Afternoon delight

An afternoon visit to the estuary was fairly standard fare really, a northern shrike and 2 short-eared owls were the highlights.

Met a nice couple who, it turned out, had initially found and put out the news of the hawk owl back in the early part of the year. They confirmed that it certainly hasn't been in the Morden Rd area over the summer. So, has it summered elsewhere in the Cedar/south Nanaimo area as recently rumoured?

Went to Quennell Lake to see if the canvasback were still there but couldn't find any. Still a few cackling geese in amongst the Canadas, ring-necked ducks, American coots, trumpeter swans, common mergansers etc present though overall duck numbers were generally lower than yesterday.
A northern shrike was seen here too.

New duck for my VI list!

Had a quick stop by Quennell Lake this morning and, as usual, I had my spare pair of bins in the car - just as well, as I noticed a group of 4 distant canvasbacks, 3 drakes and a duck.
I returned later with my 'real' binoculars and 'scope and tried to relocate the birds and after around 40 minutes I came across a single drake. I couldn't see the others anywhere but there are considerable areas of the lake that impossible to view from the road. In fact this drake only showed for about 3 minutes before disappearing behind an island. Rubbish pics of the bird attached.
I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen this species on Vancouver Island, though until my old notebooks arrive from across the sea I'm not 100% sure...
Also present here were a small number of trumpeter swans, at least 12 cackling geese amongst the 250 or so Canadas, a few ring-necked ducks, American wigeon, common merganser etc. A Cooper's hawk and merlin flew by and a yellow-rumped warbler was feeding in a hedgerow at the water's edge.
Incidentally, I was in a band called Canvasback once...

I then headed over to the Nanaimo estuary for a quick visit. 1 short-eared owl and 2 northern harriers (juv & fem) were seen.
At Holden Creek 2 red-tailed hawks were sat up in the small trees, a peregrine flew over and amongst the many green-winged teal was one bird which had a clear horizontal scapular stripe as well as the typical vertical one on the breast.

To Buttertubs and beyond...

Bit of a funny day today, cool and overcast with a threat of rain that never quite amounted to anything.
After dropping Jenny off for work this morning I had a trundle round Buttertubs Marsh as I was literally around the corner.
Not much doing really, though at least the water had subsided and a full circuit could be made. A few mallard had returned (yippee) and 7 hooded and 2 common merganser were on the water as were a pair of pied-billed grebe. A pair of American wigeon and 2 Canada geese flew in.
Amongst a throng of feeding passerines near the Jingle Pot end were 21 cedar waxwing and a handful of American goldfinch plus many red-winged blackbirds. An Anna's hummingbird came in to check me out too, landing about 20 inches from my head!

I then headed off to the Nanaimo River estuary where I had the pleasure of meeting Rich Mooney and his partner. Still no sign of the palm warbler although they had seen both yellow-rumpeds together which tends to make me think that perhaps the rarer bird has indeed moved through.
A short-eared owl was hunting all over the area and a northern harrier made an appearance while the northern shrike performed well as usual.

After leaving here I headed off to the Morden Colliery Park area, with the intention of having a look for suitable nearby hawk owl habitat (UK bloggers note: a bird was here for few weeks in early 09 and a rumour has surfaced that it may have spent the summer here too). There seemed to be a few good areas that looked likely but given where it was usually seen during its much-twitched residence last winter (a roadside hedge!) this particular owl's habitat preferences don't quite fit what the books say...

I returned to Buttertubs to kill half an hour before collecting Jen but, aside of stepping in some dog crap, the only notable difference from earlier on was the arrival of a flock of 30ish pine siskin.

Palmed off?

Just managed a quick visit down to the estuary later in the morning. Having been busy yesterday on that rarest of bright days, it was great to get out in the sunshine today!
I was greeted by the sight of more birders out hoping to relocate the palm warbler but from what I could gather, it hasn't been seen since my last sighting on Wednesday, though the skies were tantalisingly clear last night and if I were a long-distant migrant (which I suppose I am in a kind of way...) I'd have been off!

The whole area was unusually quiet with no owls or harriers to be seen, although one of the northern shrikes performed well.
An adult peregrine put in a brief appearance and put up a group of teal over on the estuary.

Eventually a yellow-rumped warbler flew in calling, landed briefly in the hedge (it was the adult-type with the yellow throat) before heading off again in the direction of the viewing platform. No other birds were with it, or followed it.

It was good to meet yet more local birders and photographers down there.

Later in the day Jenny and I had a stroll around Hemer Park. 3 trumpeter swans were on the marshy pool as were 12 gadwall, 4 hooded mergansers and I had an all-too brief view of a swimming mammal I took to be a beaver... seemed way too big for muskrat, though I am happy to be corrected. The usual kinglets, chickadees, nuthatches etc accompanied us around the trails.

A Tale of Three Warblers

As the typically British autumn weather continues, so does my frustration! It seems to have rained non-stop for ages and I just haven't had the enthusiasm to drag myself around the estuary in the continual drizzle.
Until today, that is. Simply fed up with trying to find something interesting out on the sea from the condo (how quickly one gets tired of looking at the divers, grebes, harlequins and buffleheads that are a constant presence!) I decided on a soggy trek to my new patch.
Despite the pretty foul weather, a dog-walker and two hunters were enjoying the delights of the Nanaimo River estuary when I got there. I chose to try and relocate the warblers as my primary reason for being there and spent a good half hour scouring bushes and pishing in the wind.
Eventually my optimism paid off and I heard the distinctive call of a yellow-rumped warbler. Raising my bins I found the culprit in the nearby hawthorn - the 1stw bird, then to my surprise the very bright, well-marked bird with the extensive yellow throat appeared too. That solves my conundrum about that mystery warbler! I need to look into this, is it an adult in winter plumage? Or a very, very bright juv? I wish my books had arrived from the UK... apparently all our stuff's delayed in transit and might not even be here in time for Christmas. Great. Oh well, there's always Google images...
Anyway, then came another call and the palm warbler popped up giving superb views down to a few feet. Nice.
Given the conditions I think it's unlikely that'll be going anywhere too soon. I'd expect a south-bound migrant in need of re-orienting itself would need to wait until a relatively clear, calm night before traveling too far.

Bird-wise it was otherwise a total wash-out, although I was delighted to watch a group of 4 river otters haul themselves out of one the small pools just near the viewpoint, and join another 4 on the bank where all 8 proceeded to roll around together. Now, you don't see that in Britain very often...

Twitching with anticipation

Well, today I witnessed my first Canadian twitch.
When I arrived at the estuary around 11.00 or so (late I know, but it is Sunday after all) there were at least 6 cars in the parking area! And about 8 people all in search of the palm warbler. That's by the far the highest number of birders I've seen in one location (excepting the organised birdwalks of course) since I moved here. Mind you, it seems that photographers outnumber birders per se out here as there were just as many cameras as there were binoculars...

I met and had a chat with Mike Ashbee who, along with another birder Rich Mooney, had seen the warbler earlier but it had since disappeared and had not been relocated for quite some time.
As the crowd thinned out I continued to check the hedgerows and likely vegetated areas but to no avail.
I took a bit of time to scan through the wildfowl out on the marsh and found 2 drake Eurasian wigeon amongst the Americans plus 3 gadwall in with the pintail.
Up to 3 short-eared owls were on the hunt, and attracting plenty of unwanted attention from the large number of northwestern crows here today. Over 70 of these raucous corvids were in the area - my only conclusion being that maybe the nearby rubbish dump is closed on Sundays and they're seeking foraging opportunities elsewhere?
A northern harrier made frequent appearances as did 2 northern shrikes.
5 western meadowlark were present, again including a singing bird.

It was great seeing a few people out there today and a real pleasure meeting some of the dedicated local birders whose names I have seen on the forums but had yet to bump into.

Palm d'or

An update following yesterday's warbler conundrum.

I had very brief views of a couple of warblers moving along the hedgerow at the Nanaimo estuary, the first one I thought at the time 'might' be a palm warbler but I didn't get all that much on it and when I checked Sibley I noticed that it was well out of its range. I was utterly baffled.
The second bird seemed equally confusing, resembling a yellow-rumped warbler in many ways but with a bright yellow throat. I also thought it had yellow undertail coverts?

Anyway, I contacted Guy Monty (a very knowledgeable local birder) who thought I could be right about the palm warbler and came down this morning with his wife Donna, where we relocated the bird and indeed it was a palm warbler.
Those in the UK reading this, check out your American field guide distribution maps and you'll see why I was initially cautious... I suppose it's a bit like finding a yellow-browed warbler back home. Rare but not mega.

Today it was with a yellow-rumped warbler, which was probably the same bird it was with yesterday but God knows why I didn't ID it at the time as I've seen lots of them, and indeed one about half an hour earlier! Could have sworn it had a bright yellow throat yesterday (as opposed to the slightly buffy throat this bird has)... was it a different bird or was I hallucinating? I think I'll go for the latter...

Thanks to Guy for the pic of the palm warbler.

Other birds seen while warbler hunting included a northern harrier, northern shrike and later, 1 short-eared owl. There were quite a few trumpeter swans passing over during the morning including a flock of 13.

Back at the condo, a Cooper's hawk was upsetting the robins in the parking area.

Cut across shortie

Wow - a pretty dry day with just a few light showers! Can't remember the last time we had one of those...

Taking full advantage of this climatic rarity, I headed off to the Nanaimo estuary this morning.
The river was running high and the tide was up so once again the marshes were mostly underwater. Scanning through the assembled pintail, mallard and American wigeon I soon came across a drake Eurasian wigeon and a pair of gadwall.
A female northern harrier was hunting over the reduced saltmarsh while bald eagles and great blue herons were scattered around the area.
The flock of mostly female/juv type red-winged blackbirds numbered 73 birds.
Once again a Lincoln's sparrow was amongst a group of house finches, song sparrows and juncos near the viewing platform. A 1stw yellow-rumped warbler appeared in the riverside vegetation.
The usual number of trumpeter swans were feeding out on the marsh - later a pair flew over heading south east.
The first short-eared owl of the day appeared, soon attracting the attention of the local corvids. By the time I left I'd seen a minimum of 3 owls, though I suspect there may have been 4, and they put on quite a show. I was able to get these, not quite in Mike Yip's league, shots by holding my digi snapper up to my scope eyepiece.


The juv harrier made an appearance too as did, eventually, the male.
Only 1 northern shrike showed.
All-too-brief views of a couple of unidentified warblers in the hawthorn hedgerow left me frustrated and confused - a concerted effort to relocate them was unsuccesful. The options in late November must be surely limited? Perhaps I was hallucinating...
Having done little to satisfy my curiosity by consulting Sibley I decided I'd go and see if anything was happening over at Holden Creek.

The 2 cackling geese were still in the wet fields alongside a group of their commoner cousins.
The male northern harrier was now hunting over here and was busy upsetting the green-winged teal in the creek. The 1stw northern shrike flew by but other than a red-tailed hawk and a belted kingfisher it was pretty quiet.

Ten feet high and rising...

Having dropped Jenny off in central Nanaimo this morning, I decided to head north and see what Parksville could offer before the rain set in.
I tried the Plummer Road area, for the first time, but the tide was rather too high for there to be many birds of note around the Englishman River estuary. The most noteworthy birds I saw included a northern shrike, 2 red-tailed hawks and a very smart little marsh wren.
Offshore, however, there was lots going on. Pretty much the same species as seen off Yellow Point, but in differing numbers. Red-necked grebe in particular seem numerous here and a group of greater scaup were good to see plus a single long-tailed duck whizzed through. A group of 4 brant geese flew south.
A couple of black oystercatcher flew by while 4 black turnstone and a dunlin were feeding on the beach.
A single western gull was loafing around on the surf while the usual other gull species searched the water's edge for tasty scraps.

After an hour of trying to seawatch in the rain I headed back toward Nanaimo and finding myself with an hour to spare thought I'd see how water levels at Buttertubs were getting on. Well, they were doing very well indeed and access was severely limited to a stretch of path at the Buttertubs Drive end of about 10 metres in length!
Seeing absolutely zero on the water, I went round to the Jingle Pot parking area and snuck in through the taped-off entrance. There was slightly more unflooded path here but for obvious reasons the parks guys had decided to close it to the public. Despite the amazingly high water I still couldn't locate any forced out rails... just 1 hooded merg, a pied-billed grebe and a coot were on the water. At least 8 varied thrush were feeding in the leaf litter at the flood edges.

Flood on the tracks

Made a fairly pointless visit to Buttertubs Marsh today. Even though it was in advance of the major afternoon downpour, there had been so much water deposited since I was last there on Sunday that a full circular walk was rendered impossible without wellies.
And I didn't have my wellies with me. (For those Canadians who may be unfamiliar with the term 'wellies' it refers to Wellington Boots, ie rubber boots.)
Minor pathway flooding was encountered at the western and northern end but the south and east tracks were well under water and too deep for my walking boots.
Not that it probably mattered too much as the place was pretty much bereft of birdlife.
The wildfowl count for the entire area comprised 2 drake hooded mergansers and a single first winter American coot. Full stop.
What is it that ducks don't like about high water levels? Have they sought new, richer feeding grounds in flooded fields? Even the usual bread-fed mallards had gone!
The few passerines that bothered braving the weather included a small party of purple finch and good numbers of varied thrush. A couple of red-winged blackbird were in the reeds and a virginia rail squeeled from deep within the vegetation.
At least at Leighton Moss high water levels often push rails and bitterns into the open...