No rain, no gain.

I put rather too much trust in the weather forecast - gentle southerlies with rain overnight and early morning. Sounded perfect for dropping a few good birds. Anyway, got up at 6.30am and it was bone dry. Oh well, you never know...
Got down to the Nanaimo River estuary, and it was very pleasant with singing savannah sparrows, robins, white-crowned sparrows and the like filling the air.
The group of golden-crowned sparrows was feeding on the path and there with them, was the white-throated sparrow.
Still a dozen or so greater yellowlegs were on the river, as was an otter.
There was no evidence whatsoever, of newly arrived anythings! Next time, maybe...

After work, I headed to Holden Creek to check the wet fields - if there were any waders on the move, hopefully they'd be here, as it was high tide. Guess what? Nowt. Well, apart from a single greater yellowlegs and 2 killdeer. Approximately 80 green-winged teal were feeding in the creeks, as was a pair of hooded merganser.
A pair of white-fronted geese were with the Canadas in the farm fields.
I decided to have a peek at the estuary, flushing a turkey vulture (pic) on the way - it was chowing down on a hapless racoon corpse on the roadside.
The yellowlegs on the Nanaimo River had gained some new recruits, and now numbered 24.

 

There'll be bluebirds over.. etc etc

Despite the overnight rain, there was no sign of any grounded migrants on the Nanaimo River estuary this morning.
Once again, the long hedge was disappointingly bereft of avian action.

An early dog-walker was patrolling the mountain bluebird posts, which resulted in the bird being in a different area, feeding around some tide stranded old logs. I managed a few more snaps, one of which you can see here.
A female northern harrier was hunting over the marsh and passed close by, giving great views.
The distinctive call of a greater yellowlegs alerted me to a single bird flying overhead, from the river.
Again the white-throated sparrow was with the golden-crowned flock, and white-crowned sparrows were in good voice. Crossbills were again much in evidence and were joined by pine siskins, as they were yesterday. Oh, and the mighty cock pheasant was crowing away from the fields...

An early evening visit to Quennell Lake was unremarkable - 49 shoveler, 20 lesser scaup and a handful of teal, pintail, bufflehead, common merganser and mallard.
  

Seeing red

Arrived at the end of Raines Road, at the Nanaimo River estuary, this morning to the delightful sound of singing western meadowlarks. At least 3 birds were visible in the scattered hawthorns in the fields immediately west of the parking area.
As I came up alongside the large oak there was a flurry of activity on my right, the golden-crowned sparrow flock was feeding in the low brambles and there amongst them, was the white-throated sparrow, plus 2 white-crowned, and a song sparrow.
Once again, there seemed to have been a mini-influx of American robins with small groups here and there.
I walked the entire length of the long hedge but it was rather dead, with the exception of the occasional towhee, song sparrow, flicker and a single fox sparrow.
A red-tailed hawk was keeping sentinel from a small tree out in the fields. I came across a small flock of c20 juncos, but they hadn't enticed anything interesting to join  them.
Out on the marsh just 12 trumpeter swans and 2 Canada geese were present, plus the usual 20-odd great blue herons. A couple of bald eagles were sitting around on old logs. A belted kingfisher was hunting along the creeks.

Checking the estuary mouth, there were around 500 gulls roosting there, but the heat haze made the option of going through them pretty pointless. Similarly, the wildfowl - but I could at least make out gadwall, American wigeon, hooded & common mergansers, common goldeneye, bufflehead, mallard, pintail & green-winged teal.

As I stood on the platform, a pair of red crossbill flew in and gave me some great views as they fed & drank by the pool edges, and perched up at eye level. Naturally, I couldn't resist getting a snap.

With an hour to kill before collecting Jen from work, I had a wander around the southern end of Buttertubs Marsh. I was rather hoping for a tree swallow... 

Being early afternoon, and very sunny, it wasn't too productive (lots of strollers) but it was good to hear, and eventually see, good numbers of marsh wren. Red-winged blackbird were also in fine voice, and were busy flashing their scarlet epaulets all over the reed beds. 

A nice male American goldfinch was singing away from the top of an alder.

I got incredibly good views of a mink too. I initially spotted it creeping around under some roots and a boulder, but I applied the old gamekeepers' trick of squeaking away and out it came to investigate. It approached extremely close, but was quickly disturbed by a couple as they clattered noisily along the path toward me.  

Incidentally, following the delivery of our worldly possessions from the UK on Thursday (only took 5 months...) Jenny and I took a stroll to Hemer Park. The birds were as expected, but we saw our first garter snakes of the year - 3 in all, sunning themselves and trying to get revved up for the season.
 
It's great to have got our stuff, I must say. I now have my many bird books to hand and my much-missed guitars. And Jenny has her impressive shoe and boot collection.


  

Here comes the sun

Westwood Ho!
After picking up Jen from work at 2pm, we headed off to take a leisurely hike up Westwood Ridge. It's a great walk up through mainly conifer forest, before opening out into mossy bluffs with mixed woodland, predominantly oak and arbutus. Some amazing views to be had, particularly on a day like today.
The major highlight for me though, less so for Jenny, was the finding of a Hutton's vireo! I heard an unfamiliar call (not too unusual in itself...) from amongst a group of chickadees, so I commenced with some finely tuned pishing. Within a couple of seconds a bird caught my eye and as soon as I had my bins on it, I knew what it was. Now, I realise that this is a common bird, but nonetheless it was a tick! having scrutinised countless ruby-crowned kinglets in earnest, here was the real deal. And despite what the books tell you, it's not so much like the kinglet that it isn't immediately obvious what it is, when you're looking at it.
The jizz is totally different, and those thick blue-grey legs coupled with its overall stockiness and fat bill are surprisingly apparent. Other, less diverting, aves included red-breasted nuthatch, red crossbill, pine siskin, brown creeper, golden-crowned kinglet, et al.

The pic above shows the view looking over Westwood Lake, beyond Nanaimo and toward the coastal mountains on the mainland. If you get a chance, do this walk!

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Down the estuary

Despite having to de-ice the windscreen before taking Jenny to work, the morning turned out to be quite stunning. I soon found myself bathed in sunshine and there was, as Phil Collins would so irritatingly put it, no jacket required.
Down at the Nanaimo River estuary, the birds weren't quite so convinced by this spring-like weather and most, rather than expending valuable energy showing off and singing, were mindful of the night's freezing temperatures and were busily seeking out food.
The usual mixed finch/sparrow group was immediately apparent, between the big oak and the platform. Practically the first bird I noticed was the white-throated sparrow, looking glorious in the bright sunlight.  
The other typical species were here such as juncos, song sparrows, white-crowned and golden-crowned sparrows, towhees, a Bewick's wren and a fox sparrow.
A western meadowlark was singing from the hawthorns in the fields.
An minor influx of American robins was apparent, I'd noticed small groups all along Raines Road too.
A walk up the 'long hedge' proved quiet, with the exception of the juv northern harrier (pictured) and the usual norther flickers, though 3 pine siskin feeding in the hawthorns was something of a surprise.
All the trumpeter swans had gone, except for one lone bird. Maybe this is the 'resident' swan that was here when I first arrived back in October - a couple of local dogwalkers tell me that it stayed all summer.
A red-tailed hawk was sat up in an arbutus tree and other than the regulation bald eagles, it was uneventful on the raptor front.
The bulk of the wildfowl was out on the water and scoping through them it appeared to be as normal - pintail, American wigeon, green-winged teal, mallard, gadwall, bufflehead, common goldeneye, greater scaup, common and red-breasted merganser.
Trampling back to the viewing platform, the WT sparrow showed again. It's become quite an obliging bird of late, I'll miss it when it goes!
Although it is very spring-like here today, I imagine that the chance of early migrants has been seriously hampered by the very wintry conditions in the US. I doubt any north-bound birds are going to want to pass through, or over, that just yet...

Spring has sprung a leak

Having been seduced by last weekend's spring-like weather, it was a bit of let down to go out this morning in such cold and soggy conditions. What a blunt and unwelcome reminder that it is still winter...  The birds didn't seem too pleased either and, for the most part, kept a pretty low profile.
Things started off well though, and within minutes of arriving at the Nanaimo River Estuary I noticed the golden-crowned sparrow/junco flock around the viewing platform. Within a few seconds the white-throated sparrow was showing well and a very weak sun even managed to puncture the greyness for a moment. I added 'non-indiginous-rabbit' to my estuary mammal list.
The next couple of hours were somewhat less productive, and the only other significant bird was a drake Eurasian wigeon. Up to 60 trumpeter swans were again present on the marsh (pictured) plus there were plenty of pintail, American wigeon and green-winged teal around. Out on the river mouth, there was a group of gadwall, common goldeneye, common merganser, mallard and yet more wigeon.
Along the 'long hedge', I came across a 60+ flock of dark-eyed junco but there appeared to little else with them other than the expected song sparrows and  spotted towhees.
Gull numbers appear to building up nicely, but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary amongst the distant groups.

Up the Creek
I then spent a short time at Holden Creek, which was quiet. A group of around 200 Canada geese were feeding in the nearby fields, but there was nothing of note among them.

What a cock!
By now (early afternoon), the rain had become somewhat more persistent so I took a leisurely drive around Quennel Lake, primarily on the lookout for wildfowl on the move.
As I approached the lake, a movement caught my eye in a nearby field and I smirked at the sight of a cock ring-necked pheasant picking through some long grass. Now, I know that these birds are quite sought after by many Vancouver Island birders, but I have to say it will a cold day in Hell before I get excited by seeing one - outside of their native range, that is.
Just 1 swan was on the lake, and relatively few Canada geese were present. 7 American coot were the first I'd seen for a while and a flotilla of 11 lesser scaup made for a pleasant sight.
A bedraggled 1stw northern shrike was hunting from nearby fenceposts.
I was rather surprised to find a soggy red crossbill singing away from the exposed branches of a small fruit tree by the roadside.

With the forecast looking better for the majority of the week, perhaps we can get back to convincing ourselves that spring really is around the corner..!

Don't forget to have a go at guessing (or studying and making and educated assessment, if you'd rather) the Mystery Bird on the left - only a short time left remains before I reveal the answer. And, of course there will be a new pic for you all to scratch your heads (or not) over.
    

A slight hint of spring

I awoke to be thrilled by the beautiful, calm, bright morning - seems a while since I've seen any blue sky...
As per usual, dropped Jenny off at work then headed off to the Nanaimo River Estuary for a dig around.
Once again, I arrived to find that I had the place to myself and I set off toward the big oak with something of a spring in my step, thanks to the sound of birdsong in the air.
House finches, Bewick's wrens and song sparrows were all being motivated to give their lungs a good blast in the sunshine.
The 'big' flock was in and around the brambles just by the tree, and I soon picked up the white-throated sparrow feeding on the ground with some golden-crowneds. The sound of a Western meadowlark drew my attention away and I noticed 3 birds close by, with a small group of starlings.
As I looked up I noticed that Ralph Hocken had arrived and was taking pics of the meadowlarks from the path up from the parking area.
I headed off down the long hedge for a while but it was pretty quiet. A lone Northern shrike and a bunch of flickers were the only things of note.
I could hear the lovely sound of a singing meadowlark and looking round, noticed the three birds in a hawthorn in the adjacent field.
I headed back and caught up with Ralph, who had got some great shots of the 'larks. He hadn't seen the WT sparrow though, so we decided to try and find it again. Unfortunately, a concerted effort failed to come up with the goods and despite grilling the flock, the target bird remained elusive. We did, at least, get views of the Lincoln's sparrow.
Out on the marsh, the trumpeter swans numbered fewer than 30 birds though, like last week, they had pretty much all cleared out by midday.
As usual, the majority of wildfowl consisted of American wigeon, pintail and green-winged teal with smaller numbers of gadwall and mallard. The drake Eurasian wigeon was present and a few bufflehead, greater scaup, common merganser, common goldeneye and gaggle of Canada geese completed the set of web-footed wonders.
A pair of amorous red-tailed hawks were having fun in the distance and a couple of peregrine zipped through.
26 great blue heron were hanging out on the marsh and a belted kingfisher was on the river.

Early afternoon, I made my customary pre-Jenny-pick-up, stop at Buttertubs Marsh but it was pretty unremarkable. Still a dozen or so ring-necked duck and a few hooded merganser, plus 3 pied-billed grebe on the water. Very little in the way of notable passerines - just a couple of varied thrush, a brown creeper, ruby-crowned kinglet and some singing red-winged blackbirds.
A Cooper's hawk nearly took my head off though...
Later, on our way back to Cedar, a merlin flew over the road just south of Nanaimo.

Late afternoon we took a stroll around Hemer Park.
Five trumpeter swans were still on the pool, along with a few hooded mergs, couple of bufflehead, 3 RN duck and a common merganser. A pileated woodpecker was making a racket up in the trees, but I didn't see it. A hairy woodpecker put in a, silent, appearance.

I had a real sense of the coming spring out there today, and although I realise it's only just into February and things could still get very wintry yet, the feeling that things were about to change was really overwhelming. For a newcomer like me, it's going to be absolutely thrilling (and doubtless mind-boggling) to witness a first full Vancouver Island spring. Bring it on...!  

Birding on a Sunday afternoon

Spent much of the afternoon down at the Nanaimo River Estuary today. Again, it was fairly undisturbed and in 3 1/2 hours fewer than 10 other people were seen. Just the way I like it!

I started off at the platform, scanning the area just to get an idea of what was about. I quickly realised that a good sized sparrow flock was feeding nearby and decided to concentrate on that for a while. Good idea, as it turned out as I was soon looking at the white-throated sparrow which, as you will see, stayed still long enough for a quick digisnap. The pic also confirms it as a 1st winter, white-striped, bird. Also here were plenty of golden-crowned sparrows (pic2), dark-eyed juncos, spotted towhees, song sparrows, 4 white-crowned sparrows (pic3), house finches (p4), 2 Bewick's wrens, a couple of purple finches and a ruby-crowned kinglet.

Checking out over the water, the usual hundreds of pintail, American wigeon and green-winged teal were present with smaller numbers of mallard and gadwall. There were also common and red-breasted merganser, bufflehead, common goldeneye, a flotilla of greater scaup, a common loon and a sealion!
A couple of California gulls were amongst the large numbers of glaucous-winged.

A peregrine was sat on a snag out near the water's edge. Even at 3 times the distance of that falcon I saw in oldtown last week this was soooooo clearly a peregrine. The white cheeks were clearly visible, even through bins, as was the contrast between the upper and underparts. The wings were obviously equal in length to the tail and even though this was a big female-type, it was nowhere near as immense a creature as the Nanaimo bird...  

The juv northern harrier made several appearances, hunting extensively over the various bits of the marsh.  

Good to see a northern shrike was back on territory, hunting from scattered shrubs around the marsh.

Oddly, the trumpeter swans all cleared out during the afternoon going from around 50 birds to just 6 by the time I left. I imagine they were going off to feed somewhere more exciting. They left intermittently, in small parties, and all headed off toward Cedar - Quennel Lake?

I trawled the long hedge but it was hard work. The most exciting thing I came across was a downy woodpecker, which says it all. I keep scouring the exceedingly long-eared-owl-friendly hawthorn/willow scrub but have yet to discover one alive...

No gun salute

It was a bit grizzly out there this morning. Misty and grey with a lot of moisture in the air and occasional showers to add to the fun. Nonetheless, it was OK weather for birding and I had the Nanaimo River estuary to myself for almost 3 hours. Not a hunter in sight.
As I arrived, I did meet a birder who was coming away from the area, he'd not seen too much though he did mention a peregrine.

Undeterred I headed out and opted to 'do' the long hedge first. As it turned out it wasn't such a bad idea as I soon found a mixed flock and almost immediately saw the white-throated sparrow. Once again the majority of birds here were golden-crowned sparrow (c.20) and dark-eyed junco (c.40) plus a few song sparrows and towhees thrown in for good measure.
A juv northern harrier then drifted in from out on the estuary, hunted briefly over the marsh then went and alighted on a dead tree in the fields, where it remained for a couple of hours or so. A red-tailed hawk was also sat up on a snag nearby.
4 Western meadowlark were sat up in a tree out in the fields - the first I've seen here in a while.
Up to 60 trumpeter swans were on the marsh along with some 'newly' arrived Canada geese (do they know the hunting season's over?) and a small group of American wigeon.
I eventually came across another mixed group of passerines and hoped that this was the flock with the American tree sparrows. Despite my best efforts I couldn't see or hear any, although a very smart Lincoln's sparrow was amongst them.
I headed back down along the hedgerow, but with the exception of the resident flickers and a gang of red-winged blackbirds it was pretty uneventful.
From the viewing platform I could see that the majority of the ducks were out on the water - it was low tide and they were quite some distance. Scoping through them, I picked out a lone Eurasian wigeon amongst the many American wigeon (ironically, back in  Lancashire, many of my old birding chums have been heading out to see an American wigeon in with a load of common Europeans - quite a rarity!). As usual the bulk of the wildfowl comprised of pintail, A. wigeon, green-winged teal and mallard. Gadwall numbers were up with around 40 birds present. Buffleheads, common mergansers and common goldeneye were also seen.
A rather impressive 22 great blue herons were on the marsh, and of course bald eagles were a constant presence.
I came across the big flock again, near the platform, and once more saw the white-throated sparrow in with them but, as usual, it eluded being photographed. The ruby-crowned kinglet was with them again.
I walked out to river mouth a short way and was delighted to flush a short-eared owl, which then proceeded to hunt briefly over the marsh before taking to ground again. Whether the owl was as delighted as I was, is up for debate...
      
On my way to collect Jenny from work in the early afternoon, I made a  quick stop at Buttertubs Marsh  which was rather unremarkable. Apart from the return of the mallards, a dozen ring-necked duck, 2 hooded merganser and a pair of pied-billed grebe it was somewhat on the quiet side.