Bluebird of happiness

Managed an early morning visit to the Nanaimo River estuary, before being encouraged to go for a nice day out on Saltspring Island - a place where I consistently see no birds of interest.

Anyway, upon arrival it was apparent that there were good numbers of savannah sparrow on territory, with birds singing from every available spot. I was surprised to rediscover the golden-crowned sparrow flock (14 birds) and the attendant white-throated sparrow, which I'd assumed had departed. An influx of white-crowned sparrows was also evident, again a number of birds were in song.
A group of violet-green swallow were roosting in the big oak (see pic.).
The mountain bluebird was still present out on the posts. Presumably the same bird, despite my not seeing it yesterday - it must have been keeping its head down.
A check along the hedgerow revealed just 1 female yellow-rumped warbler.

There were good numbers of red crossbill (see pic), including recently fledged young, around - plus a couple of pine siskins.
I could hear yellowlegs, frequently calling from somewhere on the river but I didn't spend any time looking for them. Noticed a handful of gadwall dabbling around the waterlogged fields.
Left the site around 8.30am and decided to check Holden Creek. No sign of yesterday's white-fronts, or even the Euro wigeon. A single northern shrike was hunting along the creek, but otherwise it was pretty quiet. As usual, there were plenty of green-winged teal present, plus 3 hooded merganser.

Sprinkling of migrants...

Things looked good as I arrived at the Nanaimo River estuary this morning - there seemed to be robins all over the place. Had there been some overnight movement? I counted about 60 in the area around the big oak, plus a group of 30ish starling. There didn't appear to be anything associating with them though, and I was quickly distracted by a northern harrier hunting over the fields. It was an adult female, presumably passing through.

From the platform, it all looked pretty quiet - just the usual distant gulls. I could discern the regular glaucous-winged, mew and Californias only. Wildfowl continue to decline in number, the expected species were all present but with individuals. A drake Eurasian wigeon was still present, as can almost be determined by the accompanying photo. Not quite as good as last week's snow goose pic, but I'm trying. Now I come to look at it again, I'm assuming it wasn't someone doing a wildfowl puppet show behind that hump...
A sharp-shinned hawk flew through, briefly landing up in the hawthorns, and my first 'patch' turkey vulture passed over. Two tree swallow also came through. A western meadowlark was singing out in the fields and a northern shrike was hunting out there.

I squeezed in an hour at Buttertubs Marsh in the early afternoon but it was fairly unremarkable. Despite the profusion of yellow-rumped warblers that are around the island, I didn't find a single one! A lone male Anna's hummingbird showed well, and yet more tree swallows and 2 violet-green swallows were seen. Another 2 turkey vulture passed over.
The only waterbirds seen were hooded merganser, ring-necked duck and pied-billed grebe. Unless, of course, you count mallard and Canada goose, which generally speaking, I don't. Or 'The Heron'.
A few American goldfinch brightened things up and a group of 6 golden-crowned sparrow were by the feeders along with bushtit, chestnut-backed chickadee, etc.