Time of the Month

It's that time of the month again.
Boy, these BC Coastal Waterbird Survey weekends seem to come round pretty quickly. Despite the rather low tide and the unpromising forecast I headed out for a couple of hours to play find-the-bird. As it turned out, the weather was way better than implied and it stayed dry, if cool for the duration. The sun even peeped through briefly.

There wasn't a great deal happening along my little bit of coast, pretty much the usual stuff on the whole.
Highlights included a flock of 34 brant flying by at McMicking Point. Other sightings included 7 red-necked grebe, 4 Pacific loons, 4 common loons, 12 white-winged scoter, 3 long-tailed duck, 2 marbled murrelet and 11 black turnstone as well as good numbers of surf scoter, harlequins and pigeon guillemots.
Mammals included a California sealion and the usual harbour seals (pictured).   

Farewell to Friends, Hello to Solitary Sandpiper!

On Saturday Jenny and I headed up island once more. Our good friends Rich & Lori Mooney, along with son Nolan, had finally booked their flights and were heading off to a new life in Surrey, England within a matter of days. We had to say our farewells!
Somehow or another (!) Rich and I managed to arrange one last bit of birding and spent some time scouring Holden Creek, while Jen and Lori walked to Jack Point.  

Jenny, me, Lori & Rich

To be honest, it was pretty dire. A killdeer and 4 least sandpiper were the sum total of our shorebird finding efforts.
Other stuff included a purple martin, peregrine, red-tailed hawk, osprey, American goldfinch and a pair of Eurasian collared dove (cor!).
To be honest, it wasn't strictly about the birding, but the opportunity to spend a bit of time together before they left for old Blighty... Bon voyage Rich, Lori & Nolan - and good luck in the UK!

Today (BC Day as it happens), I got out for a couple of hours to Panama Flats, late morning.
Quite a contrast to my last visit a few days ago.
The pools were notably busier with waders, and there were 7 lesser yellowlegs, 11 greater yellowlegs, 5 western sandpiper and 29 least sandpiper present, along with 13 long-billed dowitcher.
A couple of killdeer were in the grassy area on the eastern edge and at least 4 spotted sandpiper were seen. 

Best of all, however was the solitary sandpiper that had so far eluded me.
This is the first I've seen in Canada and as such, makes it on to my BC list!
At one point the obliging bird even had a good stretch, showing off that distinctive rump that clearly separates it from green sandpiper, a species I am very familiar with. Lovely!
So lovely, in fact, that I've included two photos here for your delight...

Once again the many swallows were on good form and went into a twittering panic when a peregrine came by. It was interesting to watch the least sandpipers, in particular, respond to the hirundines' alarm calls.
They would assume a crouching position, flattening themselves low in the mud or water while watching out for the overhead predator.

Later in the day, Jenny and I had a walk down to Ross Bay, Victoria. A drake white-winged scoter was swimming around close inshore, while we also spotted the usual rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots and what-not.

Ross Bay Walk

Just managed a post-work walk down to Ross Bay, Victoria with Jenny this evening.
Even still, there were plenty of interesting birds around. I could see that the gull roost at Clover Point had built quite a bit, and it became even more apparent as approximately 150 gulls were flushed up into the air by a passing bald eagle. At range, I could only make out one adult Heermann's gull among the numerous glaucous-winged and California gulls.   
Bobbing about on the water were a few rhino auklets, 3 harlequin ducks and 5 surf scoters. A party of 4 white-winged scoter flew by. That's all 3 scoter species here in the past few days... what a strange summer..!

A corpse in the forest

Didn't manage too much in the way of birding today, the only bird of note seen on my lunchtime stroll was a caspian tern down at Nanaimo waterfront, by Mafeo Sutton Park.

After work, Jen and I took an evening constitutional down to Hemer Park.
Didn't see too much to get excited about, the merlin family were seen, and heard, en route again.
A couple of bald eagles were keeping the wood ducks on edge, but there was little else around the pool bar the usual common yellowthroats, red-winged blackbirds, etc.

The most interesting thing about our wander was the discovery of the plant shown in the photograph here.
I'm sure that most Vancouver Island locals will be familiar with it, but a few UK readers might like to know what it is.
It's a flowering plant called an Indian-pipe (also known, appropriately, as ice plant, corpse plant and ghost flower) and grows in gloomy coniferous forests. It totally lacks chlorophyll, hence its weird appearance and obtains its nutrients from nearby tree roots via a complex relationship with fungi in the earth - so my book says! Freaky eh?

Curiously, on our walk home, a flock of 20 white-winged scoter flew over, heading toward the coast.
A bit early for post/failed-breeding birds? Do they over-summer in small numbers locally?