All Confusing On The Western Front

On Thursday morning I popped down to Clover Point for a pre-work amble; migrants on my mind.
Scanning the partly submerged rocks off the end of the point I could see that were still good numbers of Heermann's gulls hanging around.
Post-breeding mew gulls are becoming increasingly numerous now, as expected. 
 

Out on the kelp there was a bird that looked like a pretty credible 3rd winter western gull. When I first saw it appeared extremely dark-mantled and my mind raced through slaty-backed gull features.
By all accounts just about all the 'westerns' that occur in this part of the world are likely to have at least some glaucous-winged gull genes mixed in as the two readily hybridise. Many are fairly easy to identify as mutts, but others show a fairly convincing suite of features, which doesn't help in the slightest... 

The dark head and heavy breast streaking seems a little at odds with pure western, from what I have read, so any comments from readers would be most welcome!
Far less controversial was my first Thayer's gull of the season, sat among a huddle of roosting glaucous-winged and California gulls.
As for off-passage passerine migrants, just a couple of American pipits and a few savannah sparrows were encountered.
Shorebirds were limited to several black oystercatchers and a trio of foraging black turnstone.
Harlequin ducks are now back in force, with double figures present. The newly moulted drakes are really something to behold!

Later, at Langford Lake at lunchtime I came across my first ruby-crowned kinglet of the fall, in among a flock of bushtits, and 2 hooded mergansers were back on the lake.
A quick stop at Summit Hill Reservoir on my way home revealed one each of greater and lesser yellowlegs, a killdeer and a pair of western sandpiper. 3 shoveler were paddling around. 

On Friday morning as I arrived at work in Langford, there was a small flock of c.15 Vaux's swifts feeding overhead, just below some murky clouds.

I had a leisurely trundle around the Government House grounds on Saturday morning and there was quite a bit of activity going on. One small flock of birds feeding in the garry oaks included the expected chestnut-backed chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets and red-breasted nuthatches, plus 2 western tanagers, a warbling vireo and a Pacific-slope flycatcher.
There seems to have been a bit of an influx of northern flickers with multiple birds around the site. The return of 'wintering' finches continues with my first golden-crowned sparrows of the autumn, plus a few more dark-eyed juncos passing through.
 

It's a Frog's Life

A couple of weeks ago, while my brother Paul and Satty were still with us we took off for a couple of days to Mount Washington.

Pacific chorus frog

We broke up the journey with a couple of stops, including a walk along the trail at Roberts Memorial Provincial Park. This small but pleasant site was a regular haunt of mine when we lived in Yellowpoint. We saw pileated woodpeckers and red-breasted sapsuckers here, both always great birds to watch. A personal highlight came not in the form of a bird, but an amphibian. Despite having spent a fair bit of time trying to locate Pacific chorus frogs here on the island they have managed to evade detection, and so when I spotted one alongside the trail I was thrilled! Naturally I've heard them a thousand times but to actually see one of these diminutive tree frogs was quite a treat.
To celebrate we had lunch at the Crow and Gate pub.
The remainder of the drive up was relatively quiet bird or other-critter wise, with just occasional Steller's jays, turkey vultures and the like being seen as we headed up the highway.
Of course, things changed a bit once we arrived in the alpine region and gray jays soon became a common sight.
We spent a fair chunk of our only full day day out hiking along the relatively easy 6.8km trail to Battleship Lake - Lake Helen MacKenzie loop. We took our time and admired the stunning scenery while keeping all ears and eyes out for those bloody 3-toed woodpeckers. Unfortunately we only saw more sapsuckers, plus a few other common species including red crossbill, Cooper's hawk, band-tailed pigeon, the ever-present gray jays, etc. Of course, Paul and Sat loved the cheeky 'whiskey Jacks' and enjoyed sharing their snacks with the birds.
On Lake Helen MacKenzie I saw my first common goldeneye of the autumn, and a female common merganser was also present.

Vancouver Island marmot

While in the Mount Washington region I couldn't help but go and have another look for Vancouver Island marmots. Scrabbling around in the same general area I'd seen them last time, I came across a smart varied thrush before being being alerted to the marmot's presence by an ear-piercing whistle. I'd obviously been spotted by one! I soon located the animal on its lookout and managed a distant shot - I didn't want to spook the marmot by getting too close. Satisfied with my sighting I descended down the slopes and headed back to the condo for a celebratory beer or three with Jenny, Paul and Satty.

American dipper

When we headed back on the Friday we made a detour to Coombs Market to grab some grub and went to another favourite spot - Englishman River Falls.
I have always found this to be a reliable spot for American dipper (pictured), and we weren't to be disappointed with 2 birds seen - one above and one below the falls.

Red-legged frog

Another personal first came in the form of yet another amphibian, a red-legged frog, first spotted by Paul. With non-native bullfrogs being the only species I have consistently seen since my arrival here 3 years ago this was turning out to be something a productive trip!
         
The following morning, back in Rocklands, Victoria I was drawn to the sound of several American robins loudly calling outside the apartment. I stepped outside and noticed that the surrounding trees were dripping with the cacophonous thrushes. In among the 60 or so robins present, there were also at least 12 western tanagers feeding in the oaks and maples. At one point a tanager was flycatching from the turret of Craigdarroch Castle, not a sight you see every day!

Since then, it's been business as usual, with a return to work and the removal of three wisdom teeth...(ouch).
In between normal life, I have managed to squeeze in a few small birding forays including a rewarding early morning visit to Clover Point last Wednesday.

Common nighthawk

A pair of surfbirds and a couple of black turnstones were feeding along the kelp-strewn rocks along with a small flock of western sandpipers. A single black-bellied plover was also present. There was a real sense of autumn in the air, with a few savannah sparrows picking through the tideline debris, a scattering of remaining barn swallows feeding low over the beach areas and a notable increase in the number of mew gulls now appearing along the coast.

Common nighthawk - Clover Point

However, the most surprising find came in the form of a common nighthawk which flushed from the rocky beach and landed on a large rock off the point. I managed a couple of crappy pics through my 'scope as you can see here.
Having spent many an hour scrutinising horizontal tree branches in search of snoozing nighthawks (and never having found one) I was rather amazed to finally see a non-flying one in such an incongruous setting. That's the brilliant thing about birding - you can always expect the unexpected!  

I have also been making frequent stops at Summit Hill Reservoir. Wader numbers have fluctuated a little with varying numbers of western sandpiper, least sandpiper, killdeer, lesser yellowlegs and greater yellowlegs all dropping by.

Last Sunday, Jenny and I found time to go for a walk along Saanichton Spit and Island View Beach. Offshore there were lots of pigeon guillemots and small numbers of common murres and rhinoceros auklet. A pair of horned grebe were close inshore and a red-necked grebe also put in an appearance.
A flock of 12 horned lark were kicking around at the end of the point, but were very flighty.

On our way back in the afternoon we made a stop by Cordova Bay Golf Course to see if the long-billed curlew was still present. It was.
I got great views of the bird feeding on one of the greens before it was flushed by a couple of golf carts.
 Incidentally, when did people completely give up walking while golfing? This small private course hardly warrants the use of buggies. It seems even that fine old adage, "Golf, a good walk spoiled" is no longer pertinent. Lazy sods.
Anyhoo, the bird flew off calling and I was able to relocate it on the nearby beach soon afterwards. Before long it was flushed again, this time by a kayaker and it headed back toward the greens, once again calling loudly. Although it looked in good health while feeding, in flight the curlew dangled one leg, indicating some kind of injury. This was only the third time I had ever seen this species, and I certainly got better looks than on the two previous occasions.  

Pedder Late Than Never

I've had a few very busy days just lately, hence the delay in updating the blog.
The following day (Saturday 1st) I spent much of the morning at Rocky Point Bird Observatory’s sister site at Pedder Bay. Here they have a newly launched ringing station and are conducting a constant effort census. The latter being my contribution on this particular day.
Once I’d met the ‘bander-in-chief’ Rick Schortinghuis and the team of volunteers, I did a bit of birding around the site and also watched as the crew processed an array of birds including the smart Lincoln's sparrow pictured here.

Lincoln's sparrow - Pedder Bay

The census route was relatively simple to get around, although I lost my bearings at one point before realising that I was heading in the wrong direction! That added about 10 minutes of wasted time, but otherwise it went relatively well. 
There was a good mixture of habitat and as a result a fairly interesting mix of feathery critters including band-tailed pigeon, red crossbill, Pacific-slope and willow flycatchers, a selection of common warblers, warbling vireo, sharp-shinned hawk and my first 'free-range' Lincoln’s sparrows of the autumn.
I really look forward to doing more census work here and at RPBO but time is pretty tight right now and I’ll have to manage my shifts to fit around work and other commitments.

Later that same day my brother Paul and his wife Satty arrived from Jersey in the UK Channel Islands for a week-long visit, so I had taken some vacation time to spend with them.

Tourists at Holland Point

East Sooke Park

As I almost always have my binocs at hand, this meant that a bit of casual birding was most certainly on the cards as Jenny and I showed off some of our favourite Vancouver Island locations on Sunday.
First up was a walk from downtown Victoria to Ross Bay, via Fishermans’s Wharf, Ogden Point and Clover Point. The avian highlight was a pair of wandering tattler at Ogden Point. There were also good numbers of black turnstone present. More turnstone and a lone surfbird were also seen as we made our way along Dallas Road.
A brief wander through the Government House later revealed just one obvious off-passage migrant, an olive-sided flycatcher.

With the Labour day stat holiday on Monday we all piled into the car and headed off to East Sooke Park for a bit of a hike out to Beechy Head.
The birding may have been pretty unremarkable, but Paul and Satty were naturally enthralled by the wonderful coastal BC scenery.
The ornithological highlight of the morning was a Heermann’s gull with white primary coverts – a feature shown only in a small percentage of these striking gulls. 
Later, we took a stroll along the dog- and dog-‘egg’-laden Whiffen Spit which despite the disturbance still held a nice mixture of small shorebirds. Among the 60+ western and least sandpipers feeding along the shore were a pair of semipalmated plovers. A few savannah sparrows were also picking their way through the food-filled flotsam.

The biggest disappointment of this otherwise pleasant day came when I arrived home in the evening and upon checking my emails discovered that a sharp-tailed sandpiper had been showing to all and sundry throughout the day at McIntyre Reservoir. With the last message implying that the bird had flown in the late afternoon, I was not only pissed off at missing out on this potential lifer but it also seemed unlikely that I’d be able to catch up with it the following morning.

I was back in work Tuesday morning, and decided to stop off at Summit Hill reservoir on my way. Lesser yellowlegs numbers had dropped to just 2 but these remaining diehards had at least been joined by a duo of pectoral sandpipers and 7 peeps (all least and western sandpipers). A pair of western tanagers added a splash of exotic colour to the surrounding garry oaks.

Later in the day I put out a request to Jeremy Kimm for updates on the sharp-tailed and got word back that it had returned to McIntyre, so I took an extended lunch and flew out there only to arrive to a very birdless reservoir. The juvenile northern harrier relentlessly quartering the water’s edge may have had something to do with the total absence of waders!
Unfortunately, post-work plans with our visitors meant that I couldn’t head up in the evening. And guess what? The Asian vagrant was only putting on a spectacular show for those birders who were there. From what I hear it may as well as been sporting a top hat and cane...

With the rest of the week taken off as vacation, we had firm plans to head up island for a couple of days at Mount Washington so on Wednesday morning before Jenny or our guests roused themselves I sped up the highway and arrived at McIntyre Reservoir for first light.
And I searched, and waited, and searched.
2 pectoral sandpipers later, I conceded a loss and at 8am left the site somewhat dejected. Boy do I wish I’d twitched one back in Britain! With fewer than 40 accepted records of the species in the UK and Ireland, this is something of a holy-grail bird for many Brit birders… oh well, as an annual vagrant to BC maybe I’ll get lucky yet. Better still, maybe I’ll get a call from someone when one turns up next time (hint, hint).

Details of the Mt Washington trip and the few highlights following that will be posted shortly...
 

MacGillivray's Island

MacGillivray's warbler

It was another morning drive out to Metchosin for me on Saturday, as I headed out for my second visit to the access-restricted Rocky Point Bird Observatory.

I arrived later this week, at around 6.15am and after signing in at the reception I drove off along the winding gravel road that leads to the banding station and census site.

I had a little time for some pre-census birding and I quickly scoped offshore and in the tidal bay but it seemed pretty quiet. 
An osprey was sat out on a hydro pole, keeping a beady eye on the water below but there was a notable lack of seabirds to check. A few rhinoceros auklets were present along with common murres and small numbers of California, glaucous-winged, mew and Heermann’s gulls.

Shorebirds were thin on the ground too, with just black oystercatcher ‘peeping’ loudly around the rocks, and a small number of least sandpipers patrolling the stony beach.

MacGillivray's warbler

The census started at 7.20am. It was significantly cooler than it has been lately and the birds were reluctant to start the day. It was eerily quiet as I trundled around desperate for sights and sounds to add to my paltry list. Only a few red-breasted nuthatches, white-crowned sparrows and chestnut-backed chickadees seemed keen to alert me to their presence initially but once the sun started hitting the trees and enticing insects to stir things started to pick up a wee bit.

Even still there was nothing too exciting to be found over the allotted hour and a half and the warbler count was frankly terrible; 1 Wilson’s. 2 common yellowthroat. 1 Townsend’s. 1 orange-crowned. 

Even the spotted towhees and song sparrows were playing hard to get and only the sporadic small clusters of red crossbill passing overhead kept things interesting. A garrulous Steller’s jay added a bit of spice but it was only once I’d completed my rounds that the birding picked up apace.    

A pair of merlin were charging around, adding a dash of excitement to an otherwise raptor-free morning.

It had been pretty slow-going at the banding station too, but things were starting to pick up.

A personal highlight was seeing one of my all-time favourite American warblers in the hand – MacGillivray’s warbler. I don’t know why I like these geothlypis warblers so much, but ever since I saw my first one (on my first visit to Vancouver Island back in 1993, as it happens) I’ve been rather enamoured by this secretive bird’s subtle beauty.

Pacific-slope flycatcher

Other birds out-of-the-bag, so to speak, included a fine Pacific-slope flycatcher (pictured), willow flycatcher, Swainson’s thrush, white-crowned sparrows, Wilson’s warblers and a few other expected species.

I left Rocky Point late morning, spooking up a pair of spectacular, prehistoric-looking pileated woodpeckers on the way (too late to add to the census!).  
Please note that Rocky Point BO is on private D.O.D. land and access is strictly limited to those with permission. Check out the RPBO website for further information. 

The rest of the weekend was a fairly birdless affair, bar a bit of brief drive-by birding at Clover Point on Sunday afternoon. The highlight was seeing around 50 red-necked phalarope out on the water. Most of these were a fair distance away but one small flock was pretty close and gave great 'scope-views.

This morning (Monday) I stopped off at Summit Hill reservoir en route to work once again.  The 7 lesser yellowlegs were still present and I had the good fortune of getting point-blank, eye-level views of a lovely black-throated gray warbler in the pathside vegetation.

Post-work, I made a trip to Clover Point but it was pretty drab stuff to be honest, the only thing being a smart summer-plumage red-necked grebe. 

Jenny had walked down to meet me and so we went on to Oak Bay Marina (highlight - 84 black-bellied plover, 6 dowitcher sp. and a surfbird) and Cattle Point (highlight 12 western sandpiper) but there was little to get excited about offshore.   

Summit Happening at Local Reservoir

I noticed on one of the the Vancouver island birding forums that someone had posted seeing some yellowlegs at a small suburban site not far from home a couple of days ago. So, having never previously visited Summit Hill reservoir, I stopped off there on my way to work this morning.

There were 7 lesser yellowlegs busily feeding along a partially exposed median. they looked pretty incongruous in the concrete surroundings, but seemed to be finding plenty of food. 

A small party of northern rough-winged swallows were flying around a female black-headed grosbeak was in the adjacent oaks.

Looks like a promising visible migration spot...

The Point of Birding...

Sunrise at Rocky Point

I finally made it out to Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO) on Saturday, having enlisted as a volunteer some weeks ago.  

This mixed-habitat site is located on the grounds of the Department of National Defence's Rocky Point Ammunition Depot in Metchosin, southwest of Victoria here on Vancouver Island.

As a newcomer to the obs, I thought it would be a good idea to join Ian Cruikshank as he undertook a site census. 

We arrived at RPBO around 5.30am, signed in at the security gate, and made our way to the banding (or ringing as a Brit birder would say) station and the start of the census trail.

Semipalmated plover

With some time to kill before the census start time, Ian and I did a bit of birding along the shore. A few waders were present in the early morning sunlight, including least and spotted sandpipers, 6 distant dowitchers and a semipalmated plover (pictured).

Out on the water we could see common murres and rhinoceros auklets, and among the many California gulls we picked out a handful of mew gulls and a single ring-billed gull.

We started along the census trail at 7.15am and kept to the allotted 1.5 hours as required. The place was pretty lively bird-wise, despite the fact that the weather has been consistently ‘pleasant’ lately (sunny, hot, calm) with passage migrants consequently thin on the ground.

We covered a range of habitats, including mixed deciduous, conifer, grassy meadow, scrubby brush, fresh water pools and the shoreline, as well as offshore.

Amongst other things, we came across numerous yellow warblers, Wilson’s warblers, orange-crowned warblers, black-throated gray warblers and warbling vireo plus willow, Hammond’s and Pacific-slope flycatchers. As we checked one the smaller ponds we got great looks at a young sora as it stood out on the water’s edge in full view.

The banding station at Rocky Point Bird Observatory

After we had completed the census, we spent some time birding around the site. 

I made a point of hanging around at the banding station (pictured), watching the small team process the catches. 

Having spent a fair amount of time observing the ringing of birds at a number of observatories and ringing sites back in the UK I was interested to see how they do things in North America. 

Wilson's warbler - a bird in the hand, etc...

And, it gave me the opportunity to see some cracking birds in the hand - better still; I got to release a banded Anna’s hummingbird! You don't find too many of those in the nets at Heysham Obs!

While Ian and I were scouring the bushes for interesting migrants, he heard a distant call that he thought was probably a northern waterthrush. Ian’s knowledge of bird calls is somewhat legendary, and his hearing is immaculate. Half the birds he identifies by sound alone, I don’t even hear. His youthful, untainted lugs are a miracle of biology compared to the battered old rock and roll scarred things flapping about on the side of my head…

Willow flycatcher

Anyway, we checked out the area – a boggy creek, perfect for a lurking waterthrush – but we didn’t hear anything to support Ian’s initial thoughts. We went our separate ways, with me heading off to scour the gulls and shorebirds once more. Shortly after, Ian came running out to tell me that he had not only heard the warbler again but also seen it. 

I returned to the scene. 

This time the bird was calling frequently, but keeping well hidden from view. I hadn’t seen a northern waterthrush for well over a decade, and I was rather keen to clap eyes on this individual.

Yellow warbler

As Ian went off in search of seabirds, I decided to stick it out and my patience was eventually rewarded when the bird started flying around calling. It eventually settled, and landed on a log before giving wonderful views as it slowly picked its way around the weedy edges of the water, calling occasionally. I watched it out in the open for about 3- and-a-half minutes before it once again vanished into the emergent vegetation. Fabulous!

We left RPBO just before 1pm having seen some 70+ species. I can’t wait to go back and help out in any way that I can, be it conducting bird censuses, assisting with banding duties or adding general observations to the records.     

     

Read more about Rocky Point Bird Observatory. 

The Holy Quail

Out near my workplace in Langford I see California quails pretty frequently. Most days, if I bother to look out my office window for long enough one or two will come trotting by.
Admittedly, most birders in BC would hardly give these small gamebirds a second glance, but now that the local quails are escorting their growing broods around, they are forming large creches and today at least 30 were dashing around the lawned area by the FTS building.
I only had my little compact camera handy, so I took a couple of pics through the glass. Pretty bloody awful, eh?  (Oh, and that 'eh' there isn't a sign of my becoming Canada-ised, we Lancastrians and other folk from Northern England use it habitually too).

Eight-spotted skimmer

While taking my lunchtime constitutional to Langford Lake and back, the highlight was a very vocal male western tanager.
It was calling constantly from some small trees adjacent to the railway line before flying off south.
Otherwise it was fairly birdless with just belted kingfisher, Anna's hummingbird and a juvenile orange-crowned warbler to deviate from the ultra common species.

Blue dasher female

As usual there were lots of 8-spotted skimmers and blue dashers around, taking advantage of the soaring temperatures, so I grabbed a couple of snaps.
Thank goodness for dragonflies on days when the birds are keeping a low profile...

Seabirds and Shorebirds

On Saturday morning I joined a gaggle of local birders for a 'mini-pelagic' trip. 
Organised by Jeremy Kimm on behalf of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory, this was a short 3-hour tip out into the waters off Sooke in search of seabirds. I went on the same trip last year and we were  rewarded with excellent views of tufted puffin and pomarine jaegers, among more common species.
This year we weren't so lucky, and the birding was slow going. A thick wall of fog had pretty much blanketed everything from Race Rocks west which hampered our search. 
In the clear spots off Rocky Point, a few gatherings of gulls revealed little of note. 
Masses of California gulls and good numbers of Heermann's gulls were present, as were loads of common murres and rhinoceros auklets and smaller numbers of pigeon guillemot. A few red-necked phalarope were seen both in flight and feeding among the floating kelp racks.
As we neared a distinctly mist-enshrouded Race Rocks, the sounds and smells of bellowing sealions filled the air. We neared the islands and got views, through the fog, of several Steller's sea lions (also known as Northern Sea lion) loafing around on the rocks. I was really hoping to see one of the elephant seals that Ian Cruikshank mentioned had recently taken up residence there, but I couldn't locate any among the blubbery mass of Steller and California sealions. As it turns out, checking out the Race Rocks blog, it appears that the elephant seals had departed just before the sealions had returned.
Scanning the rocky shores of the island we saw a few black turnstone, 2 or 3 surfbirds and a single ruddy turnstone, still sporting its summer finery. Although common back in the UK and a familiar sight to any Brit birder, ruddy turnstones are something of a scarcity on Vancouver Island and BC in general, and my floating companions were all thrilled to see this attractive shorebird as it played peek-a-boo among the rocks and roosting gulls. 
Visit Jeremy's blog at Victoria Birder for his perspective on the trip.   
The next mini-pelagic is scheduled for September 29th, so I think I'll book myself a spot on that and see just how different the avian seascape is later in the fall (can't be worse than Saturday... can it?).  

Juvenile red-necked phalarope, Maber Flats

More phalaropes...

Yesterday, Jenny and I headed out to Island View Beach and Saanichton Spit.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, I wasn't expecting much in the way of birds and that's pretty much what I got. As usual there were plenty of pigeon guillemots and rhino auklets bobbing about offshore, plus the expected cormorants and gulls. The only wader was a single least sandpiper that flew onto the beach briefly before heading off. 
A merlin was patrolling the area and a turkey vulture was sat by the beach eyeing up the washed up carcass of a freshly deceased harbour seal.
On our way back we stopped off at Maber Flats, and while Jenny occupied herself by hunting and gathering some plump blackberries I 'scoped out the rapidly shrinking pool.
There was a fair bit of activity here and in among the mass of honking Canada geese, several shorebirds could be seen frantically feeding in the shallows. 
The birds that really stood out immediately were a pair of dazzling juvenile red-necked phalarope in fresh plumage.  The very bright afternoon light and heat haze over the water made digiscoping a bit of a nightmare but I did manage one shot that is almost in focus... 
Also present were around 40 peeps, the majority of which were western sandpipers, with a small number of least sandpipers thrown in for good measure. A single greater yellowlegs was joined by 3 lesser yellowlegs and a pair of adult spotted sandpipers were keeping an eye on two youngsters. Only 5 killdeer were seen.
At one point a peregrine came through, causing mild panic. It stooped half-heartedly, but left empty-taloned. Only a single sandpiper was sufficiently spooked into the air while the remaining shorebirds either hunkered down in the mud and vegetation, or in the case of the yellowlegs, actually took shelter beneath the geese.
I've never seen birds using other species as a shield before - quite extraordinary! 
With continued sunshine, high temperatures and no sign of rain in the forecasts, it looks likely that Maber Flats will soon follow the fate of Panama Flats and dry out completely. With few other inland wetlands sites in the Victoria area I suppose it will be all eyes to the coast for off-passage waders in the coming weeks.          

Mount Washington & Beyond...

The view from the Mile High Chairlift 

Last Thursday afternoon Jenny and I headed off up island (destination Mount Washington) stopping with friends overnight in south Nanaimo. As we sat out in Dave and Val’s spacious yard, joined by fellow birder Bernard Schroeder, we were treated to the wonderful sight, and sound, of up to 50 common nighthawks as they passed over in small loose flocks.

On Friday we carried on our merry way and arrived at the ski resort in the early afternoon. Glorious sunshine greeted us and we soon found ourselves heading up the mountain on the Mile High Chairlift. Although we’d already spotted a few gray jays here and there, they were a bit more, let’s say, hands-on up here. Or more precisely, a bit more on-our-hands.

Gray jay - also known as 'Whiskey Jack' 

Having learnt many years ago that humans provide a decent meal ticket to those who beg, these attractive jays, or ‘Whiskey Jacks’ as they are colloquially known, are adept scroungers. Whether they should be eating chocolate, salted peanuts, chewing gum or whatever else the tourists and skiers dole out is another matter altogether…

Me being naughty, feeding wildlife...

There wasn’t much else up there bar the occasional dark-eyed junco, raven or passing bald eagle and so after we’d got an eyeful of the spectacular Strathcona Park scenery we trekked back down the mountain on foot.

Bird-wise this was also disappointing, and I only added Steller’s jay and pine siskin to the paltry list. And we didn’t even spot any marmots. Pah.

Not long after we’d arrived at the foot of the mountain we decided to treat ourselves to another chairlift ride to the top. As we neared the halfway mark of the ascent my eyes were drawn to a dark shape below and to our delight we realised that it was a Vancouver Island marmot – an endemic rodent species, and one of the rarest mammals in the world. Bingo!

The endemic Vancouver Island marmot

Better still, when we came back down (via the lift, we weren’t walking it again…) we saw two marmots, but as we were dangling several feet above them, the pics we took were rather rubbish. As evidenced here.

On Saturday we spent the day hiking out to Kwai Lake. It was around a 14km round trip and we took our time, desperately hoping for an American three-toed woodpecker or anything else of interest. 

Nice spot for a picnic

Sadly the birding was once again scant at best, but we had a brilliant time out in the sunshine surrounded by the impressive landscape. Other than the siskins, juncos, vultures and such, we only saw red crossbills and a lowly northern flicker. I wasn’t expecting the forests to be alive with the sound of cacophonous birdsong, but I did think that a little post-breeding activity might be apparent. Maybe it was just too hot?

On our way back we had the pleasure of bumping into Daniel and Leo Donnecke who were on their way out to the Forbidden Plateau in search of white-tailed ptarmigan and other high altitude goodies. This was the first time that we had ever met, though knew of each other via our posts on the local birders’ forum BCVIBirds!

We also came across a couple of American red squirrels as we made our way through the forest (pic below).

We were back in Victoria for BC Day (Monday) and I found a couple of hours to check out Maber Flats. There’s still a bit of water here and as a result, some birds. 

Among the mass of starlings feeding at the muddy edges were some bona fide waders including 1 greater yellowlegs, 2 dowitcher sp., 8 spotted sandpipers and up to 50 killdeer. There were around 120 ‘peeps’ present, mainly least sandpipers with a few western sandpipers mixed in. A single semipalmated sandpiper was also among the gathering of small calidrids.  

American red squirrel

Later in the day I met up with visiting Brit birder Phil Bould who was in Victoria on vacation and had contacted me through this blog. 

We spent a couple of hours looking for seabirds and such, hoping to locate some key species. Starting out at Clover Point and checking a few good sites along the coast to Oak Bay Marina, we didn’t find anything out-of-the-ordinary but we were able to add a handful of birds to Phil’s life list including marbled murrelet, harlequin duck and hooded merganser.

On my home from work on Tuesday I stopped off at Ogden Point. The wandering tattler was still present, though not easy to find as it hunkered down on the ferry dock seawall. With a pretty hefty storm heading in, I made my way to Clover Point in the hope that I might pick up some storm-driven seabirds but despite the impressive lightning show, gusty winds and heavy rain I saw nothing of note over the ocean waves. I did get a frustratingly brief look at a distant large gull flying away from me that appeared to have a very dark mantle and wings…

Wednesday, I dropped in at Panama Flats on my way home from work – the previous night’s rain had done nothing to improve the dry waterless vista, and the place was pretty much birdless. A pair of Wilson’s warblers were the most notable things.   

Me & Jen deep in the woods....

On Thursday, I made a brief detour to Clover Point on my way home from work. I arrived to find Phil Bould ‘scoping from the end of the point, but he hadn’t seen much beyond the usual stuff. There was a fair bit of commotion going on close offshore with various water sports show-offs keeping the birds away. Several Heermann’s gulls were roosting with the many California gulls and various glaucous-winged mongrels. 

See You Later, Alligator

This time last year Panama Flats still held a fair amount of water. In fact there was enough water to attract some reasonably impressive numbers of shorebirds well into the third week of August. Mid-month we were still seeing sizeable gatherings of least and western sandpipers, plus we had pectoral sandpipers dropping in.  Not so this year, as the pools are all but gone and very few waders can be found.

So, on Sunday afternoon I thought I’d go and see what was going on up at Maber Flats, one of the few places in the Victoria area that might still have enough water to attract passing shorebirds. Jenny got out a lawn chair and her current read and settled in for a spell while I trundled off to see what I could find.

The water levels looked promising. Scanning around I could see the 5 cinnamon teal all huddled together, while rafts of mallard and Canada geese paddled around in the muddy pools.

In the shallows I picked out 4 greater yellowlegs and 2 lesser yellowlegs, plus a twittering gang of 19 long-billed dowitchers. 5 least sandpipers were picking their way around the edges and at least 11 spotted sandpiper were scattered around the site.

A couple of times my attention was drawn skyward as the swallow’s alarm calls heralded the arrival of something sinister. An immaculate adult peregrine came piling in and made a handful of unsuccessful strikes at the assembled would-be-banquet. An impressive falcon, this was surely a female given its formidable size and bulk. Each time the peregrine came in for the kill the shorebirds would wheel around calling frantically, while a cloud of agitated swallows pursued the hunting raptor, appearing like a swarm of mosquitoes.

A marsh wren was rattling away from the trackside and there were charms of American goldfinches feeding around the place, but other than savannah sparrows, chipping sparrows, Brewer’s blackbirds, etc there wasn’t too much other passerine activity on offer.

As I returned to Jenny and her al fresco lounge, we noticed a smart short-legged reptile scuttling across the gravel. At last – my first sighting of Northwestern alligator lizard! It moved rather too keenly for me to get a photo of it but I was delighted to finally see this BC native here on Vancouver Island. 


We then dropped by at Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, taking the relatively short and easy Tod Inlet Trail in the northern end of the park. I had never been to this part of the park before, although Jenny had.
Of course the forest was quiet, after all it was mid-afternoon on a sunny July day. Down by the inlet there were several purple martins still attending their nestboxes at the pilings, and filling the air with their wonderful chattering.