholic varied thrushes' haunting whistles throughout the forest.
A couple of ring-necked duck were on the pool along with pied-billed grebes, hooded mergansers and, er, mallard. A very loud barred owl was barking away from the depths of the forest, and kindly totally took no notice whatsoever of my crappy efforts to imitate it. On the way back home, a Cooper's hawk flew past us.
Incidentally, on my way home from work yesterday, a sharp-shinned hawk was being harried by a northwestern crow near the dump, and a turkey vulture drifted over the road at Cedar. Oh, and a pair of 'doves' flew across the road near the Co-Op gas station near the Cedar Rd junction. They looked like collared doves from the brief view I got...

And I'm starting to think that the current mystery bird is wwwwaaaayyyy too easy..!