Wednesday began in Port Alberni, There was fog–surprise!– but it was fairly high, allowing decent visibilty for birding, but not for photography. There was no wind, so I opted to head to the water to look for loons.
The city was very quiet. When I arrived at Harbour Quay, there was a considerable welcoming party, though. A large flock of feral Rock Pigeons swooped down to the quay from a nearby shop, clearly mistaking me for someone else.
The community has constructed a public dock that extends well into the harbour, providing excellent birding visibility. I’m sure that’s why they built it! Looking back to the shore, I saw that someone with a bucket of birdseed had arrived to feed the pigeons.
Red-throated Loon was an easy pickup on Wednesday. According to Sandy McRuer, it’s the only loon that is regularly found there these days. I could see a decent flock of scaup on the other side of the inlet, and Sandy had mentioned that it was possible to get to that shore. Time to go exploring!
I headed back to the Somass Estuary, which coincidentally was on the same road as ran along the shore, only to be greeted by a “no access” sign with a detailed map on how to get to the west side of the inlet. The alternate route took me up McCoy Lake Rd, one of the hotspots we hadn’t visited on Tuesday. Despite my best efforts, though, I could not find any roads leading to Shoemaker Bay Rd, the one the would take me to the ducks!
Apparently, my circuitous and somewhat random route caught the attention of my sister who was following me via the “Where’s Ann?” page on this blog. She sent me a text saying “I have to keep reminding myself that you are not lost!” I was a little lost, in that I wasn’t getting where I wanted, but I did get to see some new territory. Some of that territory included logging trucks and deep mud, so I decided to head back to town to meet up with Sandy for a convoy to the Nanaimo River Estuary.
Sandy’s friend, Don Wilshire, joined us, and the quest for the Harris’s Sparrow was on. Oh, and they wanted to see the Rough-legged Hawk, too!
Reaching the estuary around noon, we trekked the track to the spot where “everyone” had been seeing the sparrow. As usual, two Song Sparrows were in attendance among several juncos, but no Harris’s. The Rough-legged Hawk once again stole the show, sometimes perching on top of shrubs, sometimes engaged in aerial battles with ravens.
Two photographers arrived to get photos of the hawk. Later we’d find that they weren’t just any photographers, but Stu Clarke and Michael Ashbee, fully qualified birder-photographers!
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Another birder arrived on the scene, too. It was busier on a Wednesday than it had been on Saturday! Dave Baird joined the chase for the sparrow, again to no avail.
Scanning the estuary, I finally set eyes on a new bird! No, not the sparrow, but a Northern Shrike, one of the species I hoped to get before they started heading north.
So what to do about the sparrow? Well, it turns out that all of the sightings on eBird have been from the morning. Could it be that this bird only passes through the hedge once a day? Hmmm…….